From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 00:30:31 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 0:30:31 Subject: Opening Comments 6-1-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, According to David B. Barrett editor of the World Christian Encyclopedia, the world's Christian population stands at two billion, about 33 percent of the world population of six billion. While the Twentieth Century has seen the greatest expansion of the global Christian community from half a billion people in 1900 to two billion in 2000, the actual expansion has failed to translate into an increased percentage of the world's population. In short there has been little change from what it was a hundred years earlier, in fact, actually slightly less. What is truly remarkable however is that the numerical expansion is the demographic shift in the global Christian community. The majority of Christians live outside of Europe and North America, making it the most monumental shift in the ecclesiastical center of gravity, ever. Most of this has taken place since World War II. The shift is from North to South and from West to East. Also there are more missionaries at work today than ever before in history, upwards of 400,000 in the world, Protestant and Roman Catholic - a six-fold increase since 1900. At least 100,000 of these missionaries are being sent out by Protestant churches in non-Western countries. There are an estimated 8,000 Protestant Korean missionaries serving outside Korea. Nowhere is the growth more apparent than in Africa and China. There are an estimated 50 million Chinese Christians and while the numbers of Christians in Africa might be harder to determine what with civil wars, AIDS, famine and destruction, the growth of the worldwide Anglican Communion on that continent is nothing short of phenomenal. In Nigeria there are an estimated 17 million Anglican evangelicals alone. Growth, said one missiologist, is off the wall and there is no sign of it abating. Contrast this with the situation in the U.S. and one wonders why we even bother to talk seriously at all about the Episcopal Church as a serious player in the Anglican Communion. There may be pots of money in the DFMS Trust Funds in New York but recent figures on ACTUAL Sunday attendance nationwide reveal somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000 and not the vaunted two million that the national church likes to toss around as practicing Episcopalians. On top of this we have the homosexual lobby and their bishop pals like Charles Bennison of PA who want to put down "heterosexism" and play up homosexuality in the vain hope that by passing an absurd resolution at General Convention to that effect, that tens of thousands of homosexuals, lesbitransgays and other assorted perverse persons will suddenly beat down our doors and demand the Eucharist. This is fiction of the highest order. No such thing will happen. And testimony to that is the Diocese of Newark which, under Spong lost more than a third of its members. How much more evidence does one need that sodomy not only can kill it empties churches as well. Pushing homosexuality creates the reverse. The more Bennison and his revisionist bishop friends push their liberal and post modernist agenda onto the Church the greater the resistance will be, and greater the possibility that more parishes will jump ECUSA and their diocesan ships to join the Diocese of Rwanda or some other Asian or African province. Some revisionist bishops have now taken to offending the liberal priests, the backbone of their constituency, and when that happens they have lost the game. In my own diocese Bennison is despised by just about everybody and has lost respect from his hard-core liberal constituency. Furthermore he has no idea how to grow the diocese despite hiring a bunch of expensive consultants, and his missionary growth program is fatally flawed because he has no message of redemption and grace. No gospel, no growth. Go figure. And pouring money into a fatally flawed program won't rescue it either. Now I've been told that the Merion Deanery are furious at the story I ran about Bennison getting smacked by 20 of his liberal priests on eight major beefs about his running of the Diocese. When I called one dean, in fact the Dean of the Deaneries he hung up on me. Apparently the deans met without Bennison this past week and, according to my sources they discussed "his leadership." Those could be buzz words for buy out of his contract. But it might be too soon. They will want to see what he does at General Convention in Denver, where he has put out a resolution decrying the church's centuries old heterosexism. If it plunges like a lead balloon, he might just be given the heave ho when he returns. Now when your own liberal priests tell you not to do something like that and you do it, you are courting disaster. Bennison apparently doesn't care. GENERAL CONVENTION AGAIN? Look for sparks to fly. A new group in the forming, EARTHQUAKE 2000 is planning some good old fashioned preaching, baptizing and upholding of the 'faith once delivered' to delegates who come. And they will be heard. They plan to make their presence felt outside the convention center along with a couple of other groups as well. Inside the big tent there's going to be another first. This time the ex-gay umbrella organization EXODUS is going to have a booth along with Virginia-based Transformation Ministries headed by the Rev. Dr. Earle Fox. Now if they put this booth next door to Integrity someone is going to have to build an asbestos fire-wall to keep these two groups from exploding. Apparently a couple of wealthy conservative parishes sprang for the money to make their appearance possible. It should be fun to watch what happens. Or they could act like civilized Episcopalians and just ignore each other. The Integrity crowd will be furious at having a group proclaiming 'healing for homosexuality' the banner alone will have them grinding their teeth. Oh the pain. There will be other groups as well including several hundred evangelical youth singing and praising Jesus, which should cause enough embarrassment for the liberals to look in the other direction. A press release out of 815 says "the General Convention is the highest authority in the Church." Really. Funny, I thought it was Holy Scripture. So if General Convention decides in favor of local option the Church MUST go along with it? If they do approve local option the end result will be total spiritual and ecclesiastical anarchy. All bets and gloves are off. Every bishop will do that which is right in his/her own eyes. Now if that is not a recipe for total breakdown I don't know what is. It also could backfire on the liberals. If a bishop, like Bennison, pushes a parish like St. Paul's in Chestnut Hill to marry two lesbians, an evangelical parish might then say 'we're outta here' because he has done that. It's over the edge and we are gone. A secular court might just say that local option cuts both ways and overrides the Dennis Canon which liberals hold tenaciously too in order to grab properties from departing Anglo-Catholic parishes. Massachusetts Bishop Thomas Shaw has used that with some success in his case against St. Paul's, Brockton. But if local option is enshrined in stone, or a resolution, it could open a floodgate of problems the liberals can't possibly imagine or control. It's a two-edged sword that can swing both ways. Now one of the interesting twists and turns in international Anglican politics is the renewed interest in the Lambeth Quadrilateral. When the Primates met in Portugal this is what they said. "We believe that the unity of the communion as a whole still rests on the Lambeth Quadrilateral." They said this in their communique. "Only a formal and public repudiation of this would place a diocese or province outside of the Anglican Communion." So, as long as no ECUSA bishop actually stands up and says to hell with the Lambeth Quadrilateral at General Convention then they can do anything the like including marry same sex persons without fear of retribution. Of course no bishop is going to stand up and publicly repudiate that document. What idiot would? The revisionist bishops don't believe in the Lambeth Quadrilateral but they have enough sense not to stand up and put a theological hand grenade in their miters and blow themselves up. They'll just say nothing. But that is NOT what Archbishop Kolini told me in Oporto. In an interview he said that if any American bishop actually performed a same-sex marriage or knowingly ordained a non-celibate homosexual to the priesthood, that bishop and his diocese would get tossed out of the Communion. Interesting. We shall see what happens when the Primates meet in Kanuga next year. CANADA AGAIN? Now if revisionist bishops like Michael Ingham in New Westminster, BC weren't enough of a head ache for the Church, the entire Anglican Church in Canada faces bankruptcy. In fact the problem is so serious that Michael Peers, the Primate has written a letter to all his bishops and clergy laying out the worst case scenario. It ain't pretty. You can read it here today. QUIGG AGAIN? The Rev. Lawrence Quigg, rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Roanoke, Virginia who is being deposed by the liberal bishop of that diocese, Neff Powell, writes and tells me that, despite his parish's difficulties the church is forging ahead in world mission. Some of his parish recently made their fifth trip to the Sudan. He writes; "We were in two cities in SW Sudan (too dangerous to name due to frequent bombings and surely the Islamic backed Khartoum government would step up the bombing if the knew where). Our one family practice doctor saw over 800 patients. He was assisted by a critical care nurse and a medical assistant. The local people worked with us and were taught how to diagnose and dispense medicine for worms and antibiotics. We showed the Jesus Film in the Dindi language seven times via video projector, generator and large bed sheets. Over 7000 saw the Jesus film, over 1000 people made commitments to Christ and over 400 made first time commitments. We worked with the Episcopal diocese and bishops in Southern Sudan and through the office of Archbishop Marona. We took a TV quality camera and got some incredible footage. We intend going back in February." We are only the second medical team or church group to visit the areas in the last three years, he writes. "Our team was impressed by the spiritual maturity and wisdom of the Church and the two Episcopal bishops there. They are well aware of the situation in ECUSA." The firebrand evangelical rector says his parish will spend a total of about $175-200K on missions this year. "Some will come from our general budget of about $960K and some from designated offerings." And to think the bishop wanted to take all this away from Quigg. He hasn't a prayer. There are a goodly number of stories for you today including columnists Frederica Mathewes Green, Terry Mattingly and a special story on faith and politics by Robert Wuthnow, professor of Sociology at Princeton University. He has written a thoughtful piece "When Faith Enters the Forum." David Mills brings us his May "Letter from America" and as usual I close with a devotional. If you would like to support the ministry of Virtuosity you may send a check to Media Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. I will send you FREE a copy of Os Guinness's book "Time for Truth" a brilliant expose of post modernist thinking in the religious and secular arena. If you would like to look at past Virtuosity digests please go to: http://virtuosity.bizland.com. You will find some 450 links to the world's press, my favorite columnists, and an opportunity to purchase your books from Amazon. Com right off the website. Thanks for your support I do very much appreciate it. We are barely five weeks away from General Convention where we shall know more than we probably wanted too. Any help you can offer is gratefully appreciated. All blessings, David Virtue From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:36:39 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:36:39 Subject: Anglican Bishop of Jos in Nigeria Attacked. Sustains Minor Injuries Message-ID: Anglican Bishop of Jos attacked. Sustains minor injuries Breaking News ? Christians targeted in Kaduna violence Last week violence broke out again in Kaduna, Nigeria. The Bishop of Jos, the Rt Rev Benjamin Kwashi, was among those attacked. The windows of the bishop's car were smashed during the assault, which occurred as he was driving from the Kaduna diocesan synod service. The bishop was not seriously injured. The riots also forced the Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev Harry Goodhew and his wife Pam, to leave Kaduna under armed escort ordered by the local police commissioner. Archbishop Goodhew was in Kaduna to provide the devotional component of the Synod. "The Bishop of Jos was shaken by the incident," the Archbishop said. "I don't think we were in any real danger ourselves in Kaduna itself. The city centre was reasonably secure." "We drove past one village where the riots had just been pacified and we saw evidence of cars that had been burned." The latest riots left up to 200 dead, adding to the estimated 2,000 people killed in religious violence in Kaduna this year. Among those killed have been three parish priests, eight seminarians, 38 pastors and 148 evangelists of various churches. Archbishop Goodhew preached at the synod service and took Bible studies under the theme Christian/Muslim dialogue: a necessity for the survival of Nigeria. "In the midst of this the riots began, and one was aware of the immense challenge they faced to take on board our Lord=B9s teaching about turning evil to good and patiently suffering in the face of what is happening. And because Nigeria is a proclaimed democracy, there is a responsibility for Christians to make sure everyone is treated justly and fairly," he said. Archbishop Goodhew said Sydney churches should take up the offer by the Bishop of Kaduna, the Right Rev Josiah Idowu-Fearon, to build stronger links with Sydney Diocese. "It is a pity the Diocese has lost interest in providing missionaries to Africa," he said. "The church there is growing and badly needs those who can teach and provide assistance for the basic needs of the Christian people such as medical services." "The church there is very alive, very committed to the Scriptures, prayful, joyful and very committed to evangelism." Some have already taken up the challenge. Bishop Josiah has started taking his pastors through Moore College's PTC course. The Rev Bart Vanden Hengel, rector of St John's, Penshurst, is to visit Kaduna for a month to also help run the course. Ridley College in Melbourne has also offered a scholarship to Jacob Kwasha, the pastor of one of Kaduna=B9s largest churches. "I think our churches could think about raising money for a scholarship for Moore College," said Archbishop Goodhew. He added that people should not be frightened by reports of violence. "Our people should go. The locals are very wise about where they let visitors go." Copyright Anglican Media Sydney 2000 PO BOX Q190, QVB POST OFFICE NSW AUSTRALIA 1230 NOTE: Bishop Jos was a headline speaker at the recent Wineskins conference in Ridgecrest, NC. His speech was reported on Virtuosity. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:37:02 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:37:02 Subject: A Pastoral Letter from the Canadian Primate Michael Peers Message-ID: A Pastoral Letter from the Canadian Primate Michael Peers To be read in congregations of the Anglican Church of Canada, as permitted by the Diocesan bishop, on Sunday, May 28, 2000. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: I write to share something of this moment in the life of the Anglican Church of Canada. In this troubling time we are faced with litigation so costly as to change radically our structures and our life as a national church. But the time is also profoundly hopeful; God leads us ever deeper into the path of healing and new life. Simply put: resulting from abuse in the residential schools, there are over 1600 claims of varying kinds brought against the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. About one hundred cases involve the proven abuse of children, and the perpetrators are in prison. The costs of litigation and settlements for these alone is sufficient to exhaust all the assets of the General Synod and of some dioceses involved. What does this mean? For the national church, the way we presently carry out our mission will be modified. We are negotiating with the federal government in order to find alternatives to litigation by which we can make a just contribution to compensation. We will know in a few months if an agreement is possible. However, whether or not this is achievable, we will be a very different Church. Where in this do I discern hope? At the heart of it, we trust God is with us in the choices we face, that we will find new ways to carry out our shared mission and that we will continue to work for healing and reconciliation. Healing and reconciliation is our first and clearly-affirmed goal. Both the Council of General Synod and the House of Bishops gave it the strongest possible support in meetings earlier this month. The legacy of the schools has been deeply wounding. Healing never happens if we ignore the wounds. The first step is truth-telling - recognizing and acknowledging past failures. The Anglican Church of Canada collaborated with the Government of Canada in a policy that brought pain to many individuals and despair in many communities. That injury continues into the present. We have an obligation, and a will born of our desire to be just, to account for past injustice. Healing also requires being prepared to turn and walk in a different direction. Indeed repentance means "turning around". The wounds of past prejudices, injustices and broken trust will never be healed unless we "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being". Ever since the General Synod of 1969 set us in a new direction, aboriginal and non-aboriginal Anglicans have been learning to walk together in a different way. I assure aboriginal brothers and sisters that we will not be deflected from this road. I call each of us to recommit ourselves to that path, so that together we may find the healing Christ offers in his Cross and Resurrection. I want to assure all Anglicans that what is at risk financially are our assets, not the contributions that provide for the ongoing ministry and mission of the church at parish, diocesan or national levels. Your contributions serve the mission of the church -- not the costs of litigation. If our present structures cease to exist, we will find a way for our contributions to continue to serve that work. How do we continue authentically if the depletion of our assets means we are unable to meet the claims against us? I believe that our greatest asset in the Anglican Church of Canada is our ability to be in relationship, to support and care for each other. This will survive. So will our capacity to worship, to learn, to grow, to serve and to bear witness to Christ. Nothing at the heart of our faith - our desire for wholeness and healing in ourselves, in our relationships, in our country and in our world - is at risk. We have these abundant and enduring assets that will help us continue to do justice and work for healing. As we move into the future, I ask for your prayers: for the bishops and people of Cariboo and Qu'Appelle dioceses who are most immediately concerned; for the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples who give outstanding leadership, and who bear such love for the whole of the Church; for those whose ministries are given over to witness in the courts. Pray that we may all perceive the need for our own healing. We read in the gospels how Jesus speaks of things ending - of the heavens and earth in turmoil. In one sense, it is a picture of chaos. But Jesus says that it is more truly to be interpreted as a birth: ".when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:28) For many in the church, things are being shaken, and it feels like chaos. But we stand up and raise our heads; God is present and leads us into something new. When we look up at the evening horizon, we see the sun falling. Turn the other way, and we will see it rise. I believe with all my heart, and with sure confidence, that God is with us both in the falling and in the rising, and that, even in our dying, God will bring us to new life. (Signed) +Michael Archbishop and Primate From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:37:18 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:37:18 Subject: May 2000 "Letter from America" by David Mills Message-ID: May 2000 "Letter from America" for New Directions By David Mills ONE doesn't often get a chance to say "I told you so," so I want to note that I predicted before the Lambeth Conference (in the June 1998 "Letter from America") that its rulings would not change the Episcopal Church. As I noted then, to the doctrinal and moral innovators the traditional moral teaching is (they believe) not only wrong but oppressively, viciously so. They cannot retreat or even pause in the march to liberation, and they cannot keep more than a strategic peace with the forces of reaction (patriarchy, misogyny, homophobia, etc.), a peace to be broken when advantageous, as it was when the last General Convention demanded that everyone support the ordination of women. Besides the dioceses who rejected Lambeth's vote on sexual matters, either by their convention voting to reject it or their bishop's ordaining the sort of person the majority at Lambeth said he should not ordain, a surprising number went out of their way to ignore it. One conservative bishop wrote in his diocesan newspaper a lengthy "Lambeth Diary" and an official letter from the bishop without once mentioning the issue of sexuality, an act of brazen ambiguity one has to admire. And so we arrived at the primates' meeting in Oporto, and I will predict now that the equivocal statement they issued at the end -- I agree with the judgment of the bishops of Sydney -- will have no effect on American behavior whatsoever. The reason is that, as far as I can tell, very few American bishops actually believe in the Anglican Communion. **A worldwide communion** I know you will hear from American bishops lots of talk about "the worldwide Anglican communion" and "the bonds that unite us" and "our unity in diversity and diversity in unity," and that Americans of all theological positions will get soppy-eyed when they say that the typical Anglican is now a young mother in Nigeria, and that nearly everyone will proudly lay claim to Desmond Tutu. But I don't think anyone actually believes that the Communion has any authority to tell them what to do or that they have a relation with their conservative African and Asian brethren stronger than the vaporous "bonds of affection" Abp Runcie once made popular. It has no religious authority, as far as most Americans are concerned, in the sense that even a decision made by a crushing majority (526 to 70, say) would automatically be obeyed. I don't know what actual consequence would make the moral and doctrinal innovators among the Episcopal bishops stop or make their brethren (centrist and conservative) do anything about them. The only threat I am sure would make them hesitate is the threat to retract their invitations to the Lambeth Conference -- it's a free vacation in England and a chance to "do important work" -- but that wouldn't work now because the next conference is eight years away. Even the Singapore consecrations did not stop the innovators from continuing to innovate. Invading what the average bishop has come to think of as his kingdom and threatening his monopoly on the Anglican brand name, irritates them but it does not make them stop or change their ways. Had the primates in Oporto sent our presiding bishop home and told him not to come back until the Episcopal Church obeyed Lambeth, I am not sure how many bishops would have minded, other than those with positions on international committees. Sudden isolation might have jarred the innovators back into conformity with the tradition, but I have my doubts. The liberals are not alone in this. Had the Lambeth Conference ruled as heavily against the American conservatives, they would have ignored the vote as well. I don't mean to sound too grumpy, but you should know this. **New commandments** A few days ago I got a press release for the New Commandment Task Force, led by a centrist priest named Brian Cox and the homosexualist leader Louie Crew. The group developed from a meeting last November of 22 Episcopalians on both sides of the sexuality issues to work on "Searching For Solutions To Potential Schism." According to the press release, "the Seattle 22 experience convinced the participants that better ways of dealing with serious disagreements were possible, because Episcopalians have far more in common than what is in dispute." Schism here can only mean an institutional break, which is about as likely as my playing goalie for Arsenal. They will hold four four-day regional meetings this year to "craft guidelines for all members of the Episcopal Church to follow in debates and discussions of potentially contentious topics" and to "craft proposed legislation which will provide a safe place in the Church for those of differing theological persuasions, without compromising the direction given in Jesus's New Commandment." One doesn't want to oppose "love," of course, but I would just note that the men Jesus left in charge of His Church spoke very clearly on the ways that love was to be practiced. They would not have founded a task force with a man who has led a long crusade against the instructions St. Paul gave to the Roman church at the beginning of his letter to them. **Great friction** Anyway, something of the same sort was held in the Diocese of Texas in early April to "to discuss ordaining practicing homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions, two issues that continue to cause great friction in many denominations today," according to the Episcopal News Service. The Bishop of Maryland made the standard speech of the moral innovators, claiming that Scripture is complex, and the culture back then was very different, and people that appeal to Scripture do it selectively, and Jesus hung out with sinners, and St. Paul condoned slavery, and . . . well, the usual, including the admission that he was once insensitive to homosexual people but through his pastoral experience has come to value . . . as I said, the usual. He included what has become the standard appeal in these matters, to love and to mission, without defining either word. "Jesus was intent on proclaiming a new ethic which he speaks in the Great Commandment . . . to love others as you love me." This love "transforms lives. . .builds up community . . . and becomes the guiding principle for Christians." (The ellipses are in the ENS story.) Most participants, reported the ENS, "agreed that the format had worked well and provided a safe place for people to come together and talk, a place where their stories were honored. There was a clear consensus for continuing the dialogue." Now, close your eyes real tight and try real hard to imagine St. Paul sitting there all day sharing his story and then voting to "continue the dialogue." I couldn't either. ************************* David Mills, a senior editor of Touchstone, is editor of The Pilgrim's Guide: C. S. Lewis and the Art of Witness (Eerdmans). From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:37:36 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:37:36 Subject: 600 Gather for Anglican Renewal Conference in Recife, Brazil Message-ID: News from the Episcopal Church of Brazil 600 GATHER FOR ANGLICAN RENEWAL CONFERENCE IN RECIFE, BRAZIL Anglican Renewal Ministries for Brazil (AMR) under the leadership of the Rev. Miguel Uchoa organized a conference on the theme "The Church and the Gifts of the Spirit." People from several parishes in the diocese as well as others from different denominations gathered in the Church of the Holy Spirit, where the Rev. Miguel Uchoa is rector. The principal speaker, Ricardo Gondim, taught for three days, on the necessity of the gifts of the Spirit in order for the church to do the work of the Lord. This is a time for the Church to understand that "the whole church must be charismatic" in the sense that the Church's members live by virtue of the "gifts" (charismas), and not by the contingency of appointments or positions." "The Church", underscored Fr. Uchoa, "needs to be led by the gifts of the Spirit." The AMR has its work cut out for itself in the Episcopal Church of Brazil, where the majority of the leadership is liberal. The Diocese of Recife stands as the only diocese that is open to the Charismatic renewal upon an Evangelical basis. The AMR was founded just three years ago by a group of clergy and laypeople of the church of the Holy Spirit, and its ministry has spread, using Life in the Spirit seminars, and special teaching weekends, to introduce the renewal in other parishes. Three wider area conferences are held each year, one of them for Youth, led with support from Joshua Force Ministry based in Ohio, USA. Pray for "ARM Brazil". END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:37:52 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:37:52 Subject: When Faith Enters the Forum by Robert Wuthnow Message-ID: When Faith Enters the Forum By Robert Wuthnow Princeton University Say "religion and politics" and most Americans think of the religious right. For two decades conservative leaders like televangelist Pat Robertson and Baptist Jerry Falwell have pressed us to think about candidates and elections in terms of abortion, homosexuality, and prayer in public schools. But the vast majority of religious Americans do not align themselves with Robertson or Falwell. They don't even attend conservative evangelical Protestant churches. They belong to the historic mainline Protestant denominations-Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, to name a few-or they are Catholics or Jews and a small but growing number are Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists. These other Americans also want religious organizations to be a force for good in our society. But not in the way that some conservative leaders operate. They do not want religious leaders starting political movements or trumpeting their views on talk shows. They prefer quieter forms of influence, like running soup kitchens and mobilizing volunteers through their local congregations. They also want religious organizations to work harder on behalf of the poor and to promote racial equality. These preferences are strikingly evident in a national study of religion and politics I am currently directing at Princeton University. This spring, we conducted a survey of more than 5,000 people chosen to be representative of the adult population of the United States. Supported through a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, the study found that 81 percent of the public believe religious groups should take a more active role in "raising awareness about racial discrimination" and "giving poor people a voice in public affairs," and that 78 percent say this about "protecting the environment," as do 89 percent about "encouraging people to do volunteer work." In contrast, only 31 percent favored "religious leaders forming political movements," and 39 percent favored "religious leaders running for public office" or "religious leaders appearing on television talk shows." Thirty-seven percent said they wanted to see "Christian fundamentalists" or "evangelical Christians" exercising "more influence" in shaping public opinion. Our research is finding little support for the idea that religious groups are only interested in conservative issues, such as abortion or prayer in schools. Indeed, there is widespread interest in progressive issues among all the religious groups surveyed: mainline Protestants, black Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and even evangelical Protestants. Sixty percent of all those surveyed said they were "quite interested" in "legislation to protect the environment" and in "social policies that would help the poor," and another 30 percent said they were "fairly interested" in these topics. The survey showed nearly as much interest in "overcoming discrimination against women in our society," "achieving greater equality for racial and ethnic minorities in our society" and "government policies to promote international peace." Religious organizations have been working quietly behind the scenes for more than three decades to encourage lawmakers to support these issues. The National Council of Churches and the Washington offices representing mainline Protestant denominations, Catholics, and Jews have been particularly active in recent years on such issues as debt relief for poor countries, environmental justice, and the social responsibilities of corporations. But it is at the local level that religious organizations' activity is most evident. For instance, 56 percent of mainline Protestants say their congregation has helped sponsor a shelter for the homeless during the past year, compared with 44 percent of evangelical Protestants, 47 percent of black Protestants, 55 percent of Catholics, and 44 percent of Jews. Seventy-nine percent of religious members nationally say their congregation helps sponsor a food pantry or soup kitchen and 46 percent say their congregation helps sponsor a day care center. Congregations provide the space, leadership, and volunteer effort required to staff these service activities. But the public also favors closer partnerships between congregations and government in providing such services. For instance, 87 percent of those surveyed said they favored religious congregations in their community "working with government agencies to provide better services for low-income families" and 74 percent said they favored religious congregations in their community "receiving government funds to help provide services to the poor." Apparently someone in Washington has been listening. The welfare reform legislation passed a few years ago made it easier for religious organizations to receive government funding for social services. And both presidential candidates say they support a greater role for faith-based communities. Whoever wins in November, it seems likely that congregations and faith-based nonprofit organizations are going to be drawn increasingly into the public life of our nation. Here's hoping all religious traditions will respond. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:38:06 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:38:06 Subject: APA Backs Down on Gay Debate. Homosexual Activists vs Dr. Laura. Message-ID: Homosexual Activists Vs Dr Laura By Rev. Dr. Earle Fox The totalitarian character of homosexual activism was recently illustrated (again) at the American Psychiatric Association convention. About 50 picketed their convention in Chicago a few weeks ago to protest their condemning of therapy for homosexual persons. A debate scheduled at the convention by one of their members who had recently come over to our side between those who think therapy is possible for homosexuals and those who do not was dropped because the homosexual activists refused to participate. They do not want an honest discussion because they know that their case will not survive such a discussion. Silencing Dr. Laura is just another in a long list of such attempts -- for the most part successful because we on our side of the fence are too often unwilling to pay the price for speaking the truth in the face of hostility. They do not want inclusiveness or compassion or love. They want their way or no way. If you disagree with them, you will be found guilty of a "hate crime." If we do not stop them soon, they will be telling all of us how to think and believe. ************************* In a mockery of marriage, hundreds of homosexuals stood before the Lincoln Memorial on April 29 to take "civil union" vows. The next day, on Sunday, tens of thousands of homosexuals marched to occupy the nation's Mall between the Washington Monument and the Capitol dome. Here, they heard speakers call for total victory of the gay agenda. In court, homosexual activists are attacking the Boy Scouts, saying the Scouts must be forced by government to have homosexual men accompany young boys on camping trips. Homosexual activists are fighting hard for their voices to be heard, and they are also fighting to silence others. FRC needs your help to keep them from denying Americans the vital, unalienable freedoms of speech, religion and association. The most alarming effort to curtail these rights has been launched by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which is trying to silence popular radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger. GLAAD is putting enormous pressure on Paramount Television Group and certain TV affiliates in an effort to kill her upcoming fall TV show. A GLAAD leader has also announced a goal of driving Dr. Laura's syndicated radio program off the air, all because Dr. Laura defends the biblical view of sexual morality and family life. In response, FRC has launched its "Free Speech for Dr. Laura" campaign. The attached ad documents how Dr. Laura's First Amendment right to express her view on homosexuality has been threatened. The "Free Speech for Dr. Laura" campaign is "designed to show Paramount and GLAAD just how many Americans support Dr. Laura's right to speak her opinion and the truth about homosexuality," says Family Research Council Chief Spokeswoman Janet Parshall, who also is a syndicated talk show host. Please forward this e-mail to all your friends, family, and work associates encouraging them to do the same. Be sure to visit http://www.frc.org/drlaura/ for ways you can help FRC support Dr. Laura's right to free speech. If Dr. Laura is silenced, people who believe in traditional morality will be silenced. Dr. Earle Fox is an Episcopal priest who heads Transformation Christian Ministries in Alexandria, VA. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:38:19 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:38:19 Subject: Are Journalists Getting Religion Message-ID: Are journalists getting religion? By Terry Mattingly WASHINGTON - The late, great religion writer George Cornell knew a big story when he saw one -- especially when people kept underlining it. It was in April 1982, that he wrote his Associated Press story about research by S. Robert Lichter and Stanley Rothman into the moral and religious views of journalists in America's top newsrooms. One statistic jumped out of the report and into pulpits nationwide. Half of these journalists, when faced with the "religious affiliation" blank, wrote "none." Cornell dug deeper and learned that many had also underlined the word "none." "A lot of journalists, grew up in a tradition where religion -- at least the substance of religion -- was out of the ballpark as far as newspapering is concerned," Cornell told me, when I was doing graduate research at the University of Illinois. "I think that idea has carried over. ... They hesitate to cover religion because they see it as a private matter and they don't want it in the newspaper. Of course, this attitude could also be due to their ignorance of religion." That was then. According to a new 30-year study by Lichter and the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the amount of religion news in America's elite media doubled from the 1980s to the '90s. The percentage of elite journalists who claimed they had no religious affiliation has fallen from that 50 percent level in 1980 to 22 percent. In 1980, 14 percent of those surveyed said they attended religious services at least once a month. It was 30 percent in the new report. Nevertheless, Lichter's team found that the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, ABC, NBC and CBS combined produced only 116 religion news stories a year during the '90s, or just above two a week. Also, journalists embraced certain kinds of stories, while shunning others. "It's true that there is more religion in the news, today," said Lichter. "But what you tend to get is the religion of the journalists -- which is politics." Thus, religious groups usually made news when engaged in public policy debates or internal power struggles, especially if the clashes were about sex. Church-state conflicts produced one out of every eight stories about religion in the '90s. Journalists love to dissect the Religious Right. Meanwhile, 93 percent of the religion news reports contained no references to theology or the spiritual content of a group or person's faith. This "spiritual dimension" appeared in only 5 percent of stories about Catholicism or Protestantism, but graced 26 percent of those about Eastern religions, such as Buddhism and Taoism and 19 percent of those about Islam. One explanation for this is that journalists may presume readers already know the "theological rationales behind mainstream religious opinions," said Newsweek religion editor Kenneth Woodward, during a forum on the survey at the Ethics & Public Policy Center. Then again, reporters may simply be theologically ignorant or operating with a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to the role of faith in the news, he said. In the years since the original "media elites" study, its critics have attacked the claim that major newsrooms are havens of secularism. The Freedom Forum's 1993 "Bridging the Gap" report noted that 72 percent of 266 editors surveyed nationwide said that religion is "important in their lives," while only 9 percent claimed no religious affiliation. But Lichter remains fascinated that 70 percent of elite journalists continue to attend religious services once a year, or less, or never. Also, journalists remain paragons of progressive virtues on hot moral issues. In 1980, 90 percent were pro-abortion rights. It's 97 percent in the new report. Support for gay rights was 76 percent in 1980 and has slipped by a statistically insignificant amount, to 73 percent. A logical way to read this, said Lichter, is to say that elite newsrooms contain just as many cultural and political liberals, but that some journalists now attend "socially and culturally liberal congregations." Newsrooms may be fertile mission fields for oldline Protestant churches. Or perhaps, quipped Woodward, "baby boomer journalists now have adolescent kids and that will drive almost anyone to church." Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) teaches at the Alexandria, Va., campus of Regent University. He writes this weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:38:30 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:38:30 Subject: Neiman-Marcus Compassion by Frederica Message-ID: Neiman-Marcus Compassion By Frederica Mathewes-Greene If you're in the market for a great big Bucket o' Compassion, the best place to look would be the May 2000 Neiman-Marcus catalogue. It sports a sincere moss-green cover embossed with a cream-colored card, which proclaims "Compassion: A Tribute to Loving Hearts and Minds." The font is so noble you want to cry. Inside there's a message in purple on cream, with intermittent capitalizing and oversized words that convey the kind of urgency associated with teenage girls: "COMPASSION can be defined as our capacity to care for other living beings. Yet it goes a little deeper than that. Compassion REQUIRES ACTION - giving of our time, money, or experience wherever there's a need. Since it's available in SUCH ABUNDANCE, we sometimes take this feeling for granted. But, oh, its power! Compassion is the ultimate salve we can place upon the UNIVERSAL FEELINGS of despair, pain, or regret. Which means that even sometimes the simplest act of KINDNESS CAN define a moment. Or CHANGE A LIFE." What kind of a Scrooge could object to a message like that? The kind who notices that the first thing offered in the catalogue is a pair of $1400 earrings. A few more pages and you're up to the $12,000 watch and the $36,000 necklace. Apart from a growing feeling that it would be darned compassionate of someone to give these things to me, I'm not sure how the sentiments on the cover relate to the interior. On page 40 the mystery is made clear: each year the NM Foundation selects a few charities to receive "a portion of the proceeds" from the sale of a NM-exclusive item. This year the offering is a "Compassion Bracelet" that "explores color therapy by mixing crystals, seed beads, and semiprecious stones," a bargain at $55. This year's recipient(s) will be disclosed later in the spring; previous years' included organizations that provide meals to kids, shelter to homeless women, and guide dogs to the blind. Here's a puzzler: "religious organizations" are never considered, "to avoid conflicts of interest." In a note opposite the title page we get another opportunity to admire the wonder that is Neiman-Marcus. A group of company associates volunteers each summer at a camp for children with cancer, while others serve different causes as donors or committee members. The chairman and CEO of the company are shown in an adjoining photo, looking valiant even though they're probably not volunteering at a summer camp at the moment, judging from their attire. Unless it's Camp Junior Tycoon. This kind of thing is easy to make fun of-try and stop me!-but the problem is not that Neiman-Marcus has embraced the concept of compassion. A catalogue titled "Compassion" is better than one titled "Avarice" or "Loot." The juxtaposition of noble sentiments and $36,000 jewelry seems initially jarring, but the problem is only one of perception. We aren't yet used to combining business and spirituality. We still compartmentalize; we still presume that spiritual things are for once-a-week piety, and the rest of the week is every-man-for-himself. It's the separation of Faith and Life. This kind of separation is a bad thing for both. Faith gets attenuated and vague, Life gets grimy and bent around the edges. In recent years spiritual and temporal things have been mingling in a healthier balance, and the "Naked Public Square" has at least got its shoes on. In his new book, "Bobos in Paradise," David Brooks offers a new view of the culture wars. The bourgeoisie, he says, won. Sure, at first glance it looks like the stuffy old Establishment is dead, and flower-child philosophy is sprinkled victoriously over all like beads from a "color therapy" bracelet. Yet, Brooks says, that wasn't really what the "war" was about. Since early 19th century France, the conflict has been between stylish bohemians and stolid bourgeoisie--a philosophical war between art and business. The conflict was a long one. In the sixties, hippies railed against soulless consumerism; in the eighties, "greedy"corporations were objects of loathing. But business offers opportunity and security that can't be matched elsewhere, and gradually won the field. Now we're both bourgeois and bohemian--Bobos. Now it's OK to be smart in business, even OK to be rich; now dot com billionaires are folk heroes. If in the struggle some spiritual awareness rubbed off, if business is getting religion, that's not a bad thing. The problem is not that Neiman-Marcus has embraced compassion; the problem is that they won't shut up about it. The whole project has the odor of spray-on virtue, a scent becoming increasingly familiar. The Neiman-Marcus catalogue exemplifies a general trend toward business expressions of public moralizing. Certainly this is not a *bad* thing; it's better than public *de*moralizing. But it includes a creepy air of smugness and self-satisfaction. Neiman-Marcus says compassion gets taken for granted because "it's available in SUCH ABUNDANCE"-why, around the office, we just overflow with it like Lady Bountiful. Yet if the Latin meaning of the word is "to suffer with," real compassion is a great deal more costly and wrenching than that. True compassion is not so self-congratulatory; true compassion "vaunteth not itself." As Jesus warned, "Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them. ...When you give alms, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do; truly, they have received their reward. ... But do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." That hand, right there. The one with the $12,000 watch. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:38:40 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:38:40 Subject: Episcopal Church Claims Suit over Trust Money is Baseless Message-ID: Episcopal Church claims suit over trust money is baseless by Ron Goldwyn Philadelphia Daily News Staff Writer The Episcopal Diocese says litigation in which a black Baptist church is laying claim to a 19th century trust fund is groundless because the trust was intended for Episcopalians only. The diocese, a defendant in state and federal suits filed by 19th Street Baptist Church, 19th and Titan streets in South Philadelphia, issued a statement yesterday that the trust creator's intent was clear on that point. The Baptists' attorney, Robert Sugarman, brushed aside those comments and said he was hurrying to file a brief in Pennsylvania Superior Court on the case. All sides say the complicated case is a long way from any courtroom - if it ever gets there. Defendants, including a bank, a church and the diocese, call it frivolous and say they'll countersue for their hefty legal bills. Common Pleas Judge Albert Sheppard last fall dismissed the state suit which, under legal precedents cited by the defendants, would bar federal litigation on the same issues. Nineteenth Street Baptist seeks to withdraw its suit in state court to leave a clear path for the federal suit. At the core is a trust established by 19th century heiress Margaretta Lewis to benefit Memorial Church of the Holy Comforter. She hired famed architect Frank Furness to build it as an Episcopal mission tied to her own church, historic St. Peter's at 3rd and Pine streets. The Baptist church maintains that her original $80,000 should now be worth in excess of $100 million and should be owed to the church under Lewis' will since it bought Holy Comforter in 1945. Defendants St. Peter's, the Episcopal Diocese and First Union Bank insist that St. Peter's controls the trust. They aren't saying what it's worth, but indicate that it's nowhere near millions. The Episcopal Diocese's statement cited a 1945 Orphans' Court order which in turn quoted an 1875 deed. That deed, it said, "conveyed to the accountant in trust to 'allow the same of be used for divine services according to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church. . .'" The statement said St. Peter's Church was both owner of the Holy Comforter property and "accountant" under the deed. The unsigned statement was issued from the five-county diocese's Society Hill headquarters yesterday after the Daily News published an account of the lawsuit. "It is harder to imagine a clearer statement of Margaretta Lewis' intent than the property and the funds be put to the use of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Pennsylvania," the diocese declared. Sugarman said he's basing the Baptists' suit on provisions in the Lewis will that she intended for the trust to benefit "the community" around 19th and Titan, several miles from St. Peter's. The suit alleges the defendants were part of a racially-motivated conspiracy to deprive 19th Street Baptist of the trust. "She [Lewis] in her mind thought the Holy Comforter community and Episcopal church were one and the same," Sugarman said. "But she didn't give it to St. Peter's church, she didn't give it to the diocese, she gave it to the 19th and Titan Holy Comforter community. "And the other thing is she wanted to help the disadvantaged. She wanted to maintain that community and see a missionary activity, meaning to help a people in need." Sugarman didn't dispute the Orphans Court wording cited by the diocese, which allows St. Peter's to assume control of the trust. "That is one of the statements, but it's also stated it was for the benefit of the community," he said. "And why did they do it in secret?" From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:38:53 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:38:53 Subject: Choir Director Sought Message-ID: Choir Director Sought The Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA is seeking to hire a Director of Church Music. We are a large church with four services on Sunday morning that musically run the gamut from classical Anglican to "Holy Trinity Brompton contemporary." The Director of Church Music should be someone with strong skills in classical choral conducting (both children and adults), administrative and pastoral skills to oversee the entire music program, and a person of vision and prayer. Salary is competitive, including full benefits, and commensurate with experience. Candidates both in and outside the United States are welcome. Please contact the Rector, the Rev. Greg Brewer, by E-mail at GOBREWER at AOL.COM. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 01:39:21 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 1:39:21 Subject: Devotional - Bringing Meaning to Life Message-ID: DEVOTIONAL - BRINGING MEANING TO LIFE "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.' What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?" - Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 Bertrand Russell was born in 1872 in Trelleck, Wales. His parents died when he was three years old. He was educated privately and went to Trinity College, Cambridge. He excelled at mathematics and philosophy and became a "free thinker" in the mold of the humanists John Locke and David Hume. Though he scoffed at Christianity and religion, he had no real hope for mankind. He wrote: "The life of a man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, toward a goal which few can hope to reach and where none may tarry long. One by one as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death. Brief and powerless is man's life. On him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way. For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day." Life without Jesus Christ is meaningless and without hope. Life in Christ has an eternal hope that is centered on Him. Has your life begun to lose purpose? Today in prayer, come to the Lord and thank Him that He brings joy and meaning to life. "A general cannot give what he does not possess, he cannot prolong life, although he can reward service. But the soldier of God is neither abandoned in trouble nor destroyed by death." - Minucius Felix God's Word: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." - 1 Corinthians 15:17-19 From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Thu Jun 1 13:16:06 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 13:16:06 Subject: Fwd: add Message-ID: add virtuosity henry.scriven at europe.c-of-e.org.uk (Henry Scriven) -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: Henry Scriven Subject: new email address Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2000 10:13:56 +0100 Size: 10230 URL: From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:40:37 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:40:37 Subject: The Troubling Spirituality of Frank Griswold Message-ID: THE TROUBLING SPIRITUALITY OF FRANK GRISWOLD Commentary By David W. Virtue From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:41:12 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:41:12 Subject: The 20/20 Vision of Ted Mollegen Message-ID: THE 20/20 VISION OF TED MOLLEGEN News Commentary By David W. Virtue Ted Mollegen has a vision for the Episcopal Church. He wants to see it double by the year 2020. A resolution is before the deputies and bishops who will meet shortly in Denver put forth by the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism. The editors of Episcopal Life consider it the most audacious proposal to come before convention. They might be right. But same-sex marriage resolutions will surely top that. One should, however, congratulate Mr. Mollegen for at least trying. Mr. Mollegen is a layman and a liberal from the Diocese of Connecticut. His father was a liberal professor at Virginia Theological Seminary. Mr. Mollegen's liberal credentials are therefore well established. If Mr. Mollegen has his way he would like to see evangelism taken out of the hands of evangelicals in The Episcopal Church and "mainstreamed". Mr. Mollegen is, regrettably, playing in a sand box with no sand. Indulge me. First. We have just completed a Decade of Evangelism in which The Episcopal Church USA with all its management skills, talk of mission, money and hoards of well educated clergy managed to actually go backwards, a feat sustained only by the Chicago River which, when I lived their attending seminary, managed with its heavy pollution to drift backwards, causing deep consternation to some politicians when ballot boxes mysteriously disappeared on election day only to reappear a week later. Secondly, liberalism has failed utterly to regenerate a single human soul. Forty years of Protestant liberalism in this country successfully managed to empty the major denominations, including ECUSA of some 25 million members. No gospel. No life-changing message. Go figure. Liberal agendas for human betterment have all failed. Just ask Karl. To give him some credit Mr. Mollegen calls his plan a B-HAG: "Big Hairy Audacious Goal". A better description might be a B-UEWNHOS: "Big Useless Endeavor With No Hope of Success". Why? For this to succeed the first thing that needs to happen is for The Episcopal Church itself to be converted. Most Episcopalians are 'pray, pay and obey' types whose average age is now in the mid 60s and who are rapidly heading for funny farms and golf villages along the shores of Miami Beach. They are not evangelists. Trust me on this. They have left money in their wills for stained glass windows for St. Swithan's by the Sea but they don't know Jesus. We must start first with the household of God and then we can save the world, or at least the United States. Secondly the liberal definition of evangelism is not remotely biblical. The Episcopal Church has now unofficially endorsed its new doctrine of Inclusion (Inclusivity) as its modus operandi, which in essence means we are to include sodomy, transgendered persons and lesbitransgay types without the need for conversion. Trust me when I tell you that these folk will not be beating the doors down if the resolution passes, or fails. Thirdly, some 60 bishops have signed on supporting same-sex marriages and the continued ordination of avowed homosexuals to the priesthood. This is the kiss of death. John Shelby Spong managed during his tenure as the Bishop of Newark to reduce the diocese by a third while ordaining some 18 known gays. Sodomy doesn't work and it doesn't grow churches. Louie Crew knows that, that's why he wants reconciliation. Without evangelicals he knows The Episcopal Church will be out of business by 2020. Mr. Mollegen believes these people will do evangelism? In your prayers. Fourthly, liberal and revisionist bishops, Like the Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles E. Bennison loathe and despise evangelicals (and First Century styled evangelism) even though these parishes are growing and his liberal vision of "missionary growth" hopes for the diocese are going nowhere, with lots of diocesan money. Allow me to expand on this. The Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA recently started "New Chapel" drawing 150 new local youth to a Sunday service. Bennison, in writing about the wonderful things happening in the diocese in the Pennsylvania Episcopalian talked about a puppet program in one parish and lights going on in a downtown parish while totally ignoring probably the most dynamic church growth ministry in America today. And Mollegen wants us to believe that The Episcopal Church will grow in the hands of bishops like Bennison? Who are we kidding. Fifthly, revisionist and liberal bishops and their clergy have no fundamental belief in a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. They are embarrassed by evangelism. That is what Southern Baptists and Assemblies of God people do, "we don't do that sort of thing." If Mr. Mollegen thinks that mainstreaming evangelism to these guys will make the church grow he is deluding himself. It will die faster than a deer caught in the headlights of a car doing 80 miles per hour. YOU DON'T PUT EVANGELISM INTO THE HANDS OF BISHOPS AND CLERGY WHO DON'T BELIEVE IT. Mr. Mollegen is critical of the Decade of Evangelism because it had no "implementing strategy" he says. He honors it because it moved into the "vocabulary of the Episcopal Church" Really. Vocabulary doesn't change lives. Jesus does. If the Decade of Evangelism didn't work it is because most of the bishops and clergy don't believe in evangelism to start with. It is a complete fiction to make people say and do what in their hearts they don't believe, and most of the Bishops in the House of ECUSA don't believe in biblical evangelism. If Mr. Mollegen is sincere, and I believe he is, he and his Standing Commission should put a resolution on the floor calling for every parish in the Episcopal Church to implement the ALPHA program. He should then put out another resolution saying that every bishop must hire a full-time evangelist (read evangelical) who will implement ALPHA and help those small dying parishes run by liberal priests get back into the swing of Biblical faith. Who knows some of them might actually get converted as they rediscover 'mere' Christianity. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:41:46 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:41:46 Subject: John Stott says Christianity Must be True and Relevant Message-ID: Stott says Christianity must be true and relevant Must be biblical and contemporary SUE CARELESS PROMINENT Anglican evangelical conservative based in Britain, Rev. John Stott, recently spoke in Canada on Christianity and tradition and commented upon the irregular consecrations of two American bishops. Evangelist Rev. John Stott speaks to faculty and students at Wycliffe College on a recent visit. Dr. Stott was the Queen's chaplain for 32 years and has written 37 books. For 55 years he was rector (now rector emeritus) of just one parish, All Souls, London. Dr. Stott, 79, addressed the faculty and students of Wycliffe College in Toronto on March 24. He said, "The health of the church depends upon the word of God preached. The pew can seldom rise higher than the pulpit." He believes nothing undermines preaching more than skepticism about the biblical text. "I pity the preachers who enter the pulpit with no Bible in their hands or with a Bible more rags and tatters than the word of God. They cannot expound Scripture because they have no Scripture to expound." Dr. Stott spoke of "the double authorship" of the Bible. "Divine inspiration is not dictation. It does not smother the human personalities of the authors. God spoke through human authors so that their words were simultaneously His word and His word were simultaneously theirs." Yet he acknowledges there is "a cultural chasm" that yawns between the biblical text and the modern world. "Even in new translations it feels odd, it sounds archaic, it looks obsolete and it smells musty." Christianity needs to be both true and relevant, he said. "The great tragedy in the church today is that evangelicals are biblical but not contemporary, while liberals are contemporary but not biblical. We need faithfulness to the ancient word and sensitivity to the modern world." Preachers have to listen to the world's "many discordant voices: the cries of the poor and oppressed, the questions of the bewildered, the sighs of the hurting. We listen to the body broken. We are called to double listen. "We listen to the word of God to believe and obey it and we listen to the modern world to sensitively understand it. "If we grasp the original meaning of the text without going on to its contemporary message we lapse in antiquarianism, live in the past unrelated to present reality. If we start with the contemporary message without first having asked what it meant, we have lapsed into existentialism." Gail Henderson, who was at the lecture, said Dr. Stott's Basic Christianity (1958) profoundly changed her life. Living in the remote Ontario community of Ignace, she found the best-selling book "integrated head and heart, grounded me and put me on a journey." Today Ms. Henderson is a master of divinity student at Wycliffe and a postulate with the Diocese of Algoma. "I sensed Dr. Stott's humility before the word of God when I read Basic Christianity in the late '70s and again as I heard him speak at Wycliffe." Rev. Barry Parker of St. Paul's Church, Bloor Street, in Toronto, said he considers Dr. Stott's Between Two Worlds (1982) to be one of the most brilliant books on preaching. With his book royalties, Dr. Stott has established the Langham Trust, which has provided books and 100 doctoral scholarships at Western seminaries to promising, young, evangelical scholars from the developing world. A bachelor, Dr. Stott is affectionately known as "Uncle John" to hundreds of Asian and African young people. Remarkably he corresponds with 1,400 people worldwide. In an interview after his lecture, he said he "rather regrets" the recent consecrations in Singapore of Americans John Rodgers and Charles Murphy. "It was irregular, but it may prove to be right and necessary." He considers the new bishops, whom he knows personally, to be "very fine, godly, thoughtful men." For Dr. Stott their consecrations do not signal the end of the Anglican Communion. "I regret our evangelical witness has not been stronger. I believe it is possible to overcome liberals at their own game. Some Anglican liberal bishops are not the scholars they claim to be. But we evangelicals haven't produced the books to overthrow them." Dr. Stott does not believe that some African and Asian bishops were manipulated by wealthy conservatives at the 1998 Lambeth conference as some maintain. "They may not all have academic scholarship but they are men with good minds. They know what they believe. They believe in revealed truth." So does John Stott. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:42:02 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:42:02 Subject: The State of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. Message-ID: The State of The Episcopal Church in the US By Bob Libby The Endowment of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America doubled between 1994 and the end of 1999. It now stands at $328,513,188, an increase of over 100 per cent. However, the increase is due more to a rising stock market than to an increase of wills and bequests. The operating income of all our congregations, reflecting the strong American economy, increased by more than $200 million to $1.2 billion between 1994 and 1998, an increase of 22 per cent. Average Sunday attendance for the same period increased by 4.3 per cent to 855,084. Communicant strength was up 11.9 per cent, but total baptized membership was down 3.6 per cent and now stands at 2,316,843, which is more than a million below the 1964 figure of 3,400,000. While the three decade slide in membership was reversed in the mid nineties, the increase for the "Decade of Evangelism" was barely over one per cent and while there is a surge of interest in "rebuilding the church," a massive clergy shortage is looming on the horizon. "The Decade of Evangelism caught the Episcopal Church flat-footed." So states the report of the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church. It is one of more than 35 reports from committees, commissions, agencies and boards reporting to the triennial legislative body of the Episcopal Church known as the General Convention. The reports are contained in the "Blue Book," which runs to over 500 pages, which was delivered to all convention deputies and bishops who will gather in Denver, Colorado, July 3-13. The failure of the ECUSA to grow or even understand what evangelism is all about is traced to a variety of causes. The State of the Church Committee suggests that two theological camps appear to be in conflict. One places its emphasis on the Incarnation, celebrates the goodness of God's creation and directs Christians to ," the work of justice to correct the ways that creation has fallen from its original goodness." Others place their emphasis on the Atonement and recognizes the sinfulness of human nature as the root issue and "Christ's saving action by his death upon the cross," as God's action in our behalf to restore the "at-one-ment" of God and his creation. "Faith in Jesus is how we avail ourselves of God's forgiveness. Salvation is the solution to the bad news." While the committee acknowledges that both theological emphases find expression in the Book of Common Prayer, they regret that the two sides are often at odds with each other. Their best insight is that, "The Church cannot fight and grow at the same time... If we are to grow, we cannot substitute our theological positions for the Gospel. We must proclaim Christ!" Toward that end, the Committee on Domestic Mission is demanding that "North America be recognized as a significant mission field ... with a great potential for evangelism among those who are unchurched and unreached," and boldly is calling ECUSA to the vision of "doubling the baptized membership of the Episcopal Church by the year 2020. Several dioceses, with Texas in the lead, have established programs for this purpose and I suspect that we will be hearing a great deal about 20/20 vision in the years to came. In order to begin the process of "Rebuilding the Church," the State of the Church committee is calling for a detailed census to find out just who belongs to the Episcopal Church. The days when Episcopalians were almost by definition middle and upper income Anglo Saxons is a thing of the past. In my own diocese, Southeast Florida, we are West Indian, Hispanic, Haitian as well as sons and daughters of Albion. To "Rebuild the Church," leadership will be required and that brings up the subject of an impending clergy crisis. By the year 2020 70 per cent of our present clergy will be eligible for retirement. At present only 355 of our 7,106 active clergy are under-35 and the average age of graduating seminarians is 45 and the medium age for present clergy is 57.06. Add to that the Pension Fund's new provisions for early retirement and we have a massive clergy shortage looming in the not too distant future. "Not only are our young and potential members underserved, but more and more of our smaller congregations already experience long vacancies." END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:42:17 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:42:17 Subject: Methodists Closer to Unity with Anglicans - Ruth Gledhill, The London Times Message-ID: Methodists closer to unity with Anglicans BY RUTH GLEDHILL, Religion Correspondent The London Times THE Methodist Church in Britain took a significant step closer to unity with the Church of England yesterday with a report that calls for the creation of Methodist bishops. Such a step would remove one of the chief obstacles to unity with Anglicans, allowing two of Britain's three largest denominations to come together in a church representing more than 26 million people. The Methodist equivalent to a bishop is known as "district chairman", a term described in the report as unintelligible to most people outside the Church. The report, to be debated by the Methodist Conference in Huddersfield later this month, concedes that it would not be right simply to substitute "bishop" for district chairman. If Methodists do opt for bishops, they must do so in the context of a unity scheme. The report comes as Methodist and Anglican leaders meet to discuss how they can move towards full unity. A common statement is expected to be published next summer. The question of episcopal leadership is the main sticking point between the two churches and contributed to the breakdown of attempts at unity in 1969 and 1972. It is accepted that there could be no question of unity unless the Church of England agreed to consecrate women bishops. However, this is considered possible within ten years and moves in that direction are expected at the General Synod in York next month. All participants in the Methodist-Anglican unity talks have been sworn to secrecy but one insider said: "These are not the formal talks themselves, but they are laying the groundwork for formal unity talks to begin." With both churches now suffering sharp decline, many believe that unity could one day be the only alternative to extinction. The Methodist Church has 353,000 members, a fall of 27,000 in three years. Latest figures from the Church of England show Sunday worshippers dropping below one million for the first time. However, at least 25 million people in Britain are baptised Anglicans, while the Methodist community represents more than 1.25 million. Church leaders on both sides believe that a united church would be better equipped to evangelise nominal Christians who no longer go to church. Already, many Anglican parishes have in effect joined forces with Methodists in what are known as "local ecumenical projects". In the eyes of many, Methodist bishops would merely put an episcopal seal on what is already happening at grass roots. However, the report Episkope and Episcopacy is expected to provoke heated debate, with hardliners opposing any moves towards an Anglican episcopal model. One leading Methodist predicted a battle ahead: "We are concerned not to end up with an authoritarian, heavy-handed Anglican model of episcopacy. It is a question of not having any one person in control. It was very much the belief of John Wesley that power in the Church should be divided." Methodist bishops already exist in America, but are not held to be in the "apostolic succession" claimed by bishops in the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. A move to Methodist bishops in Britain would overturn two centuries of tradition in the Methodist Church, which has eschewed hierarchical structures of authority since it split from the Church of England in the late 18th century. Dr Leslie Griffiths, a former Conference president who is minister at Wesley's Chapel in the City, insisted that Methodist bishops were essential. He said: "I think we should go ahead and do it now. People understand what a bishop is. To call someone a district chairman makes them sound like a government official." END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:42:28 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:42:28 Subject: Sudan Campaign Update - Action for June 9, 2000 Message-ID: Sudan Campaign Update What We've Done- What You Should Do On National Sudan Day June 9, 2000 Dear Friends of Sudan; Sudan Campaign Update On May 23rd, The Sudan Campaign became a powerful force for the besieged people of Southern Sudan. On that day, we unleashed a new and powerful force for freedom based on an unassailable coalition that spans the entire religious, racial and political spectrum of American life. Liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, Christians, Muslims and Jews, all pledged to fight for the survival, the dignity and the freedom of a people world leaders would abandon. Our campaign continues daily with prayers and pickets at the White House. We are asking the President to end his silence on Sudan. At the same time, we are pledging that we will not wait: Americans, through our civic and religious organizations will give direct aid to the people of Sudan who are targeted for extinction. On June 8, Barbara Vogel's class comes to Washington and will gather at the Lincoln Memorial to rededicate as American abolitionists. They will spend the day lobbying Congress and asking to meet with the President. June 9th is National Sudan Day and people from around the nation (and around the globe) will pray, protest, conduct seminars and show films about the genocide in Sudan. These events are registered on www.sudancamaign.com and more are posted daily. There are indications that our new coalition is making progress. African-American pastors in the Campaign have sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus, asking them to come to the front of the battle and specifically asking them to meet with President Clinton and press upon him the urgency of this matter. June 9 is a very important day for the Sudan Campaign. It is our chance to show that there is grassroots support for Sudan across the country, and that the time for Clinton to break his silence is now. In addition to participating in your local city, everyone should make an effort to do the following: What You Can Do on June 9 1. Pray or fast with your congregation. Pastor Michel Faulkner from New York has initiated a 21 day fast. Join him. Our press release is included in this email. 2. Sign our petition and email the link to 10 of your friends and family. The petition can be signed on-line at www.anti-slavery.com 3. Write one email message to President Clinton urging him to break his silence on Sudan. Email: president at whitehouse.gov. Email 10 of your friends to do the same. 4. Write on email message to BP/Amoco telling them that you are boycotting their oil due to their investment in Sudan. You can email their human rights department from this link: http://www.bpamoco.com/_nav/email. 5. Make a donation. We cannot continue our fight for freedom without your support. You can mail your (tax-deductable donations?) to PO Box 852; Annandale, VA 22003 Atlanta, Georgia Event Captain: Rev. Marvin Williams Contact Number: 404-681-0924 Email: cwilliams at runshoot.com Event: 52 Churches Rally at State Capitol Bellingham, Washington Event Captain: John Coats Contact Number: 360-671-5830 Email: n9220352 at cc.wwu.edu Event: Candlelight Vigil at Western Washington University Boston, Massachusetts Event Captain: Lydia Morris Contact Number: 617-426-8161 Email: morris at anti-slavery.org Event: Candle-light vigil and gospel show at Faneuil Hall, historic abolitionist site - 8 p.m. Chicago, Illinois Event Captain: David James Email:djames at jpusa.org Event: Moody Church: Luncheon with Gospel Choir and Sudanese speakers Cincinnati, Ohio Event Captain: Matt Tassone Email: strike at one.net Event: Poetry and music performances by local hip-hop artists Colorado Springs, Colorado Event Captain: Joseph Warren Email: joewarren at netzero.com Event: Vigil Floyd, Virginia Event Captain: Katie Gwinn Contact Number: 540-745-6868 Event: Local area campaign launch Kansas City Event Captain: Jan O'Brien Contact Information: jasob at earthlink.net Event: Church Event Los Angeles, California Event Captain: Deborah Williams Contact Number: 626-302-5497 Email:WILLIAD at sce.com Event: Divestment Rally Miami, Florida Event Captain: Michelle Marano Contact Number: 305-408-1288 Event: School Event Minneapolis, Minnesota Event Captain: Paul Mattson Contact Number: 651-642-0846 Event: Capitol Rally Ottawa, Canada Event Captain: Mel Middleton Contact Information: MMiddleton at maf.org Event: Sudan Civil Society Symposium Nashville, Tennessee Event Captain: Langly Granberry Contact Number: 615-837-1506 Email: langley.granberry at nashville.com Event: "Word of Faith Christian Center" - Church Open House, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. New York City, New York Event Captain: Stuart Willett Contact Number: 800-934-4448 x 52612 Event: City Hall Park Rally Newark, New Jersey Event Captain: Marsha Meyers Contact Number: 973-923-0935 Email: tishdarbullet at aol.com Event: BP/Amoco Boycott Osh Kosh, Wisconsin Event Captain: Shelvia Koeshall Contact Number: 920-685-0491 Event: Local Campaign Launch Portland, Oregon Event Captain: Keith Humphrey Contact Number:503-431-2123 Email: wayimp at yahoo.com Event: Church Event Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Event Captain: Loretta Thompson Contact Number: 919-261-0214 Email: psalm139v14 at hotmail.com Event: Rally at the State Capitol Tallahassee, Florida Event Captain: Susanne Cusick Contact Information: shcusick at aol.com Event: Church Event Washington DC Contact: David Rossini Contact Number: 202-835-8763 Email: rossini at anti-slavery.org Event: Rally at Lafayette Park From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:39:37 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:39:37 Subject: Opening Comments 6-6-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, For more than three years I have listened, read and pondered the speeches, sermons and sayings of Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church USA. From the moment he began talking about "pluriform truths" I have wondered deeply about what sort of man is it that we have at the helm of the Church. I have grown increasingly troubled by his utterances and the spirituality that lies behind it. Tonight's lead story reflects that troubled spirituality. As we approach General Convention there is a real air of trying to make things work, or 'Why can't we all just get along', hope. It's enough to make one cry. There is a high-powered reconciliation effort going on in the church that has the Presiding Bishop's blessing. There's the New Commandment Task Force and Ted Mollegen, a Connecticut lay Episcopalian with impeccable blue-blood Episcopal credentials that wants to mainstream evangelism to liberals. I have written a piece on his efforts as well. At another level there are those who are attempting to reconcile seemingly irreconcilable positions. My wife, for example, is a born reconciler. She does it professionally and well. And gets paid for it. She is involved in a major national Episcopal reconciliation movement spearheaded by some heavyweight evangelicals and liberals trying to bring reconciliation into the Church. I applaud hers and their efforts. I just don't think it is going to work. Whenever she turns up at these conferences and announces who she is, they all duck, and then when they see she's alone they ask how she could possibly live with someone like me. She responds by saying, "my husband hurls hand grenades through windows and I go in and clean up the mess." We have a wonderful marriage needless to say. A large 90-pound Akita dog sleeps on the bed. I behave myself. There's also a story today on the ministry of John Stott, singularly one of the greatest heavyweight evangelical Anglicans of this century, though you might want to toss in J.I. Packer and a few others as well. He is one of a handful of persons of whom it might be said that being a celibate for the Kingdom's sake has paid off big time. He has written some 35 books, mostly commentaries, has carried on a worldwide ministry of Bible teaching. He has spoken at IVF gatherings of some 30,000 students at one time. He has spoken to countless pastors of every denominational stripe and has had a broad-based cross-denominational ministry that has carried him to the four corners of the earth for more than 40 years. His John Stott Ministries underwrites Third World students into evangelical seminaries and he is buying and producing books for Third World seminaries that have no peer. He is a one man-walking seminary. There's hardly a subject he hasn't written on. He's even written about homosexuality. (He's against it.) At 79 he still takes time off to go bird watching, his only hobby. He is a man of extraordinary humility (despite being British), puts on no airs and he recently described himself to one reporter as "just an ordinary bloke". I once asked him, while conducting an interview in the back seat of a car what he thought of the value of speaking in tongues. "None" came the curt reply. Stott is about as mainline Evangelical as you will find. He has never imbibed the Charismatic movement, and the only criticism some might have is that his theology reflects more a British rationalism lacking emotional and 'feeling' content. This is not entirely true. Stott hugs with the best of them. Certainly he has been critical of the Charismatic movement but he has not made enemies and he has been a reconciler even in this area. Stott's brand of evangelicalism is not particularly in favor among American Evangelical Episcopalians who tend to be quite charismatic and raise their hands during church services. His closest followers in the US would be people like Bishop FitzSimons Allison, Dr. Paul Vitz, Dr. Kendall Harmon, Dr. Chris Seitz, Dr. Tim Smith and the SEAD crowd to name but a few. He has taken on Spong in public debate and did it with more graciousness than I would ever show him. I prefer to satirize the Idiot One. Talking of idiots. The Episcopal Church now has a new sixth bishop in Lexington, Kentucky. His name is Stacy Sauls, and he said he would vote for same-sex marriages when and if the House of Bishops voted to do so. If that is so the Rt. Rev. Sauls will make the 60th bishop in the HOB who will marry people of the same gender. A clear majority among the biblically illiterate House of Purple. "Will you George take Albert to be your awfully wedded other? Do you Albert promise not to fight over who pours the Wheaties and who cuts the bananas for breakfast and who has to wash up after. Will you Albert promise to take kibbles for a walk each evening without swishing and annoying the hell out of the neighbors. And will you George promise to wear heels only on weekends and keep your own video copy of La Cage Aux Folles and not keeping borrowing Albert's. If you can say 'I do', I now pronounce you mano a mano." Moving right along. Episcopal Bishop's Column Debuts on Sex Web Site A few weeks ago I broke the story that Spong was going to write a column on a new Internet porn site, Position. Com. Well it's now a reality. A sex and religious issues column written by Spong made its debut Monday on the Internet Web site that includes erotic art and a column by a former porn star. Spong's column, "The Religious Write," appeared on ThePosition.com, and already was drawing e-mail messages to the editor that Spong is "going to hell" and "is not a Christian." Spong has apparently signed a one-year contract to write columns for ThePosition.com. Editor-in-chief Jack Heidenry said, "There's definitely nudity" on the site "but we're not aligned with the porn industry. We're not running the equivalent of centerfolds." Spong's first contribution posits that the Ten Commandments are chauvinistic. "When one looks at the Ten Commandments closely, the anti-female bias is clear," and, "The church does guilt better than it does anything else," the bishop writes. The column appears with cover story, "The 100 Most Important People in Sex" (including Spong), an erotic art gallery and a sex newswire. Contributors include former porn star Candida Royale as well as Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, writing on sexuality and the law. Heidenry, who formerly edited theology books, said the most supportive notes were from lesbians and gays. What a surprise. Some said Spong was going to hell. That's not new either. Most of us have known that for a long time. On a saner note, the Rev. Dr. Peter Toon of The Prayer Book Society has an idea worth floating if not flirting with. He writes: "What seems to be the only way to re-establish the orthodox Anglican Way on American soil as a viable entity is for there to be, not a secession as in the 1970s and as with the Presbyterians , but rather the creation of a new BODY taken from the would-be orthodox within the ECUSA and the would-be orthodox in the Continuing Anglican Movement by all taking counsel together to produce an entity which has the blessing and approval of a majority of the Anglican Primates (who will meet in this country next March and who will be ready to guide it in its early years). This new entity (province or province in embryo) could be in one of several forms but it would need to be both orthodox yet comprehensive [to include charismatics as well as traditional users of the classic Prayer Book] and also to be in communion with a majority of the Primates. The action of the Primates would alone ensure that this was not schism but truly the recovery of the authentic Anglican Way, which has been in this land since the arrival of the English in the 17th century. Time and energy spent at Denver will not be in vain if the would-be orthodox present see that that a U-turn by the ECUSA is not to occur and thus that another way -- that of a new province -- has to be embraced for the recovery of the Anglican Way of Christianity in America. Worth thinking about. When Bishop Chuck Murphy made his first appearance in Roanoke, VA to the Church of the Holy Spirit last week he hit the jackpot. According to the Rev. Quigg Lawrence he confirmed 49 and another seven were received. That's bigger than some entire congregations. Now they are all part of the Diocese of Rwanda. Despite the fact that Episcopal Bishop Neff Powell has given Fr. Quigg the heave ho, the bishop apparently isn't going to try and grab the properties. Either he has a brain cell or two left and knows he can't win or he doesn't have the money for the fight. Either way it's a new day dawning for the good reverend and his fast growing flock of over 700. Way to go Quigg. Now in a move that might be construed as consorting with the enemy renegade Bishop Chuck Murphy and Episcopal Bishop Terence Kelshaw, Diocese of the Rio Grande met in the Pro-Cathedral Church of St. Clement, El Paso, Texas, Diocese of Rio Grande, on Sun, May 28, with members of the Vestry and the Mission Board, to perform together at a Confirmation Service. The thriving congregation of over seven hundred members and a forty-year old parish school serves four hundred students from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade. Bishop Murphy presented his case in clear tones to the hundred or so that gathered for Adult Class before the Confirmation Service, and the five hundred that attended the historic Confirmation, all clearly came away with a better perspective on the challenges facing the Episcopal Church in the United States. Fifty were newly-confirmed and received into members of St. Clement's. Wonder what Frank Griswold thinks of this. One wonders if Kelshaw will get a rap on the knuckles for insubordination when he's at Denver from the HOB. Crossing lines with Lutherans is one thing, but with the likes of Murphy that could be construed as downright rebellion. Now I would like to make two corrections to previous stories. In a story about global missions from the mind of Paul Marshall comes word that the Mongolian story was a hoax. There was no arrest of a Mongolian handing out Biblical literature. Dr. Marshall received word of this AFTER the story was posted. In another story about violence breaking out in Kaduna, Nigeria it was reported that the Bishop of Jos, the Rt Rev Benjamin Kwashi, was among those attacked. Bishop Kwashi tells me that he wasn't there. It was Bishop Mina. Now for those of you who are movie buffs I would like to recommend a movie. It's called The Big Kahuna. It got lousy ratings by the reviewers but sometimes they get it wrong. To put your mind at ease The Big Kahuna is God, and it's about three marketing types who get caught up talking about Jesus in a hotel room at a sales convention. There is virtually no action, no sex, and limited settings but there is some bad language. One of the marketers a young Baptist Christian gets into a conversation with the president of a company and instead of pushing lubricants finds the president only wants to talk about Jesus. The young salesman catches hell from Danny De Vito and Kevin Spacey who play the roll of company salesmen bent on closing the deal. The movie is a box office flop, but for businessmen struggling with what it means to follow Christ in business, it's a must see. It might also help clergy understand the struggles and tensions Christians face in business. I give it three and half stars. A warm welcome to all new Virtuosity readers today. If you would like to look at past digests go to: http://virtuosity.bizland.com where you can read my columnists, past stories, and some 450 media links to the outside world. You can buy your books from Amazon. Com and sign up friends to receive Virtuosity. If you would like to make a contribution to my ministry (and I would be most grateful if you would) you can send a check to Media Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. In return I will send you FREE a copy of Os Guinness's book TIME FOR TRUTH, a brilliant study in post-modernism and our response to it. (He's another John Stott type evangelical with an IQ high that's higher than the NASDAQ). If you want to write and tell me what you think, please feel free to do so. I take abuse well. There is no satire today but there are a number of good stories for you to read and as usual I close with a devotional. All blessings, David W. Virtue From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:42:37 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:42:37 Subject: More Christians Killed In Indonesia Message-ID: More Christians killed in Indonesia Church of England Newspaper Christians in Indonesia suffered yet again this weekend, when two separate communities were targeted by what are believed to be Muslim jihad warriors. Some 47 churchgoers were injured on Sunday when a bomb exploded outside a Protestant Church in Medan, North Sumatra and further injuries were prevented by a churchwarden noticing a second bomb that police managed to detonate in time. A third bomb went off accidentally whilst police were trying to detonate it at their headquarters. Patrick Sookhdeo from the Barnabas Fund, who had spoken to contacts in Indonesia on Tuesday morning, said it was believed that the bombs were home-made "because the nails flew out in all directions when they exploded. "It is highly likely that these attacks were co-ordinated," he continued, "and that Medan was carefully chosen because both Christians and Muslims live in the city in almost equal numbers." Further violent attacks in Ambon have led to reports of up to 50 people dead. The Deputy chief of the Galela-based Synod Masehi Injil Halmahera church, Mr Biso, said that 50 people had died and that 102 had been injured. Villagers were injured as gunshots and shrapnel took them by surprise, and some people died as their houses burnt around them whilst they slept. "These people are desperate," commented Mr Biso. "Do these attackers wish to wipe out all Christians from the island? Who else can help us?" The island, in the northern Moluccas, was attacked on Monday afternoon by what are believed to be members of the radical Islamic movement Laskar Jihad. Whilst those members of the movement who have arrived in the Moluccas were unarmed, there have been weapons awaiting their arrival, said Patrick Sookhdeo. Having spent the morning on the telephone to Indonesia, he said that the argument surfacing was that the attacks have an underlying purpose of destabilising the moderate Government and getting rid of the President. "The analysis coming out is quite troublesome," Mr Sookhdeo commented. "They are actually suggesting that the country is moving into massive sectarian conflict, so that the Government collapses and some kind of Islamic leadership comes in." "The Christians are very fearful," he continued. "They are unsure as to whether the security forces can or will protect them, they are unable to do much because of when the attacks surface, and they are pleading for help. The dilemma is to know where help will come from -- the security forces are not able to control the situation and the central government has lost touch. The plight of the Christian community is desperate." Other desperate stories of persecuted Christians were emerging from Nigeria over the weekend. Bishop Josia of the city of Kaduna said that the death toll from the latest violence in his city had reached approximately 200. He had been out into areas "where many homes have been burnt down, and in one Anglican church two young men had died, in another four were seriously injured and are in hospital." "The city of Kaduna is now like Lebanon with partitioning along Muslim-Christian lines," explained Patrick Sookhdeo, who is receiving daily reports of "sickening" violence against Christians. "The places affected by the riots over the past month are quite desperate, a Lebanese situation is occurring," he said. The Bishop of Kos, the Rt Rev Benjamin Kwashi, was among those attacked in last week's violence. The windows of the bishop's car were smashed during the assault, which occurred as he was driving from the Kaduna diocesan synod service. The bishop was not seriously injured. The riots also forced Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev Harry Goodhew and his wife Pam, to leave Kaduna under armed escort ordered by the local police commissioner. Archbishop Goodhew had preached at the synod service and took Bible studies on the theme of 'Christian/Muslim dialogue: a necessity for the survival of Nigeria'. "In the midst of this the riots began, and one was aware of the immense challenge they faced to take on board our Lord's teaching about turning good to evil and patiently suffering in the face of what is happening. And because Nigeria is a proclaimed democracy, there is a responsibility for Christians to make sure everyone is treated justly and fairly," he said. According to Patrick Sookhdeo, the Assistant Governor, the former Deputy Governor of Kaduna James Bawa Magaji said that he regretted the failure of President Obansanjo to intervene in the crisis, and urged him to declare a state of emergency within Kaduna at least to stop the violence. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:42:46 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:42:46 Subject: What...the Pope said about the United Religions Initiative Message-ID: What a representative of the Roman Pontiff said about the United Religions Initiative In a letter to the editor published in the June 1999 issue of Homiletic & Pastoral Review, a magazine for Catholic priests, Fr. Chidi Denis Isizoh, of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (the Vatican body responsible for interfaith work) said: "Religious syncretism is a theological error. That is why the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue does not approve of the United Religions Initiative and does not work with it. Indeed, when Bishop Swing came to the Vatican City in 1996 to solicit support from the Council, Cardinal Arinze clearly expressed his reservations about the proposal. As the United Religions Initiative develops, the reasons for not collaborating with it become more evident." And here is what the Pope himself said in January of this year to a meeting of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican. I have put the key parts in bold: TO THE MEMBERS, CONSULTORS AND STAFF OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH Friday, 28 January 2000 Your Eminences, Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and the Priesthood, Dear faithful Collaborators, 1. It is a great joy for me to meet you at the end of your plenary assembly. I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for the work that your dicastery accomplishes each day in the service of the Church for the good of souls, in harmony with the Successor of Peter, the first guardian and defender of the sacred deposit of faith. I thank Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for the sentiments he has expressed on everyone's behalf in his address to me, and for explaining the topics that you have carefully considered during your assembly, which was especially dedicated to studying the problem of the uniqueness of Christ and to revising the norms of the so-called "graviora delicta". 2. I would now like to dwell briefly on the principal topics discussed at your meeting. Your dicastery has considered it timely and necessary to begin studying the themes of the uniqueness and salvific universality of Christ and the Church. The reaffirmation of the Church's doctrine on these themes is being proposed in order to show "the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Cor 4: 4) to the world and to refute errors and serious ambiguities that have taken shape and are spreading in various circles. In recent years a mentality has arisen in theological and ecclesial circles that tends to relativize Christ's revelation and his unique and universal mediation of salvation, as well as to diminish the need for Christ's Church as the universal sacrament of salvation. To remedy this relativistic mentality, the definitive and complete character of Christ's revelation must first of all be emphasized. Faithful to the word of God, the Second Vatican Council teaches: "The most intimate truth which this revelation gives us about God and the salvation of man shines forth in Christ, who is himself both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation" (Dogm. Const. Dei Verbum, n. 2). For this reason, in the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio I reminded the Church of her duty to proclaim the Gospel as the fullness of truth: "In this definitive Word of his revelation, God has made himself known in the fullest possible way. He has revealed to mankind who he is. This definitive self-revelation of God is the fundamental reason why the Church is missionary by her very nature. She cannot do other than proclaim the Gospel, that is, the fullness of the truth which God has enabled us to know about himself" (n. 5). 3. The theory on the limited nature of Christ's revelation, which would find its complement in other religions, is thus contrary to the faith of the Church. The underlying reason for this assertion claims to be based on the fact that the truth about God could not be grasped and manifested in its totality and completeness by any historical religion, and so not even by Christianity or by Jesus Christ. This position, however, contradicts the affirmations of faith that the full and complete revelation of God's saving mystery is given in Jesus Christ, while the understanding of this infinite mystery is to be explored and deepened in the light of the Spirit of truth, who guides us in the era of the Church "into all the truth" (Jn 16: 13). The words, works and entire historical event of Jesus, while being limited as human realities, still have the divine Person of the incarnate Word as their source and therefore contain in themselves the definitive and complete revelation of his saving ways and of the divine mystery itself. The truth about God is not abolished or dimisnished because it is expressed in human language. On the contrary, it remains one, full and complete, because the one who speaks and acts is the incarnate Son of God. 4. Connected with the uniqueness of Christ's salvific mediation is the uniqueness of the Church he founded. The Lord Jesus, in fact, established his Church as a saving reality: as his Body, through which he himself accomplishes salvation in history. Just as there is only one Christ, so his Body is one alone: "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church" (cf. Symbolum fidei, DS 48). The Second Vatican Council says in this regard: "Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, this holy Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim on earth, is necessary for salvation" (Dogm. Const. Lumen gentium, n. 14). It is a mistake, then, to regard the Church as a way of salvation along with those constituted by other religions, which would be complementary to the Church, even if converging with her on the eschatological kingdom of God. Therefore we must reject a certain indifferentist mentality "characterized by a religious relativism which leads to the belief that one religion is as good as another" (cf. Encyc. Let. Redemptoris missio, n. 36). It is true that non-Christians - as the Second Vatican Council recalled - can "gain" eternal life "under the influence of grace", if "they seek God with a sincere heart" (Lumen gentium, n. 16). But in their sincere search for the truth of God, they are in fact "related" to Christ and to his Body, the Church (cf. ibid.). They nevertheless find themselves in an unsatisfactory situation compared to that of those in the Church who have the fullness of the means of salvation. Understandably, then, in accordance with the Lord's command (cf. Mt 28: 19-20) and as a requirement of her love for all people, the Church "proclaims, and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Christ who is "the Way, the Truth and the Life' (Jn 14: 6). In him, in whom God reconciled all things to himself, men find the fullness of their religious life" (Decl. Nostra aetate, n. 2). 5. In the Encyclical Letter Ut unum sint, I solemnly confirmed the Catholic Church's commitment to the "restoration of unity", in continuity with the great cause of ecumenism which the Second Vatican Council had so much at heart. Together with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, you helped to reach the agreement on fundamental truths of the doctrine of justification that was signed on 31 October last year in Augsburg. Trusting in the help of divine grace, let us go forward on this journey, even if there are difficulties. Our ardent desire to reach the day of full communion with the other Churches and Ecclesial Communities cannot obscure the truth that the Church of Christ is not a utopia to be reconstructed by our human powers from the fragments we find today. The Decree Unitatis redintegratio spoke explicitly of the unity which "we believe subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time" (n. 4). Dear Brothers, in the service that your Congregation offers to the Successor of Peter and to the Church's Magisterium you help to ensure that Christ's revelation continues to be in history "the true lodestar" of all humanity (cf. Encyc. Let. Fides et ratio, n. 15). In congratulating you on your important and valuable ministry, I encourage you to continue with new enthusiasm in your service to the saving truth: Christus heri, hodie et semper! With these sentiments I cordially give you all a special Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of my affection and gratitude. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Tue Jun 6 01:43:00 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2000 1:43:00 Subject: Devotional - Work Can Not Satisfy Message-ID: Devotional - Work Can Not Satisfy "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 2:11 Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. Oak Park was a mainly Protestant, upper middle-class suburb of Chicago that Hemingway would later refer to as a town of "wide lawns and narrow minds." He was raised with the conservative midwestern values of strong religion, hard work, physical fitness and self-determination. He retained all of these values except he became an atheist as an adult. Turning his back on the Lord, work took center stage in his life and his work was his writing. He said that writing was "the only positive thing a man could do." He believed that a writer could treat a subject honestly only if the writer had participated in or observed the subject closely. He volunteered to be an ambulance driver in World War I and a newspaper correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. His experiences brought about some of his best work in his novels A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. At age sixty-two, Hemingway was growing increasingly depressed. No longer could he write without an editor finishing his work. He committed suicide when he realized he was unable to continue to work. God ordains work, but work is not to be worshiped. Only in Christ does our work find purpose. Is your work meaningful? Today in prayer, worship the Lord that He has given you life and work to do for Him. "He who prays and labors lifts his heart to God with his hands." - Bernard of Clairvaux God's Word: "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." - Psalm 127:1 From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Fri Jun 9 23:38:26 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 23:38:26 Subject: Opening Comments 6-10-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, There is only one story today. It is a blockbuster of homosexual abuse of a man whose only desire was to walk the way of Christ through the simple uncluttered life and ministry of St. Francis. That desire was thwarted by men who took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and then broke them all. It is a sad and tragic story of a man who put his trust in men who promised him a community of faithfulness and gave him instead, sex, lies and pornography. It is a tragic story, a story that should never have had to be told because it should never have happened in the first place. Of course this is not the first time sexual abuse has raised its ugly head in the Church and it won't be the last. Over the past twenty years The Roman Catholic Church in this country has been struggling with sexual abuse among its priests and has had to house clean. They learned, as the Episcopal Church will now learn, that you cannot sweep sexual abuse under the carpet and hope it will all go away with deals and paid off silence. Like bed bugs that lurk in sheets they have habit of biting you when you least expect it. The Anglican Church in Canada is facing the biggest financial crisis of its existence over sexual abuse, among other things, and may well find itself devoid of land and properties when all is said and done. The truth is this. Once you move outside of heterosexual behavior as the God-given Biblical norm there are no limits and no rules. Homosexuality, bisexuality, lesbitransgay, fornication and ultimately pedophilia can be rationalized on the basis that we all have 'needs' however bizarre, that must be fulfilled, because we are, after all, just 'human' and all humans MUST have their sexual needs fulfilled or they won't be human. It is a lie from the pit. If this fiction prevails and homosexuality in the form of same-sex unions are brokered in at General Convention, The Episcopal Church USA will no longer be able to define sin in any meaningful way and the moral law of God will have been declared null and void. Inclusivity, a 'doctrine' made famous by the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church Ed Browning will now be enshrined and it will be game, set and match for Scripture as the Church's primary authority. Every bishop will do that which is right in his or her own eyes (local option) and the judgment of God will come upon the church as surely as God visited His wrath upon the prophets of Baal. "Then Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you go limping with two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal then follow him." (I Chron.18:20.) Jesus said we cannot serve two masters. The Episcopal Church is trying to do just that. Will The Episcopal Church follow the revealed will of God in Scripture on all matters of faith and morals or will it follow the Baal gods of sexual pluriformity and 'Integrity' and lose its lampstand? That is the question it must ask itself. There can be no middle ground because there is no middle ground. There is just the quicksand of sexual inclusivity that leads to certain death. A headline in the June issue of Episcopal Life screamed "For Many Religious Orders, Hard Times" - A Few Thrive. The article by Nan Cobbey said it all, except the truth, that sexual decadence in the form of AIDS is driving the orders into oblivion faster than even she knows or cared to tell us. Recently the last Poor Clare died ending that order forever. The day of reckoning is coming for The Episcopal Church and is surely here. The cry is going up, "How long Oh Lord?" Well might we echo those words, "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve?as for me and my house we will serve the Lord." All Blessings, David W. Virtue NOTE. Because of its length the story is in two parts. It will not be posted on most LISTSERVS because of that. If you want to read it in its entirety you will find it on several websites including my own: http://virtuosity.bizland.com. If you want to make a contribution to my ministry you may send a check to Media Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. I appreciate your support. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Fri Jun 9 23:56:29 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 23:56:29 Subject: PEDOPHILIA,SODOMY, FINANCIAL MALFEASANCE...A FRIAR'S STORY-Part 1 Message-ID: PEDOPHILIA, SODOMY, FINANCIAL MALFEASANCE PERVASIVE IN EPISCOPAL MONASTIC ORDER. COVER-UP BY THREE EPISCOPAL BISHOPS ALLEGED. HOMOSEXUALITY RAMPANT CLAIMS FORMER NOVICE. OTHER EPISCOPAL ORDERS SEE AIDS DEATHS SPECIAL REPORT By David W. Virtue A former novice Franciscan friar sexually abused by the Assistant Minister Provincial in the 'shiatsu' massage room, and other rooms of the friary at the Long Island, NY house of the Episcopal Society of St. Francis for almost a year, says the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, Frank Griswold had knowledge of the sexual abuse and did nothing then or now to stop it. Two other bishops, the Rt. Rev. Orris Walker, (Long Island) and the Rt. Rev. Jerry Alban Lamb (Northern California) were also informed of the homosexual activities by the brothers in the friary but did not intervene to halt it. Bishop Lamb, U.S. Bishop Protector for the society knew as early as the first week of December 1996 and failed to follow through on church mandated procedures. The Society of St. Francis is a worldwide Anglican organization. The American Province was started in 1919. In a phone call Bishop Lamb said he knew about the sexual abuse but left it to the Brother Superior to deal with locally as he was 3,400 miles away in California. "The local bishop [Orris Walker] should have taken responsibility", he said. "It was not my role as Bishop Protector to discipline the brother who was abusive." Bishop Orris Walker did not return calls or answer a FAX. James Allen, 42, a former novice friar at the Society of St. Francis stationed in Long Island and Brooklyn for nearly two and a half years, says a fellow Brother Jon Bankert repeatedly sodomized him for almost a year - from May 1995 to May 1996. Brother Jon holds an M.S.W. degree and is a family and child therapist licensed in the State of New York. Mr. Allen said Brother Jon also made an approach to at least two guests who came to the friary, for sexual favors. Brother Jon did not return phone calls. When Allen reported the non-consensual sex to the Superior of the order, Brother Justus (Van Hoeten) in the first week of December 1996 he was tossed out of the order with $450.00 and told to go to a YMCA or men's homeless shelter and fend for himself. Allen said that while he was at the society's two residences he felt like he was living under a constant threat of violence and retribution from Brother Thomas and Brother Jon. Brother Justus is an ordained deacon and former president of the North American Association for the Diaconate. Reached by telephone, Justus would not comment on the accusations and referred me to his lawyer and the Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold. Allen said that Brother Jon told him the other brothers at Little Portion were also homosexual and were nicknamed the "Sex Police" the reason being that if they were ever caught they would both be expelled from the community. Allen, unemployed, lives on the East Coast with family friends. He receives services from state agencies including food stamps. "In some respects, I'm leading a life that is closer to that of St. Francis than the brothers are." Allen said he received an out of court settlement in exchange for his silence about what happened to him in the friary. He came forward of his own volition after repeatedly failing to get justice, an open investigation and because he obtained only a partial apology. Allen alleges that one priest, Br. Dunstan took showers with two children, a boy and a girl of a homeless family staying at the friary in Brooklyn (one of the Society's three friaries in the U.S.) and had repeated sex with the boy over several years, according to what Brother Jon told Brother James. Brother Dunstan also took weeklong vacations with the children in a rented car at friary expense. Brother Dunstan now lives at St. Crispin's parish in Woodbrook, Trinidad. In another incident, a 12-year girl who lived near St. Elizabeth's friary was raped in the friary by an adult over the age of 18, a semi-permanent houseguest at St. Elizabeth. The Brothers new this since she had spent several nights in the friary and the brothers had warned the young man that she should not stay overnight. She continued coming over to the friary despite the brothers warning. The girl got pregnant. The girl's mother knew where she was and had complained to the Brothers. The Brothers made an effort to stop him but to no avail, according to Allen. "When the girl became pregnant the Brothers were immediately concerned about their responsibility in this matter. When she miscarried, the Brothers comment was not about the lost life, the girl's safety or health, but that they were now off the hook. They showed no compassion, care, concern for the girl's health or her well-being and loss of the child. They were more concerned about their own personal liability." Allen said that all of the professed brothers had American Express credit cards for travel and used them for expenses not related to the order. Brother Jon also had a gold VISA card in addition to his AMEX card. The credit limit was based on the income of donations to the community, facility use and carefully crafted appeal letters and Christmas cards. Brother Jon was also the bookkeeper for the Long Island friary. Allen said the books were kept in a password-protected database in the house computer, which only Brother Jon had access too. Since he maintained the books he had the ability to justify any expense. Brothers at Little Portion on Long Island could use their cards for travel and purchases with no accountability. Allen said that Brother Justus had, one time, been caught charging $1,000.00 on his card for sexual pleasures. Allen said the society also sent out appeals for specific projects that were not fully or completely performed. Some of the donations raised from appeals were diverted from their intended purpose to vacations and other pet projects of the friars. Allen said an appeal was sent out to have the whole friary painted on Long Island. "Thousands of dollars came in and only half was spent on the house, the other half went on vacations for the friars, some minor repairs and frills. When the next appeal was made to resurface the driveway, almost all of the money went to pay to finish painting the friary. This work was performed by young college students." The former novitiate said the atmosphere at the society was electrically charged around homosexuality with gay magazines strewn in private living areas frequented by the brothers. He also said that groups like PWA'S (People with AIDS) were given privileges, attention and special foods when they came to the friary for retreats, most of it was not necessary for medical reasons. Other guests not connected to the homosexual lifestyle or who were not from influential churches or communities were treated in a peremptory fashion. Allen said that some of the PWA's left behind bondage magazines that Br. Jon collected. Allen said Jon got a thrill from hearing or reading about other peoples' sexual adventures and enjoyed bondage and other submissive sexual acts. Allen has also filed a complaint with the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC) against David Ryder, the Church Insurance Company's Senior Vice President because, Allen alleges, he acted unprofessionally by misrepresenting his role and purpose and making promises and commitments that were never kept, at the same time taking advantage of Mr. Allen while he was heavily medicated and in an emotional state of mind. Mr. Allen then brought a formal complaint against the Society and the national church for the abuse he suffered. The Society of St. Francis falls under the supervision of the House of Bishops. Allen subsequently won an out of court settlement that was paid by the Church Insurance Company. Allen's AAPC complaint was forwarded to Dr. Roy Woodruff of the Initial Response Team in Fairfax, VA. In a phone call Mr. Ryder said "the process was confidential and that he was not at liberty to confirm that there is a complaint." However Mr. James did receive a letter signed by Penelope Guntermann saying the AAPC was in receipt of his complaint. Following his dismissal from the order on May 12, 1997, Allen went to see Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and, in the presence of David Beers the national church chancellor and the Rev. James L. "Skip" Hutton, his advocate, Allen requested a personal apology and a promise that Allen's family who had suffered grievously because of what their son had experienced would also receive an apology. Mr. Allen handed the presiding bishop a list of people he would like the church to thank for their help in a desperate situation. He also mentioned aspects of the abuse he had received at the hands of the society and the Wisconsin-based St. John's Military Academy. Allen also requested that Griswold look into the affairs of the Society. Allen got only a personal apology from Griswold. A sub-committee of the House of Bishops, handpicked individuals all of whom had a vested interest in the outcome of the investigation was set up to look into the allegations by Mr. Allen. Allen expressed concerned that none of the members of the investigative committee was a therapist. The committee was composed of three lawyers, one brother and one priest. When Mr. Allen asked why there was no therapist on the committee, he was told, "If we need one, we will get one". Skip Hutton told the Presiding Bishop of the misconduct and abuse by David Ryder who was representing the church and the Church Insurance Company. The sub-committee was to report back to the Presiding Bishop and to Mr. Allen and his advocate with their findings. Mr. Allen could also request an update from time to time. When Allen later asked for the report, he heard nothing back. The matter apparently sank without trace. Allen said one person retired shortly after the meeting and the rest simply dropped the ball after he had been paid off. Bishop Griswold as head of the Episcopal Church did not follow through on his promises, said Allen. "Nothing happened." Allen is still in therapy four years later attempting to come to grips with the sexual abuse and the betrayal of the church and of brothers who had sworn an oath to 'poverty, chastity and obedience.' "The Church did not follow the mandates of Schedule K found in the Church Insurance Policy handbook". Allen said he had to find his own advocate. "The Church provided no pastoral care for me or my family." "They did not negotiate in good faith, and they did not keep their promises to me". Allen said he has lost most of his faith in the Church and it's teachings. "It would not have come to this if the Church had listened and done what it said it would do." There was no dialogue except between my therapist and my advocate and two priests who gave me support but who are now too afraid to get involved or have their names mentioned." Other Episcopal monastic orders are alleged to be notorious havens of homosexual activity. Holy Cross on the Hudson River, NY and the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Boston, Massachusetts are also thought to harbor extreme homosexual activity. At least one former priest has died of AIDS at the SSJE and two young priests have also died of AIDS at Holy Cross. An article on homosexuality can be found at that society's website. The superior of the Cambridge-based SSJE is Martin Smith who is also chaplain to the House of Bishops and the Rt. Rev. Thomas Shaw Bishop of Massachusetts; bishop of the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church also resides there. The Rev. Margo Maris, former co-chair of the Sexual Exploitation Committee of General Convention for six years, said she had seen several abuse situations like this but this was clearly one of the worst. "When the Church doesn't listen and ignores and shuns people like Mr. Allen, and he is not heard, he needs to know he is believed in by someone. This story needs to be told for James' sake. He has seen the Church ignore him. It is time to speak up." Maris, a priest and spiritual direction advocate based in Oregon said the story will bring healing to Allen, and from it "action will be taken." Allen's story began in 1993 when he decided, as a third generation Episcopalian from a strong southern family historically linked with The Episcopal Church, to become a friar. He consulted the Church Annual (red book) and looked over the various monastic orders. He found six that interested him. He sought advice and counsel from his rector at his home church and from his spiritual director at the time. Allen still maintains contact with this rector. "He is a warm, supportive and caring person". Allen still regards this as his 'home church'. Options quickly narrowed down to two choices - Holy Cross on the Hudson River in NY and The Society of St. Francis in Brooklyn and Mt. Sinai on Long Island, NY. "It was important to me that the communities fall under the structure of the Episcopal House of Bishops." "After several months and letters passing back and forth I was invited to Holy Cross for a week," said Allen. He stayed three days and left. "I was uncomfortable being there. There was a strange feeling in the air. On entering the dining room I saw pictures of brothers who had died hanging on the wall. I noticed that two were very young. I asked Brother Andrew, currently the society's superior what they had died of, they were so young. At first he was evasive. Then he said angrily, "They died of AIDS, all right?" They were monks at the time. I thought of the vow of chastity and wondered what that meant to them and the society. Brother Andrew did not elaborate. I decided then and there that I did not want to be associated with Holy Cross, not because of any alleged homophobia, but because of the response and because of the strange feeling I was picking up in the air." Allen then visited Little Portion Friary at the Society of St. Francis on Long Island. "I found the experience very positive. I was welcomed and shown around both the house and the town. I met all five brothers. I then left and we did not communicate for a while. I needed to pray about what I was planning on doing and if it was what God wanted me to really do." Allen made a second visit in late 1993 and had a conversation with the brothers in the common area of the friary outside of the chapel. "It was then that I got a hint of what was to come. The brothers asked me if I had a bias towards anyone who was gay. I said no, as long as that person kept the intimate aspects of their life private." Questioned on whether he felt it was an odd question to be asked, Allen said that the guesthouse had numerous groups and organizations that came for retreats. Several of them were hospice nurses, church vestries and AIDS workers. "There was an implication, though not spelled out, that there were gay brothers in this Franciscan Order. In my mind if you take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience you take that vow to include yourself, the community of brothers, The Episcopal Church and to God. At the time I had no concerns about the brothers' vows. Brother Jon told me that there were numerous brothers who had joined the community in the Sixties. He said, 'what a great way to live; no work, you can do what you want, and when you run low on money, just send out an appeal'." Allen spent two nights in the Brooklyn house with four of the brothers and the Pryce's, a homeless family consisting of a divorced father, his son and daughter. They had lived there for eight years. Allen later described the relationship between the Pryce family and the brothers as "co-dependent". "Brother Dunstan played the grandfather figure, Brother Derek played the father role, Br. Thomas Carey (the novice guardian) the older brother. Brother Clark also played the older brother. Allen said Brother Derek played the role of the sage and wise father. He had an outside job as a hospital chaplain on Roosevelt Island. Brother Clark did STD testing in a converted Winnebago and gave out condoms and performed a needle exchange program. This was paid for by a grant from the federal government, the State of NY and New York City. "It was as if the brothers were playing the roles of parents to this family. Clearly it met the emotional needs of the brothers." On December 12, 1994 Allen entered the order at Mt. Sinai (Little Portion) as an aspirant, living the life of a brother but without membership in the community, and without habit, cord or manuals for six months. According to their website the Society has 15 brothers nationwide. "On December 21st, during Compline (night prayer) the brothers at Little Portion admitted me as a Postulant - someone who is still testing his vocation. It took less than five minutes and consisted mainly of a prayer. Six months later, over Memorial Day weekend when the various communities gathered for the annual society chapter meeting, I was brought to the altar with all the brothers present from around the U.S. and it was there that I took my vows as a novice including "obedience" and signed my name into the book which contains a registry of all the brothers and when they took their vows. Brother Thomas lead me out of the chapel while the brothers sang hymns and gave me a habit, cord and manual. Brother Tom put the habit on me backwards - perhaps a sign? The vows that I prayed were preprinted. The vow was to obedience to the brothers and the community and to St. Francis. I signed a book containing the signatures of all past brothers that had made the same commitment that I had. "I got along well with the brothers but noticed that Brother Jon was very distant and hard to get to know. He started warming up to me in May. Towards the end of the six-month postulancy period we started going places together to buy plants for the garden and bookstores, etc. It was during this time, before the abuse began, that I shared my story about what had happened at St. John's Military Academy. This was very emotional and I withheld no details. I shared with him the pain and humiliation compounded by the fact that I was only in the 7th grade and knew little about sex and so had no idea what was happening. I was a sheltered child and could not put words to actions or understand what was going on. Brother Jon was understanding in a therapeutic sort of way. I made it clear to him that I did not like it (sodomy) nor did I want it to happen again. It was not my lifestyle nor did I have any desire to be involved in homosexual activities then, now, or in the future. It later became clear that Jon had waited until I was fully admitted as novice in the community, and had to follow his direction before he risked making any 'moves' on me." "One of my many responsibilities after being admitted to the community was as bakery manager. I took a management/sanitary class hosted by the county health department. We baked 90 loaves of bread a week". Allen said the bakery was unsanitary and unsafe. His complaints to Brother Jon were dismissed and calls for change went unheeded. "Permits and inspections were never obtained and the "French drains" held only 5 gallons with a homemade oven exhaust. The bread pans were dirty as were the cooling racks." There was a broken proofer and many other violations, said Allen. "I was the only brother in 10 years to take a food managers class. My fear was that if we were ever investigated by the Health Department it would fail badly. I felt that the only way things would change was if there was a fire or we had a sanitation inspector, or someone got sick and sued us." Allen said the bread was sold for donations. Some was given to homeless shelters. Allen said he did all the repairs to the house and collected bids for work he was unable to perform. Allen's other duties was as sacristan. "I did everything to prepare the chapel for the offices of the day and mass. I ordered supplies for the chapel and maintained it, I set the altar for the chapel, credence table, arranged linen and vestments and cleaned and set up for the next office. "From time to time I was allowed to preach. My only instruction was from Brother Jon who told me that a good sermon must come from deep inside. Over time I became pretty good at giving heart and soul sermons." Asked if he noticed anything out of the ordinary, Allen said that in the common room where the brothers relaxed there were copies of gay magazines like The Advocate and newsletters for many different gay organizations piled around. "At one point Br. Jon joined a gay motor cycle gang called The Ravens. I wondered if the community was going to buy a motor-cycle or if he had a 'friend' in that group." "Initially my novice guardian was Br. Thomas in the Brooklyn House. His job entailed my education and formation as a brother. He was also in charge of my general safety and well-being. If I had any conflict he was the person I was supposed to go to. Brother Jon took that role because I was at Mt. Sinai on Long Island and Tom lived in Brooklyn. As things turned out I seldom spoke to Br. Tom because Br. Jon lived in Brooklyn. I suspected that Br. Jon told Br. Tom what he wanted Br. Tom to know. It was a way Br. Jon could control my life and me. Allen said he saw Brother Tom once every four months. Brother Tom forgot about the arrangements for a one week spiritual retreat as part of the society's rule. On the night before I was thrown out of the community I called Tom and he said, "Well have a good time". He did not seem to care. Brother Jon served as my mentor. Under him my spiritual formation was virtually non-existent. Everything I learned - prayer, styles of prayer came from a lay person who maintained the guest house bookings. It turned out she was into goddess worship, crystals, tarot cards and dancing nude or in a night-gown under a full moon." "Once, on one of his infrequent visits Br. Thomas randomly picked up a book on prayer from the small library and told me to read it and regurgitate it back at some future point. He never mentioned it again. I don't think he had a clue". Br. Thomas has been a member of the Order for more than 10 years and is currently living at San Damiano Friary in the mission district of San Francisco, California and is studying for the priesthood at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. One incident stuck in his mind that profoundly affected him and his relationship with the Minister Provincial Brother Justus. "A woman whose husband had been an IV drug user and had passed along the AIDS virus to her, had come to the friary for a retreat. Her husband had recently died. I emotionally bonded with the woman and we discussed many varying issues during her stay including the future of her 14-year old daughter. None of her aunts and uncles wanted her, so she would most likely end up a ward of the state. I spent hours talking with her. She died on Good Friday. Later, sorting through the mail, I received a card from one of the PWA'S (unsigned) saying that she had died. I started to cry. Brother Justus saw me holding the letter and got very upset and started yelling at me. He told me I was being selfish by not sorting everybody's mail and for stopping to read mine first. I walked out of the mailroom and went to my room and closed the door. Later Br. Justus came by and apologized and said 'it won't be the first and it won't be the last.' He was as cold as ice when he said this and walked out of the room." Allen said that a group of Roman Catholic clergy came for a day conference. "They got the minimum services but were charged the regular rate. The guest house was always booked solid and our weekends were spent serving our guests. On these occasions the brothers took on the role of 'holy pious friar'. It was a stage show. They had the costumes and the mask and played the role. It was all phony." Allen said that when he was not seeing to the needs of the guests, or during the week, Brother Jon asserted his role as novice guardian and started giving him books to read. "Some were spiritual but others were directed towards homosexuality. There was one book simply titled 'Homosexuality'." "When I asked Jon why he wanted me to read these particular books, he replied that he wanted to share his life with me as I had shared aspects of my life with him. I reminded him of how I had been raped and sodomized at St. John's Military Academy in Wisconsin when I was in the seventh grade. I and five other 7th and 8th grade cadets were repeatedly raped and sodomized. Brother Jon then gave me more books to read on homosexuality, the purpose I suspect was to show that homosexuality was an acceptable form of behavior. One of the books dealt with homosexual behavior between young male adults off the islands of Australia and Papua New Guinea where they would have sex more or less as a way of life. Later it would end and they would be heterosexually married." The society of St. Francis has a friary in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. "I began to feel manipulated. Br. Jon had been going to Yeshiva University where he obtained a Masters degree in Social Work. He had private clients. He was also an unlicensed massage therapist." "On Memorial Day weekend the whole society in the U.S. met at Little Portion, Long Island for its annual chapter event. After Compline on Memorial Day when most of the friars had left, Brother Jon came to me and invited me into the Shiatsu Room - a massage room - that had been specially converted for this purpose. It was lit with candles and smelled heavily of incense. There was a CD playing very soothing music. Brother Jon said; 'I want to have sex with you.' My defenses were down. I responded by saying 'okay'. We both undressed and were totally naked. He proceeded to massage me. The whole atmosphere was hypnotic, there was soft music playing, votive candles were lit around the room and light incense was burning to add to add to a seductive atmosphere. We proceeded to have very intimate sex." Allen said he felt utterly controlled by Brother Jon. "He was the assistant minister provincial. He was the guardian of the house. He was responsible for my care and feeding. He controlled the morale and spirituality of the house, my petty cash, and paid all the bills. He controlled my life. My duties and responsibilities, where I went and what I did...literally everything. If I did what he wanted, life was fine. If I refused then I was given hard labor or punished in some other indirect way. If I did not cooperate with him there were always consequences. By reason of his position he was in total control. I had taken vows to obey. I knew I had good reason not to obey in these situations, but I also knew that would lead to consequences. Having sex was threatening to me. I acquiesced. He was coercive." Allen said Brother Jon would leave a list of things for him to do with a footnote "Keep the 'G' [guardian] happy." Allen said he came away from these encounters numb, "feeling nothing." He had learned to turn off his emotions and feelings and to separate himself from the physical events that took place, a skill he had learned at St. John's because of the experiences he had suffered. "I saw Brother Jon take other 'clients' into the Shiatsu room for 'massages', but I don't believe that that was Primarily what was going on. Jon was not a licensed massage therapist. Payment was made by donation. They were all men who paid." Asked if he was a gay man himself, Allen said "no". "At the military academy in Wisconsin I was singled out and gang raped. I was not the only student who suffered. I had no gay relationships till I met Br. Jon following being raped at St. John's. I was heterosexual and had girlfriends. I had been engaged in the past to be married but the relationship never worked out". Questioned as to why he never reported the incident to Brother Jon's superior, Allen replied that there was no one to report it too. Brother Justus was never there and I suspected he was gay, which Br. Jon later confirmed to me. "We had sex in the Shiatsu room at least weekly sometimes more often, whenever Brother Jon wanted it. Jon threw his schooling and clinical experience at me. He diagnosed me as having ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). He bought me a book that I read and everything that was in the book spoke to me. Br. Jon used his training and knowledge of ADD to coerce and manipulate me, or, as my former therapist liked to say, "he mind f--ked me." Allen said that when he asked to see his primary health provider to receive appropriate medication and therapy for his ADD, Brother Jon refused him. "Had Br. Jon given his permission my diagnosis for ADD would have been expanded to include AspergeR'S Syndrome (a type of high-functioning autism in my case) which would have filled in a lot blanks about my life and relationships with other people. But I needed his permission. I told him he was wrong and I wanted to appeal to Brother Justus, the head of the order. When Brother Justus returned I told Br. Jon I was going over his head. Br. Jon gave his permission for me to speak to Br. Justus. Br. Jon then told me that he and Br. Justus had been lovers when they were both novices. Br. Jon also confided in me that he had had lovers in other religious communities that were not necessarily Episcopal. He and Br. Justus had ceased to be lovers some years earlier." END OF PART ONE Note: This story is copywrited. It may be forwarded electronically. Permission to use the story in hard print must be obtained from the writer. If you would like to contact the writer you may do so at dvirtue236 at aol.com. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Sat Jun 10 02:26:44 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 2:26:44 Subject: SODOMY, PEDOPHILIA, FINANICAL MALFEASANCE IN FRIARY...PART II Message-ID: SODOMY, PEDOPHILIA, FINANCIAL MALFEASANCE IN FRIARY...PART TWO By the end of May 1996 Allen said he stopped having sex with Br. Jon. "Psychologically I could not deal with it any more. Spiritually it was causing me all sorts of problems. I had tried several times before to stop the sex and when I did it threw the whole house into turmoil. Brother Jon's moods, attitudes and feelings changed dramatically. He became a recluse and stayed in his room, as he could not bear to be around me. I bought into the whole concept that I was responsible for his vocation, and his mood swings were one way to control me. He said he loved me. I had no idea he felt that way. I had no feelings whatsoever for him or any other brother in the community. In the life of the community Br. Jon had a charismatic personality and was a good leader, however sexually he was extremely submissive and often referred to his past lovers with whom he had had relationships as 'husbands.' Br. Jon confided in me that he had had sex with brothers in other religious communities as well as other Christian denominations. He would often manipulate a situation where sex could take place. Allen described his own attitude in the sex act with Br. Jon as 'cold and unfeeling.' I did it to get it over with. I had learned to block it out based on my experience at St. John's Military Academy." Allen then left Little Portion in Mt. Sinai in September 1996 and was stationed at St. Elizabeth's Friary in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. Allen did not report the sex abuse. "If I had, both Br. Jon and I would both have been kicked out of the Community - or so Br. Jon taught me." At the end of November 1996, unable to stand the guilt and shame, Allen told his novice guardian on Long Island, Brother Tom what had taken place between he and Br. Jon. "I was having problems with guilt and anxiety. I also knew I had only taken the novice vow of obedience, however I felt compelled to live the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. I wanted to live as close to a gospel life as I possibly could. I needed to confess this. I knew it needed to be told. Now that I was away from Little Portion I was no longer under Br. Jon's control." When an article appeared in PENTHOUSE magazine concerning the homosexual activities of the Rev. Lloyd Andries and a group of Brazilian men, Allen became visibly upset. The story concerned Andries, a gay priest, and reported in detail his homosexual activity with young Brazilian men who had been offered paid positions as church interpreters at St. Gabriel's on Long Island. The article mentioned Bishop Orris Walker. The article touched a nerve in Allen. "I was very shaken by the article. Br. Tom came to me to ask what was wrong. Another friar, Brother Anthony (the only heterosexual I was aware of in the community) added to the conversation by saying that it took two consenting people. I responded, "you can't always say no". I said this based on my experience with Brother Jon and my experiences at St. John's Military Academy". "After I reported the abuse to Br. Justus in December 1996, I asked his permission to see a therapist. Br. Jon told me that all of the other brothers at Little Portion were homosexual and we nicknamed them the 'Sex Police' the reason being that if we were caught or were not discrete in what we said or did around the Long Island friary we would both be expelled from the community. Br. Jon had been in the Society for more than 15 years, and would not know where to go or what to do if that were to happen. The burden on me was even greater. I was now made to feel responsible for Brother Jon's vocation. Jon taught me what he wanted me to know whether it was true or not. He said sexuality was a gift from God and implied that there should not be a conflict between sexuality and spirituality. Hence homosexuality was 'the norm' in many of the brother's vocations. He taught me his interpretation of the rule of St. Francis, the policies and procedures of the rule of Society. Since I had no one else to discuss them with, I believed him; the other brothers in the house would refer me back to Br. Jon if I sought their counsel." "On December 3, 1996 I met with Br. Justus and I told him of my experiences and I said Br. Jon needs to be in therapy. Brother Justus said that I also needed to be in therapy. He said I should pick a therapist of my choice and not to worry about the cost. The society would pick up all the expenses and I shouldn't worry about money. No time limit was ever specified. I should select a therapist I felt comfortable with. I said I wanted no further contact with Brother Jon. I also wanted the community to resolve these issues and not to let it go to a diocesan level, because I had heard that a majority of the priests in the diocese of Long Island were gay. One former brother, the Rev. Blair Hatt was in charge of setting up investigative teams for the Diocese and maintained ties with the brothers. I had a secret suspicion that he was gay and I would not be treated fairly or equitably. I also did not want to ruin the reputation of the Society of St. Francis, a worldwide order known for its spirituality and care of the poor." Allen repeated that he wanted no further contact with Br. Jon and that Br. Jon should enter into therapy and stop teaching the adult misconduct and child abuse classes at Mercer Seminary. Mercer is a diocesan-based seminary, which is required attendance by the Church Insurance Company. Br. Jon is still on the faculty. Br. Justus also spoke to Br. Jon who agreed that a majority of my complaints were true, adding that that it also fitted with his own sexual experiences with Br. Jon. Allen chose as his therapist, Melissa F. Coren, M.S.W. a New York based therapist. She felt Allen's situation demanded immediate medical intervention and referred him to Dr. Terry Weill a psychiatrist on Central Park West, who prescribed medication and closely monitored him. "Brother Jon selected a woman he had known for a while named Fran as his own therapist. She was also his social work supervisor, which to my mind and the mind of my therapist was a conflict of interest. The conflict was brought to Br. Justus's attention, but he let it pass." During his therapy with Coren there came the realization that Brother Justus would never move to have the society adhere more closely to a gospel life including the life of St. Francis. "I could not even go to Br. Justus for help. I was trapped, and many of the other clergy I knew in the diocese I suspected were gay. Even in light of these events the Church still has taken no action to remove or discipline Br. Justus for his abusive actions. To my knowledge Br. Jon has never been asked to give up his license as a child and family therapist." On April 17, 1997 Allen wrote a letter on St. Elizabeth's letterhead to Long Island Bishop Orris Walker and made a formal complaint of sexual misconduct at the society of St. Francis. Br. Justus had at some point received Bishop Walker's reply to me before I had seen it and had responded to Bishop Walker. Br. Justus responded to Bishop Walker's letter unbeknownst to me, on my behalf and later called Bishop Lamb. They reviewed Br. Justus's discussion with me and what I had written to Bishop Walker. The Church Insurance Policy stated in Schedule K that such instances had to be reported to the diocesan bishop in which the misconduct occurred. I followed Schedule K to the letter.". Bishop Walker wrote acknowledging receipt of his letter. "Dear Br. James, this letter acknowledges receipt of yours of April 17 to say I am deeply distressed by its contents. Present your complaint to the Bishop Protector and Provincial Minister. He ended the letter by saying he would pray for me." "Brother Justus had taken a letter addressed to me and opened and read it. He then replied to Bishop Walker. That was a breach of confidentiality, the Church Insurance Company policy and his ordination vows. I never stated in my letter who my abuser was. Bishop Walker could have been responding to my abuser for all he knew. I asked Bishop Walker to respond in confidence and I had asked him for assistance and a "safe house" as there was psychological abuse going on." "He simply washed his hands of the whole matter and would not even admit that I had been sexually abused," said Allen. Later Br. Justus contacted the society's Bishop Protector, Bishop Jerry Lamb to inform him that Allen had filed a formal complaint and Bishop Lamb and Justus reviewed the situation. "Because I had no contact with Bishop Lamb I was under the impression that Bishop Lamb must have been satisfied with the way the situation was being handled. I was never told that Br. Justus had contacted Bishop Lamb, so I had no knowledge of who knew what." "I had never heard from Bishop Lamb until the night I was kicked out of the community on May 12, 1997. He telephoned me but the conversation was brief. He suggested there be a cooling off period between the community and myself and he suggested to me that the community put me up in a hotel for a few days to allow the situation to defuse. This was the first and only contact I ever had with Bishop Lamb. I told Br. Justus what Bishop Lamb had suggested. Justus replied that "Lamb was only in an advisory position, so I don't have to do what he says." This again is a violation of canons, said Allen. "I had given the community six months - from December to May - to bring some positive corrective action into the community so some healing could take place. It never happened. Justus ignored my appeals. He said that there was going to be an afternoon set-aside during our May chapter where someone was going to come in address issues such as these. To my way of thinking issues such as these take more than an afternoon to resolve-the comment affirmed my belief that the brothers found nothing wrong with the abusive situation - it was a community norm." Another friar from Mt. Sinai, Brother Jason took the train from the Long Island friary to Brooklyn and went out to lunch with Allen because he wanted to hear his story. "When I told him all that had happened, his only response to me was 'so did you enjoy the sex.' Homosexuality was the norm in the community. I was sick at heart. I felt lost and desperate." Asked why he did not go back to Bishop Walker, Allen said he did not take it to the Long Island Bishop because he knew he would be denied any help as Brother Justus had already spoken to him and from the tone of the letter I had received from Bishop Walker and Brother Justus's replies after my initial complaint. "I was now totally trapped. I saw no way out. The longer I stayed, the closer I was being watched and the tighter the accountability. I was closely guarded night and day and I was not allowed to talk to anyone alone. Another brother always had to be present. Other brothers traveled freely and liberally used credit cards given to them. I was given nothing. I was kept on a very short leash till I was kicked out. If I was not kicked out, the brothers would have found some way to force me to leave." "I now recognize that The Society of St. Francis was a very sick place and needed help. I also saw with a terrible clarity that Br. Jon was against what the Society and the gospel stood for. He had taken vows and for years repeatedly broke them. I wanted the brothers to uphold their vows and provide a safe environment for me and those who followed after me, and even for the society by exposing the abuse to the Church as a whole. I trusted the church would do the right and just thing, but instead it acted like a money grubbing corporation and swept it under the rug, and hoped I would go away. They had no idea that there were two other people Br. Jon had 'hit on'." Allen said that on one occasion he met with Brother Tom in the common room at St. Elizabeth's and as Brother Tom passed him, he called him a "f--k face." "On another occasion I was phoning my mother inside the society and as he passed by he pulled down his pants and showed his buttocks...and this man was my Novice protector!" "Brother Justus was now getting very concerned and he went to my therapist Melissa Coren to learn what was happening and to make sure we were on track. He wanted to see that the therapy was working and gauge its effectiveness. Now, six months into therapy, Br. Justus joined one session with no apparent agenda. But he had a hidden agenda. He stated that I needed to decide if I wanted to forget that it had happened at all and carry on with my life as a friar; take a leave of absence for six months in which the society would pay me $650.00 a month or to transition out of the community. The bottom line, was, it's my problem and I should deal with it, said Allen. He waited with my therapist in that session for a decision. I decided I could not live in that hostile atmosphere. Furthermore I had already been told my elevation to First Profession would be held back one year because of this situation and because I was taking medication prescribed by a doctor. Br. Thomas told me that he would not support any brother to First Profession who was on medication. Br. Thomas had publicly stated that he was himself a recovering drug abuser, heroin, amphetamines user and alcoholic to list but a few addictions and that he was not medically supervised, as I was." Allen said that never at any time did Brother Justus ever admit there was a problem in the community with homosexual behavior. "How could he, he was one himself! Repentance was never talked about, never an option to be considered." Allen then contacted a lawyer to get legal advice and help. An attorney in New York prepared a letter of intent to sue. "I gave them notice by way of a letter. I had filed no formal charges. The intent was to get them to take the situation and me seriously. It was the only way to get their attention. It was the same situation with the national church. They ignored me until it cost them something. I had waited six months for a dialogue to begin and for a professional to come in and help the community with its issues and to deal with the abuse I had suffered. Nothing happened, and I realized then that no one thought that there was anything wrong - that this behavior was the 'norm'. This was not something that I wanted to do but it was the only way to get them to take the issues seriously. I knew it would be a non-issue until it cost them something. The same thing applied to the National church. They too would do nothing until it was brought to their attention legally. "Brother Jon had previously told me that I had to have permission to speak to the Bishop Protector." During the last six months he was at the society, Allen said he was treated very poorly. "The harassment, which had started after I told my story, continued and now got worse. There were threats of violence. Brother Tom threatened me. He was angry because I had presented Brother Justus with a letter of intent to sue." "I then served notice that I planned to sue the Society because I could not get any movement toward acknowledgment of the problems in the community with regard to homosexuality and because no healing was taking place. The behavior was not being addressed. Everybody wanted me to just shut up and forget it. No one was willing to repent because no one believed it was morally wrong to act that way." On May 12 1997 a meeting took place at the St. Elizabeth's friary. "I was called downstairs by Brother Justus. All the brothers from St. Elizabeth's in Brooklyn met and asked me why I was suing the society. I told them that I had given the community six months to seek healing, repentance and change in their lifestyles. Brother Justus said he had given me two weeks to find a place when we met with my therapist Melissa Coren. I hadn't made a decision, he said, and now I was being kicked out. They wanted to toss me out on the street that evening. I was told to go to a YMCA or men's homeless shelter and to fend for myself. It was about midnight. The meeting was charged with anger, frustration and disbelief. At one point Br. Thomas leaped off the couch and lunged at me with his arm drawn back in a fist to hit me. Two other brothers jumped up and grabbed him and said that this community has never had a policy of kicking someone out of the house in the middle of the night. They gave me till 9am the next morning to have my things together and ready to leave. When I awoke the next morning, the brothers had stacked a pile of empty boxes like a wall directly in front of my door. I noticed that some of my papers that had been missing now reappeared. Some that had been missing appeared near the FAX machine. I was given $450.00 and left the society never to return. I went to a priest's house in Connecticut who was a friend. This caused a financial hardship as I had to go to my therapist in New York City twice a week by train." "I felt an apology was needed by the Presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold as he is the chief pastor of the Church. I was due an apology for the sexual abuse I had suffered by the society and for the way I was treated after I disclosed what was going on by following church policy and procedure, by the national church. On March 12, 1998 Allen and his self-chosen advocate, the Rev. James L. "Skip" Hutton met with the Presiding Bishop. Among the topics discussed was my sexual/emotional abuse at the hands of members of the Society of St. Francis and Skip discussed the conduct and actions of David Ryder, Senior VP of the Church Insurance Group, a subsidiary of the Church Pension Fund. Allen's advocate said that Mr. Allen had been abused by Ryder during the negotiating process and while heavily medicated by his prescribing physician, Ryder had used his pastoral skills to manipulate him to find out how much I would settle for, and his ability to withstand a court battle. He did this without my attorney present. As a result Allen has filed a complaint with the AAPC. Allen said Bishop Griswold did apologize to him for what he had suffered at the hands of the brothers of the society and expressed regret at the treatment he received from the Church. "Skip (my advocate) was very vocal about Ryder's abuse." When I asked Allen what promises were made to him at the Griswold meeting, Allen said "I handed a paper with my complaints and request for justice over to Bishop Griswold who briefly reviewed it and then handed it to David Beers who said he would take care of it. None of them were monetary. Among other things I asked for a personal apology (which I got), an apology for my mother for the personal grief she had undergone witnessing the results of her son being sexually abused. This apology was never forthcoming. There was an agreement made during the negotiations to investigate the brothers and their actions and bookkeeping practices as well as a request to clean up of the society from top to bottom by exposing the homosexual misbehavior of the brothers, and calling them to repentance. This never happened." "At the investigative meeting I also told those present which included Bishop Howard Hopkins (clergy wellness and pastoral care at 815), David Beers - national church chancellor, David Rutherford - attorney, and Stephen Rubino, my attorney. Br. Bruce from the order of the Holy Cross and Ms. Wendy White a contract attorney for the national church heard about the homeless Pryce family who resided at St. Elizabeth's and how Brother Dunstan took baths with the children and had sexual relations with the ten-year old son". Allen said he had learned about this from Brother Jon and from some of the other brothers that Br. Dunstan had had sexual relations with the children especially the boy. "I later asked why there were no therapists on the investigative committee and was told by Br. Bruce, "If we need one we'll get one." Allen said the investigative committee lasted about 30 days and then went away. On January 27, 1999 Allen's case was referred to a House of Bishops Standing Committee for review and action. Letters were supposed to have been sent to Mr. Allen by Bishop Clay Matthews, who took over from Bishop Hopkins when he retired from the office of Pastoral Care and Wellness and the issues purportedly addressed. "The letters never came. They never kept their promises. The whole matter was hushed up," said Allen. Allen again contacted Bishop Matthews on April 18, 2000 and suggested a meeting. Allen spoke to him by phone a week earlier when Bishop Matthews proferred that he knew little or nothing about the case. Allen offered to fill in the blanks. Matthews never replied. An out of court financial settlement was reached with Mr. Allen by the Church Insurance Group, a subsidiary of the Church Pension Fund but none of the actions sought and promised were ever kept. No efforts were ever made to bring a halt to the sexual activities at the Society of St. Francis. The pedophile behavior of Br. Dunstan was never exposed and halted. No charges were ever brought up, said Mr. Allen. "Bishop Frank Griswold was told almost everything and he covered it up. It was his responsibility to follow up and follow through. He never did. I also expressed my concerns to Bishop Griswold about the activities of Br. Justus and Br. Thomas in their relationship to potential sexual activity with children. I believed Br. Jon had demonstrated poor judgment, and was really just living at Little Portion because, he once told me, 'why work? If I need money, we'll just send out an appeal. At least he stayed away from the kids'." Allen said that Brother Justus openly admitted to him that he did not like or understand straight men. "He prefers not to be around them. He is a sadist and a masochist. They were his words. I once saw him pick up off the floor the son of the woman who cooked at the friary, a 12-year old boy, and pin his arms behind his back making him cry out in pain. The boy told him to stop, that it hurt. Justus smiled, laughed and sweated in obvious pleasure." Allen said that financial malfeasance also occurred at the friary. "Twice a year they would solicit funds and send out solicitation letters. In one letter money was solicited to paint the exterior of the house. They had taken bids and selected the highest bidder - a group of young college students. It was also coming up vacation time. Half the money was used on the friary as promised, the other half for the friars to go on vacation. Another letter was sent out requesting money to fix the driveway. The money raised then went to paint the other half of the house." Within a month of my settlement, another letter went out appealing for funds to continue God's work. Allen said the Episcopal Church took no action and no pastoral care was offered. "None of the promises or commitments made by the Episcopal Church to provide me with health insurance, letters of recommendation, or instigate a full and complete investigation or any of the other requests agreed to, has ever been carried out," he said. Mr. Allen had asked for money only to pay his legal expenses and that the society or the national church should repair the damage that had been done to him and that corrective action for those brothers involved and the society be taken. Allen says he believes the brothers still carry on their homosexual activities, a community "norm" without fear of reprimand or reprisal, violating the vow of 'chastity'. He gave sworn testimony before a lawyer, court reporter and myself. "The National Church has had access and read the documentation." Mr. Allen met with national church officials who appeared shocked and promised action. "To date nothing has taken place to discipline the society or its members ordained or not or to discipline Bishop Walker or Lamb for not following church policy, or apply corrective action." Asked if he ever regretted going into a monastic order, Allen said that if the brothers had followed the rule of St. Francis he would never have regretted it. "Because the brothers did not practice what they preached, and made up the rules as they went along, I do regret it. I would still be a Franciscan friar today if this had not occurred." END Note: This story is copywrite. It may be forwarded electronically. You may contact the writer at dvirtue236 at aol.com for further details. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Sat Jun 10 02:40:34 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 2:40:34 Subject: Presiding Bishop Responds to Sexual Abuse Story Message-ID: THE EPISCOPAL OFFICE OF PASTORAL DEVELOPMENT Dear Mr. Virtue: The Presiding Bishop has asked me to respond to your letter to him of June 7th. The distressing matter that you raise regarding the Society of St. Francis was extensively explored and discussed with the complainant to whom you make reference, several representatives and members of the Order, the Bishop Visitor of the Order, and other with knowledge of the relevant facts. This exploration and discussion were undertaken by member of the Presiding Bishop's Office and by a task force appointed by the presiding Bishop for that purpose. This work was undertaken under the auspices of the Presiding Bishop both in response to a complaint by the person you name in your letter and as part of an examination of the health of the Society and the relationship of that religious order and others to the church. While I am not in a position to respond to your specific questions, the Presiding Bishop has asked me to make clear that the matters referred to in your letter have been resolved to his satisfaction and that of the Standing Committee on religious communities of the House of Bishops. No evidence whatsoever has been found to support many of the allegations contained in your letter, including the allegations that there was inappropriate behavior regarding minors. Moreover, where corrective or additional oversight measures were found to be warranted, they have been implemented. The Presiding Bishop has also asked me to point out that the matters raised by the complainant were resolved two years ago by an agreement in which the complainant released the Society and other Church-related entities from all liability and agreed that the matters relating to the agreement would remain confidential. Sincerely yours, The Rt. Rev. F. Clayton Matthews. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 12 23:00:53 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 23:00:53 Subject: Opening Comments 6-13-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, I learned today that my blockbuster story on sexual abuse in the Episcopal Society of St. Francis on Long Island is causing deep consternation at 815 2nd Ave., in New York. Apparently no one thought the story would ever surface and damage control is just now beginning. Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold's response to the story in the letter he sent me from Bishop Clayton Matthews and the Episcopal Office of Pastoral Development was apparently sent out BEFORE my story hit Virtuosity and the Internet according to a bishop who wrote me. The attempt to do damage control was set in motion a day before my story came out. I find it disturbing that he should do this as I gave him the option of responding to the story BEFORE it went out. He declined to answer any of the questions I sent him. Therefore I have decided to run my letter I sent to Presiding Bishop Griswold with the questions he refused to answer. You can judge for yourself. While I am aware that the bishops are preoccupied with General Convention, I have been told the matter will not be swept under the carpet. Therefore I invite the thousands of Virtuosity readers, both laity and clergy to send an E-mail to the Presiding Bishop and call for an open inquiry into the affairs and activities of ALL the Episcopal monastic orders. Abuse of this magnitude should not go unanswered. Some disciplinary action needs to be taken. You can reach the Presiding Bishop's office at: pboffice at dfms.org Write and tell him what you think. Now, if you joined Virtuosity after the stories came out and did not receive it directly, you can view the stories at my website: http://virtuosity.bizland.com. Now for those of you who are book buyers, you can purchase books from Amazon. Com from my website. As soon as you see the Amazon icon just click on it and it will take you right through to Amazon. About every three months Amazon. Com sends me a small check based on the dollar volume of purchases. Thank you for your support. If you want to support the ministry of Virtuosity you may do so by sending a check to Media-Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. I will send you FREE a copy of Os Guinness's book "Time for Truth." Thank you. All blessings, David W. Virtue From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 12 23:01:46 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 23:01:46 Subject: Letter to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold Message-ID: June 7, 2000 Rt. Rev. Frank Griswold Presiding Bishop The Episcopal Church 815 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017 Re: Society of St. Francis; James E. Allen Dear Bishop Griswold: I am writing concerning certain matters that have come to my attention regarding Mr. James E. Allen, a former novice friar at the Society of St. Francis in Long Island, New York (hereafter "SSF"). In sworn testimony and extensive documentation made available to me, it is apparent that there was a pattern of activity at the SSF's houses at Little Portion, Long Island and Brooklyn that contradict the Canons of the Episcopal Church, the Lambeth Resolutions regarding sexuality and, potentially, the criminal statutes of the State of New York. Specifically, it appears that several of the friars at the SSF are non-celibate homosexuals who regularly engage in sex at the monastic houses. Indeed, it appears that Mr. Allen was coerced into homosexual sex by his novice guardian, Brother Jon Bankert while at the monastery in Little Portion, and that this pattern of coercive sexual activity continued unabated for more than one year. More seriously, Mr. Allen has testified that friars of the SSF were involved in sexual activity with minors being afforded housing at the SSF house in Brooklyn. Finally, I understand that funds donated to the SSF have been used for improper purposes including the purchase of illicit sex by brothers in the Society. The testimony of record and documents show that Mr. Allen made Brother Justus, the head of the order, aware of these problems, and informed Bishop Lamb and Bishop Walker of the situation. In addition, you personally met with Mr. Allen and received a written summary of the situation in the SSF. Not only has nothing apparently been done to rectify this situation, but the parties who have engaged in these activities are still friars in the SSF, have never been disciplined, are still soliciting charitable contributions, and, in at least one case, are standing for ordination to the priesthood. In view of these facts, I invite your comment on the following: What actions did you take in response to your meeting with Mr. Allen and his Advocate? Was the matter referred to a committee of the House of Bishops as indicated in the records? If so, what action was taken? If no action was taken, why not? Was there an independent investigation of the circumstances outlined in Mr. Allen's request for you to remedy the situation? Did you know about the sexual abuse at the SSF prior to Mr. Allen's bringing these matters to your attention, and did you take any steps to expose and stop it? If not, why not? Are children housed at either of the SSF's houses? Have any steps been taken to place fiscal controls upon the funds and resources of the SSF? What controls does the national church exercise over U.S. Episcopal monastic orders? Did the Bishop Protector of the SSF (Bp. Lamb) report any of the situation with the SSF to you? Were the assets of the Poor Clares resident with the SSF turned over to the SSF following the death of the last sister of that order residing at Little Portion? If so, what is the extent and current disposition of those assets? This matter, particularly the apparent involvement of Episcopal friars with minors, appears to be very grave. Of course, I would welcome answers to the above-questions as soon as possible, but I must ask for at least a general response indicating your desire to discuss the issues within seventy-two (72) hours of your receipt of this letter. I am more than willing to meet with you to report your views of the story, however, in view of the extraordinary gravity of the situation I will publish the initial article without your input if I do not hear from you within the time allotted. Very respectfully, David Virtue From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 14:33:53 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 14:33:53 Subject: Fwd: add Message-ID: add virtuosity treed at hec-enviro.com (Tim Reed) -------------- next part -------------- An embedded message was scrubbed... From: "Tim Reed" Subject: Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 16:30:59 -0500 Size: 8029 URL: From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 22:18:29 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 22:18:29 Subject: Opening Comments 6-15-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, Well it seems that my story on sexual abuse in the Society of St. Francis on Long Island has some of the bishops dashing for their wine cellars. Adultery, pedophilia and sodomy is not new to ECUSA bishops, it rears its ugly head from time to time. But clearly the story touched a few nerve endings judging by the E-mail reactions I have received so far. Fear and loathing is in the wind. There is at least one case of adultery pending against a bishop and there will undoubtedly be more in the coming months. The spin-doctors at 815 are scrambling like crazy to spin this one. Watch for more to come in the days that lie ahead. Now one person wrote to tell me of yet another Episcopal monastic order where homosexuality is rampant. When I know more I will let you know. Watch for it. The violation of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience is so widespread that one wonders why any of these orders should be allowed to stay open. If the men who take these vows can't or won't keep them they should be thrown out and the orders closed down. But don't look for Griswold to make them swallow such bitter medicine. He'll be talking up inclusivity...again. For sure. Most of the orders will die off sooner or later simply because new postulants are not coming forward. Why should they, if at the end of the day all that awaits you is the Shiatsu room and non-consensual gay sex. It looks as though the Monastic orders will die even faster because many of the brothers in them are dying of AIDS. And to think General Convention wants to broker this behavior into the life of the Church, its liturgy and teaching. This is sentimentality run amuck. It has nothing to do with justice. Nothing. There is nothing 'just' about a behavior that can kill you, and the notion of monogamous same-sex unions is largely fictional, representing at best a mere handful of men and women. You certainly don't change the church's teaching to suit a small number of whining gays who demand their behavior be legitimized. My editorial today on the Dumbing Down of Deviancy in The Episcopal Church spells it out for you. Now I have learned that my appeal to you to send a message to the Presiding Bishop's office expressing your anger, distaste and request for some action to be taken has resulted in hundreds of E-mails pouring into the Presiding Bishop's Office. If you did send one you also noticed that you got a quick reply. That "reply" is an automatic standardized E-mail response. I get them all the time. They mean nothing. If you actually get to hear from Pluriform Frank personally I'll buy you a coffee at General Convention. The only exception to this rule is Louie Crew and other Episcopal sodomites. They can always get the PB's ear. You probably won't. But keep the E-mails coming. You might also want to cc/- your own bishop, your rector, the deputies attending General Convention and anyone else you think ought to get it. Who knows, the collective will of the minority might actually result in the Church holding onto received truth in the matter of human sexuality. After all, one man, Alexander Solzhenitsyn stood against Communism and the walls came tumbling down. The Ayatollah Khomeini plotted singled-handedly to overthrow the Shah of Iran and he did it from France. There is no reason to give in to sexual deviancy. None. We can take back the church. We can prayer and we can prevail. That, at least is my hope. FRANCISCAN ORDER OF DIVINE COMPASSION (ECUSA) Now several of you wrote to me about a monastic order also associated with the Episcopal Church that does live up to its vows. The Franciscan Order of the Divine Compassion (ECUSA). The Secretary-General of the order Br. John-Mark wrote me the following: "I was saddened by your article concerning the Society of Saint Francis and the Little Portion Friary in New York. The circumstances you describe are indeed frightening. "This is to inform you that there are orthodox Franciscan Orders in the Anglican/Episcopal Church that strive daily to follow the way of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his humble servant St. Francis of Assisi. The Franciscan Order of the Divine Compassion (ECUSA) is such an Order. The Rt. Rev. Keith Ackerman, Bishop of the Diocese of Quincy is our Bishop Protector. The Franciscan Order of the Divine Compassion (ECUSA) is in no form associated or a part of the Society of St. Francis (SSF). We do not condone, nor do we tolerate such conduct among the brothers and sisters of this Order. My request to you is to clarify that not all Franciscan Orders, nor indeed religious Orders within the Anglican Communion have gone the way of the SSF. There are still brothers and sisters who cling tightly and singularly to the faith once delivered and live out their lives in humble obedience to Christ's call to pick up their cross and follow Him. God Bless." ST BENEDICT'S ABBEY Sister Faith Magdalene OSF, FODC an orthodox sister wrote the following "If you want to contrast Houses with a Holy Rule, I recommend you also look at St. Benedict's Abbey in Bartonville, IL. Abbot Moralez puts the fear in those brothers if they even answer the front door in civies, let alone break more important parts of the Rule. They are truly what a monastic house should be in every respect. And they are growing also. I truly believe that the call to the religious life is still strong in many hearts and lives. There is evidence that many Anglicans and Episcopalians are seeking to be in community with folks who each know that we are sinners, who know we are imperfect; who know we goof up. We [also know we] must take it to Jesus and let Him cleanse, restore and remake us." Sister Faith Magdalene. Now I should mention that I may have inadvertently given the impression, in my recent Opening Comments (6/12/2000) that the closure of the Episcopal Order of Poor Clares might have had something to do with homosexuality. That is NOT the case. The last Poor Clare simply died of old age. I am also told that the Roman Catholic order of Poor Clares continues to thrive around the world. My apologies for any misunderstanding or pain that might have caused. PRIEST SHORTAGE ALERT IN ECUSA There is a serious clergy shortage pending in ECUSA. The average age of the average Episcopal priest is 58 years old not including retired priests. If retirees are included the average age is 62! Staff at the Clergy Deployment Office are quite candid that the situation borders on "crisis." Take into consideration options for early retirement and one can see why ECUSA is so anxious to jump into bed with the Lutherans in spite of the obvious theological difficulties like the historic episcopacy. The Episcopal Church needs clergy and needs them now! So what if they are Lutherans, at least the parishes will be staffed, so the story goes. It also raises another interesting point. Seminaries like TESM are growing by leaps and bounds. The next generation of priests is going to be more orthodox and evangelical than their predecessors. Spong's nuttiness will not fly in future pulpits. That's the kiss of death. If the evangelicals can pull together the numbers for the next generation of young clergy they might well win the culture wars by just hanging in there. Liberalism, as I have written extensively about, is theologically bankrupt. No gospel. No Good News. No Hope. No Future. Revisionism will die with post-modernity, its funeral dirge is already being written. PROVINCE IV BISHOPS SMACK SPONG AND TWO EVANGELICAL BISHOPS Theological schizophrenia is the hallmark of Episcopalianism apparently. Some call it Via Media. This week 20 bishops from 20 dioceses (Province IV) from the US southwest came out with a statement saying they "reaffirmed that this Church does teach that Jesus Christ is the only Son of God eternally begotten of the Father". They also affirmed the incarnation, Virgin Birth and agreed to uphold the doctrine and worship of the Episcopal Church. Now it should be pointed out that 10 of these dioceses are on record that they would ordain non-celibate homosexuals. The other ten it would seem are spiritually vague. They wrote: "We, the bishops of the Fourth Province of the Episcopal Church meeting in Synod in June, 2000 A.D., are aware of the commitment made by all bishops of the church in their ordination vow to be guardians of the church's unity and faith as defined in the Nicene Creed, and guardians of its polity as defined in the Constitution, Canons, and the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church." Those same bishops then went on to condemn John S. Spong, the retired Bishop of Newark, for "reinterpreting the tenets of the Christian Faith." So far so good. Then these bishops went on to condemn two notable evangelical bishops, C. FitzSimons Allison, retired Bishop of South Carolina and Alex D. Dickson, retired Bishop of West Tennessee, for "challenging the polity of the Episcopal Church in ways that are disturbing and unsettling to the church's unity which we as bishops are called to uphold." When he was called on the carpet, evangelical Florida Bishop John Howe (Bishop flip flop) said it was "the mildest statement that was ever issued." It merely "notes" he said that Fitz and Alex "challenged the polity" of the Church. In an online exchange with a feisty layman, Howe defended his Laodicean approach, noting that, "it hardly warrants the imagery of Pilate washing his hands before the crucifixion!" Really. Perhaps Bishop Howe should sit down and read Rev. 3:14-22. To the Church at Laodicea: "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot...I am about to spit you out of my mouth." Some of us who have been through John Howe's hands wouldn't trust him to share the last life jacket on the Titanic. Perhaps Bishop Allison ought to send Bishop Howe a copy of his book "The Cruelty of Heresy" - An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy. He might just learn something. Now I need to make a correction on a previous story. In my piece on "The Troubling Spirituality of Frank Griswold" I said he passed six Episcopal Churches to attend a Roman Catholic Mass. That was inaccurate. He passed only one. Now today's stories are across the board. Because of my preoccupation with the sexual abuse story at the Society of St. Francis I am going to have to play catch-up with you all. There's a story out of London by Auburn Traycik, editor of The Christian Challenge about the gathering of some 10,000 traditionalist bishops and priests. The "Christ our Future" gathering is a strong statement to liberals and others that this crowd is going to be around for a while. My own columnists are back on deck today - Mike McManus and Terry Mattingly. They are always a joy to read. Chuck Colson has a piece on the late Mr. Simons, a player in the Nixon era and wealthy Wall Street magnate who gave away millions to charity before he died. He apparently also found faith. The Bishop of Massachusetts, it seems, has won the next round in his battle to keep the property and endowment of St. Paul's Brockton. But I am told this is going to be appealed. As they say, 'it ain't over till it's over' and this story is far from over. As usual I close with a devotional. Tomorrow I will be interviewing the new Primate of Nigeria, the Rt. Rev. Peter Akinola. He should have some interesting thoughts on the state of ECUSA and its place in the worldwide Anglican Communion. If you want to review past digests you can go to my website: http://virtuosity.bizland.com. You can sign up your friends from there and check in with some 450 national and international media. You can also buy your books from Amazon. Com from my website as well. If you would like to make a contribution to the support of Virtuosity you may do so by sending a check to: Media-Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. I will send you a copy of Os Guinness's book "Time for Truth" as my way of saying thanks. All Blessings, David W. Virtue From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 22:31:04 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 22:31:04 Subject: Defining Deviancy Down - The Episcopal Church's Flawed Morality Message-ID: DEFINING DEVIANCY DOWN - THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH'S FLAWED MORALITY Commentary By David W. Virtue When the Episcopal Church gathers together in Denver next month amid a panoply of purple shirts, clergy collars, informed laity and angry pansexualists, a resolution to broker in an alternative sexual behavior to heterosexuality will spotlight center stage. It will be a defining moment; for some liberation, for others the final march towards death and extinction. Frank Griswold's hopes for a Year of Jubilee will disappear faster than cigar smoke in a heavy breeze. If the revisionists and liberals win it will be a triumph of moral troglodytes without peer in Episcopal Church history. Queer ECUSA will be the new motto of the Church. Crossed condoms on black cloth will be its flag. It will be a pyrrhic victory for sodomy that has no equal in 2,000 years of church history. Both the Roman Catholic Church at one end of the denominational spectrum and the Southern Baptist Convention at the other will shake their heads in bewilderment and disbelief as they watch a once proud denomination that boasted 12 presidents, wash itself down the theological and moral drain with a behavior so egregious that millions have died of it and for it. The Episcopal Church will sign its own death warrant. It will only remain for someone to insert the needle, apply the lethal injection and quietly close the door as they leave. How did it come to pass then, that a behavior so deadly could, with the manipulation of behavioral norms, language and emotion find itself reasoned into thinking people, especially Episcopalians, surely some of the brightest and best minds in America today. Certainly much credit goes to Dr. Louie Crew and Integrity; an easily manipulated media, tragic stories of dying gays, a complete absence of the medical and clinical aspects of sodomy, the psychiatric community's rejection of the abhorrence of homosexuality, the triumph of the therapeutic over the moral, and, above all, the abandonment of Scripture as normative for the Church's faith and morals. The latter lies at the very heart of the dilemma. Future historians will marvel, as they unearth the history of ECUSA to find that this once proud Church had fallen for an ethic of sentimentality and denial of sin so blatant that in doing so, signed its own death warrant. The notion that persons should be accepted in total indifference to what they are or have done, and, in the name of something called "inclusivity" turn a blind eye to sin and evil, will floor even the most hardened secular anthropologist. In the last twenty years Episcopalians have developed a morbid fear of guilt; they will go to almost any length to avoid admitting that we ourselves or another is truly evil. The other doctrine of "niceness" precludes any such possibility. You must never pronounce on another's guilt or sin, to do so is to exclude, and that might be the ONLY true sin. To believe and act on this does, in the final analysis, destroy the significance of human action. Moral character, once forged in resistance to evil is now declared null and void. Theologian Stanley Hauerwas says that "only as we are willing to judge the other can we show respect for him as a person." Hauerwas writes: "For by judgment we accept him as one capable of growth. By speaking the truth in love, we help him or her face the fact in loving one he has hated the other; only through such a painful perception can he recognize depths to life which he had not previously seen." If the ethic of "personalism" which now triumphs in society and is allowed to prevail in ECUSA without moral categories, we must all be deemed as good. Recent polls suggest that the vast majority of Americans begin and operate on the notion that we are basically "good" occasionally wandering into badness. Such a view violates Scripture, Reformation teaching and history. Jesus did not die for "good" people. This form of humanism should be recognized as just that and should not be disguised with the label of "Christian" ethics. Those whom the Lord loves he chastens. Resistance to moral evil is the formation not only of character but of a society that firmly bases itself on truth revealed in law and Scripture. If homosexuality and transgendered behavior triumphs, and it might, the Episcopal Church will have wrung sin out Scripture, the Prayer Book and the Church's confessions. It will have denied a key doctrine of Scripture thus fulfilling bishops Spong and Harris's view that the truth of Christ's atoning death is irrelevant, perhaps even a gross historical act. But the teachings of Scripture and the Church are all of a piece, one seamless garment of historic magnitude now being torn asunder by men and women ignorant of what they are doing and the long term consequences of their actions. It will indeed be the final horror to discover that as they tear the fabric of the Church apart they will only reveal Christ's broken body before whom they will all fall prostrate. For them, though, it will be too late. END Note: If you are not receiving this on Virtuosity, the nation's largest conservative online Episcopal/Anglican News Service then you are not getting all the news that's fit to E-mail. Subscribe now. Write to dvirtue236 at aol.com. Or you may go to the following website: http://virtuosity.bizland.com to read past digests and subscribe there. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 22:47:23 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 22:47:23 Subject: Anglo-Catholics Pack London Arena to Celebrate "Christ Our Future" Message-ID: ANGLO-CATHOLICS PACK LONDON ARENA TO CELEBRATE "CHRIST OUR FUTURE" By Auburn V.F. Traycik Editor, The Christian Challenge LONDON (June 12)--Looking nothing like the nearly-extinct species they are sometimes claimed to be, Anglo-Catholics from all over England and beyond filled the 10,000-capacity London Arena nearly "to the rafters" Saturday for a millennium eucharistic celebration on the Eve of Pentecost. The Archbishop of York, Dr. David Hope, was the principal celebrant, and the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, preached for the "Christ Our Future" event near London's Millennium Dome. Said to be the largest gathering of Anglo-Catholics since 1992, and probably the largest assembly of any one church constituency in recent history, the event made a strong implicit statement about those who still support catholic order in a church that now has women priests, and is shortly due to consider moves toward women bishops. "We are here to celebrate our future--Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever," said Canon Beau Brandie, one of the organizers, in pre-service remarks. Congregants of all ages virtually filled the arena as it was, but as the procession began to the hymn "Blessed city, heavenly Salem," some 670 priests began filing in, followed by about 35 bishops from England, Wales, Africa, Australia, America and elsewhere, about half of them serving diocesans. The impact was such that the assembly broke into sustained applause. Accompanied by organ, orchestra and a trans-national choir, the service, which included a renewal of baptismal vows, was drawn from the Church of England's new liturgy, Common Worship. It also marked the debut of a new modern-style mass setting, Fr. Ronald Corp's Mass of Christ Our Future, and a new anthem, Ego Sum, also by Corp. The service music was commissioned by Forward in Faith (FIF), one of 17 Catholic societies that supported the event. The composer, Fr. Corp, is an assistant priest in London as well as musical director of the New London Orchestra (which he founded in 1988) and three London choral groups. American prelates present included Bishops Jack Iker of Fort Worth and Keith Ackerman of Quincy (IL), both aligned with Forward in Faith, North America. The Bishop of Fulham, John Broadhurst, chairman of FIF, said in final announcements that the event was intended as a significant offering of worship to God, and not as a "demonstration." "But it does show that we are not a 'tiny rump', and if we are, we need to go on a diet," he said. FIF has some 8,000 subscribing members, about 300 affiliated parishes, and over 25,000 registered supporters. Spokesmen said that independent studies by the Christian Research organization had found that the Anglo-Catholic constituency is the only segment of the C of E which had not declined in numbers, despite the fact that some 450 priests of that "camp" had left the church over women priests. Decline among Evangelicals was found to be slight, and "considerable" among liberals, they said. While the massive gathering in the London Arena on Saturday likely heightened anxiety among liberal church leaders, it had the exact opposite effect on those who were there. The most common reaction of the day, by far, was "encouraging." "Somebody said to me recently, 'Religion is really finished, isn't it?'" said the vice president of the Anglican Diocese of Europe, Maryon Jagers. "They ought to come and see something like this." *SPECULATION BY INFORMED SOURCES in London is that the Archdeacon of Lewes and Hastings, Nicholas Reade, will be named in early July as a new "flying bishop," succeeding the late Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Michael Houghton. As Reade is a middle-aged man, such an appointment would be seen as indicative of the Archbishop of Canterbury's belief that the traditionalist constituency is not a waning segment of the C of E, nor flying bishops merely transitional. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 22:47:29 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 22:47:29 Subject: Doubting the Death Penalty by Terry Mattingly Message-ID: Doubting the death penalty By Terry Mattingly Bud Welch was driving his daughter Julie-Marie home from college when a radio signal drifted over the Iowa plains and started another talk about the big issues in life. It was a report about another execution in Texas. Welch said his daughter's response was blunt: "Dad, all they're doing is teaching hate to their children. ... It has no social redeeming value." This remark was not surprising, since this whole Catholic family was opposed to the death penalty. "I didn't think a hell of a lot of it at the time," admitted the Oklahoma City gas-station owner, in a speech recorded at Harvard University. But Welch remembered her words after the Oklahoma City Federal Building blast, when he wanted to kill her killers. He wanted vengeance. Later, he realized that what he really wanted was for Timothy McVeigh to repent and somehow honor his victims. McVeigh couldn't do that if he was dead. Later, Welch promised the bomber's family he would do what he could to save McVeigh's life. That's an inspiring story, but it stirs both anger and appreciation in churches and legislatures. Ask Al Gore. Ask George W. Bush. The death penalty issue just won't die and there are many good reasons for that, according to Cardinal Roger Mahony. This pope links it to a broader "culture of death." "It's reflected in our movies and music, our television and video games, in our homes, schools and on our streets. More ominously, our society is tempted to solve some of our more significant social problems with violence," said Mahony, who leads the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles "Abortion is promoted to deal with difficult or unwanted pregnancies. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are suggested as a remedy for the burdens of age and illness. Capital punishment is marketed as the answer to deal with violent crime. A nation that destroys its young, abandons its elderly and relies on vengeance is in serious moral trouble." Mahony admitted, in a National Press Club address, that support for the death penalty unites legions of politicians who rarely agree on anything else. Some people say opposing the death penalty is "liberal," while others call it "conservative." In Catholic circles, some insist that abortion and the death penalty are unique and totally separate issues. Others admit they are different, but insist that they share common roots. The Catholic Catechism of 1997 acknowledges that "the traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty," if this is the "only possible way" to effectively defend citizens. However, many Catholics insist this statement must now be read in the light of 1999 statements made by Pope John Paul II. Today's church, he said, in St. Louis, needs witnesses "who are unconditionally pro-life. ... A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform." Police also have access to remarkable new forms of technology to investigate who is guilty and who is not. But these techniques are often leading to hotter debates, not agreement. This is not a simple left vs. right debate, either. Conservative pundit George Will recently noted that, in "the 24 years since the resumption of executions under Supreme Court guidelines, about 620 have occurred, but 87 condemned persons -- one for every seven executed -- had their convictions vacated by exonerating evidence. In eight of these cases ... the evidence was from DNA. One inescapable inference from these numbers is that some of the 620 persons executed were innocent." There are 565 inmates on death row in California. The cardinal can do the math. "I believe that the Gospel teaches that people are responsible for their actions," said Mahony. "I believe that the reality of sin demands that those who injure others must make reparation. But I do not believe that society is made safer, that our communities are made whole, or that our social fabric is strengthened, by killing those who kill others. Instead, the death penalty perpetuates an insidious cycle of violence that ... diminishes all of us." Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) teaches at the Alexandria, Va., campus of Regent University. He writes this weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 22:47:36 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 22:47:36 Subject: Eulogy for William E. Simon by Chuck Colson Message-ID: Eulogy for William E. Simon: A Legacy of Heroic Proportions By Chuck Colson Sadly, I will be traveling to New York tomorrow to attend funeral services at St. Patrick's Cathedral for a colleague from the Nixon years, my great friend, William E. Simon (November 27, 1927 - June 3, 2000). We've been reminded by obituaries in recent days that Bill Simon was one of the giants of our time. I first met Bill when he left his successful investment- banking career to come to Washington in late-1972 as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. He gained great respect for taking on the toughest jobs. Among them was serving as Energy Czar during the energy crisis of 1974. He won worldwide acclaim for his work. He was appointed Secretary of the Treasury in 1974, and served with distinction under Presidents Nixon and Ford. But those things are not the source of Bill's greatness. After he left government, Bill became treasurer of the International Olympic Committee. President Carter urged the committee to boycott the Moscow Olympics in 1980, to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; but the sports establishment fought against doing so. Bill gave an impassioned speech before the House of Delegates, and it was his principled stand that swung the vote in favor of the boycott. Later, he was elected President of the Olympics. Bill raised funds to pull them out of debt, putting the Olympics on a business-like basis. But that's not the greatness of Bill Simon either. Bill made a fortune in the eighties buying distressed companies and turning them around. He then gave away much of his fortune through philanthropy. But this wasn't the source of his greatness. When I worked with him, I knew Bill to be shrewd, dedicated, and tough as nails. And those traits remained, but later in life Bill changed as his faith became the center of his life. He called me one day and asked if he could go into prison with me; that turned out to be one of the greatest days of his life, and mine. We not only visited the InnerChange prison in Texas, but spent an afternoon on death row. Bill walked from cell to cell, reaching through the bars, tears rolling down his cheeks as he listened and shared his faith. A sight I will never forget was Bill Simon, former Treasury Secretary, head of the Olympic Committee, and one of the most powerful men in America, kneeling on the concrete floor, praying with an African-American inmate condemned to die. Bill spent his later years seeking out "the least of these." He ministered to those in AIDS homes, hospices, and facilities for the mentally handicapped -- helping people in need. He was recently quoted in the press as saying, "Writing checks for charities is necessary and important, but it can't compete with corporal works of mercy, which are infinitely greater." His ministry, he told the reporters, was the most important thing he had ever done. In my recent commencement address at Wheaton College, I told graduates that if they really aspired to lead good lives, they would find heroes to model themselves after. Well, that's not easy these days. But here's one hero I enthusiastically nominate. Bill Simon was a man who served without seeking personal acclaim. And that's why I'm doing this commentary: to honor a hero for our times, who exemplified what it means to live the Christian faith. And that WAS Bill's greatness. Believers, C. S. Lewis reminded us, never have to say goodbye. We will meet again. But in the meantime, Bill Simon, we will miss you. Copyright (c) 2000 Prison Fellowship Ministries From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 23:07:08 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 23:07:08 Subject: Bishop of Dallas May Oppose ECUSA-ELCA Link Message-ID: Bishop of Dallas may oppose ECUSA-ELCA link By Jim Goodson (Editor of Esprit) Bishop James M. Stanton may vote against the proposed Called to Common Mission with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America this July at General Convention. "I'm leaning against it," the bishop told the diocesan Executive Council May 9. "We would have to suspend our preface to the ordinal concerning ordinations and the Lutherans would have to suspend the Augsburg Confession, which is a fine statement of faith." "Both denominations seem willing to give up basic articles of their faith in search of some sort of attempt to 'just get along.' These are two shrinking denominations that are not coming from a position of strength. I don't know if you can build a communion based upon the phrase 'agree to disagree.' " The ELCA and the Episcopal Church have spent six years attempting to forge a document that could bring Lutheran bishops into the apostolic succession and allow for a full communion and interchange of ministry within the denominations. The original Concordat of Agreement was approved by Episcopalians but rejected by Lutherans in 1997. Episcopalians will vote again this summer in Denver. Opposition from Lutherans centers on the apostolic succession, the Rev. James Biegler told the council. "The ELCA North Texas-North Louisiana synod narrowly defeated a motion to establish a commission to find loopholes in the Called to Common Ministry document," Biegler said. "The fact that it almost passed demonstrates there is significant opposition here in our area." Biegler said Episcopalians would have to suspend the Book of Common Prayer preface to the ordinal concerning ordinations "for at least eight years and maybe as many as 40 years." END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 23:07:22 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 23:07:22 Subject: St. Paul's Parish in Brockton, Mass loses Battle. Appeal Planned Message-ID: St. Paul's Parish in Brockton, Mass. loses battle A former Episcopal parish that claims it was evicted because of its conservative views has lost another round in its fight to regain control of its property. Members of St. Paul's Parish in Brockton, Mass., have been meeting on the sidewalk in front of their historic brownstone building since March 1999, when a judge ordered them to turn over the keys and barred their priest from the altar. The Right Rev. C. FitzSimons Allison of Georgetown, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, led them in worship in May 1999, despite a threat of discipline from the bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, the Right Rev. Thomas Shaw, for ministering in his territory against his wishes. Shaw deposed the local priest, the Rev. James R. Hiles, and replaced the church's vestry after the congregation withheld payments to the diocese for three consecutive years. The parish quit paying dues to the diocese in 1995 and left the Episcopal Church USA altogether in 1996. The group is affliated with Forward in Faith, North America, formerly known as the Episcopal Synod of America. The dissidents believed they had a right to leave the denomination and keep their property because the denomination had departed from the doctrine and worship to which the parish had vowed its allegiance when it was founded in 1882, former senior warden Deirdre DeVine said last summer. After meeting on the sidewalk for a couple months, the dissidents filed a countersuit last July in Plymouth County Superior Court in Brockton. Justice Linda E. Giles ruled in favor of the diocese May 24. Edward Notis-McConarty, the diocese's lawyer, sent The Post and Courier a copy. The fact that the diocese might have changed its doctrine and worship is not a point the court is allowed to consider, Giles wrote. "Civil courts can resolve disputes concerning church property, so long as the court does not become entangled in doctrinal matters," she said in her ruling. Toss out the doctrinal dispute, and you're left with church law, to which the church had pledged allegiance in writing when it was founded, she reasoned. Episcopal church law gives ultimate control of parish property to the diocese and denomination, she wrote. The plaintiffs plan to appeal to a higher court. "We think there a number of factual conclusions that are not appropriate in the opinion, and we will be going forward with an appeal," Daniel J. Kelly, attorney for the plaintiffs, said Wednesday by phone. A group of former members continues to meet each Sunday morning outside the building in downtown Brockton, DeVine says. "Our people are undaunted and are glad that our case will at last be out of Brockton and into a higher court," she said in an e-mail message. The property is valued at $4 million and the trust funds at more than $500,000, she said. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 23:07:36 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 23:07:36 Subject: Feminists Proposals Routed at U.N. Conference Message-ID: Feminist proposals routed at U.N. conference By George Archibald THE WASHINGTON TIMES NEWS ANALYSIS Conservative nations routed liberal and radical feminists at the finale of a U.N. special session on women's rights over the weekend, forcing Western powers to drop homosexual rights, sex rights for children and promotion of abortion from a new five-year U.N. agenda for women's advancement. Christine Kapalata of Tanzania, the conference's negotiations chairman, told feminists at the end of a weeklong onslaught by Catholic and Muslim delegations, "We don't want a Beijing-minus-five document" - a reference to the session's title, "Beijing-Plus-Five." But conservative forces, led by Poland, Nicaragua, Senegal and the Holy See, pushed back efforts to expand a Platform for Action adopted five years ago by women from 189 nations at the 1995 U.N. Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing. "It was a rout, it was an utter defeat for the other side," said Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute in New York, who helped coordinate conservative opposition to sexual rights provisions for homosexuals and children and tougher pro-abortion mandates. The session ended with the adoption of a document reiterating, among other things, that better education and health care are key to improving women's lives. It also called for universal primary and secondary education for boys and girls within the next 15 years and a more aggressive prosecution of those who commit acts of violence against women, including employers. But there was no agreement on the tougher issues. The turning point came in the wee hours of Thursday morning, the first of two all-night negotiating sessions, when Western nations continued insisting that expanded homosexual rights be listed among the document's accomplishments. The section noted measures taken "by a growing number of countries . . . to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation." "We cannot accept that language," said a delegate from Senegal. A Syrian delegate agreed: "There's no way we can accept a document tonight with the phrase 'sexual orientation.' " Delegates from Nicaragua and Kuwait said they could not accept "sexual orientation," an undefined term, as a human right. The term was not included in the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights nor the Beijing Platform for Action, the Kuwait delegate said. "We need to progress and move beyond" the Platform for Action, said a New Zealand delegate, speaking for a coalition called JUSCANZ - Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Patricia Flor of Germany, chairman of the negotiating session, agreed. "Should we go with a more than 50-year-old list?" she asked of the 1948 declaration. After 45 minutes of argument on the single sentence, Ms. Flor said she would bracket the paragraph as unresolved and return to it later. Third World delegates protested that Jyoti Shankar Singh, executive coordinator of the U.N. session, had ruled that original Beijing platform language would prevail when disagreement occurred over new language, in order to move the process along. "Translators were due to leave at 1 a.m., five minutes away, and Flor had let the debate continue long past the time limit," said Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America, one of 2,300 nongovernment organization (NGO) delegates. "People were livid. But the delegates from Senegal, Pakistan, and the G-77 group of developing nations said they would continue debate without interpreters. They truly put EU and JUSCANZ to shame," she said. Then the blowup came. Western delegations are "holding the women of the world hostage to one term, 'sexual orientation,' " when their real needs are clean water and help in overcoming illiteracy, said the Pakistan delegate. "We should just leave now," said a G-77 delegate. "They are being stubborn on one issue that is not important to most women of the world who are illiterate" and whose basic economic and health care needs are unmet. "They need to respect people who have spoken out. They are wasting time on minor issues and not being serious about the time spent. If they're not being serious, it is better just to leave now and go back to our own countries. They need to show respect and not bog us down on this issue." "It was then a drum-roll rejecting sexual orientation," said Mr. Ruse. "It rolled across Africa, the Middle East, demanding ouster of 'sexual orientation' from the document. The room was electric. Our friends were galvanized. You had almost the whole world against 'sexual orientation' and the U.S. and EU isolated in favor." From then on, paragraph after paragraph giving legitimacy to homosexual rights, sexual rights for children, and expanding abortion mandates were dropped from the document, Mr. Ruse said. The last big fight occurred during Friday's all-night session, over a paragraph proposed by JUSCANZ and Turkey requiring health service providers to be offered abortion training and equipment in countries where the procedure is legal, "and take other measures to ensure that abortion is safe and accessible." "On the floor that night, this was the big ball game," Mr. Ruse said. "The U.S, knew they had lost. If there was disagreement, they were to revert to the Beijing language." On Wednesday, 24 pro-life members of Congress and several dozen members of both the Canadian and European parliaments wrote letters opposing the pro-abortion and sexual rights sections, he said. "This was pivotal. The radical feminists really wanted to extend reproductive rights further from Beijing. And the intervention of the American Congress and the European and Canadian parliaments was very important," Mr. Ruse said. As enacted by 2,300 official country delegates, the new women's rights document included stronger measures to combat violence against women, sex exploitation, and the impact of HIV/AIDS. "We have a very strong document which not only reaffirms Beijing and other relevant conferences on human rights and social development, but also moves forward," said Angela King, a U.N. assistant secretary and special adviser on advancement of women to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 14 23:27:09 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 23:27:09 Subject: Devotional - It's Not for Hoarding Message-ID: DEVOTIONAL - IT'S NOT FOR HOARDING "I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner," - Ecclesiastes 5:13 During the first century A.D., a man named Monobaz converted to Judaism. He soon became King of Adiabene, which is located in a district in the Upper Tigris region, south of Armenia. During a famine, the King dispensed of the hoards of royal wealth to save his people. When his brothers and his father's household came to him to argue against giving to the people, Monobaz replied: "My fathers stored up below and I am storing above, as it says, 'Truth springs out of the earth and righteousness looks down from heaven.' My fathers stored in a place which can be tampered with, but I have stored in a place which cannot be tampered with, as it says, 'Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of his throne.' My fathers gathered treasures of money, but I have gathered treasures of souls, as it is written, 'The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that is wise wins souls.' My fathers gathered for this world, but I have gathered for the future world, as it says, 'Your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your reward.'" Money is to be circulated. Hoarding wealth harms the owner and deprives those who are truly in need. Does part of your giving plan to the Lord include giving to those who are in need? Today in prayer, thank Christ for the gifts He has given you and ask how you can meet the financial needs of others. "How we use our money demonstrates the reality of our love for God. In some ways it proves our love more conclusively than depth of knowledge, length of prayers or prominence of service." - Charles C. Ryrie God's Word: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Luke 12:33-34 From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 00:04:21 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 0:04:21 Subject: Virtuosity: Opening Comments 6-21-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, I received a letter just two days ago from Orris Walker, the Bishop of Long Island regarding the homosexual abuse of one James Allen, former friar at the Society of St. Francis in that diocese. Here is what the bishop wrote: "Please be advised that notwithstanding any language as may have appeared in an insurance policy, I have no jurisdiction over the matters raised by Mr. Allen. Accordingly, Mr. Allen was referred to Bishop Lamb, the Bishop Protector, who did have jurisdiction over the matter." Now when I spoke to Bishop Jerry Lamb of Northern California over his responsibility to protect novices like Mr. Allen from homosexual predators like Br. Jon Bankert here is what he said to me. "It is not my responsibility. I am 3,400 miles away. I am only a figurehead. It is up to the local bishop in his [Allen's] jurisdiction to take care of such matters." Wonderful isn't it. Both these gentlemen clearly took courses in the Pontius Pilate School of Hand Washing. As there are ostensibly no canons to govern sexual misbehavior in the Episcopal Church's monastic orders (the Righter Trial established that we have no canons prohibiting homosexual behavior among clergy in The Episcopal Church), it is very clear to me that you can now take vows of "poverty, chastity and obedience" and then gayly practice sodomy to your heart's content without anybody holding you accountable for your behavior. And you wonder why The Episcopal Church has about as much credibility as dog vomit. We have openly sodomite priests, at least three gay Deans, (one who is a lesbian), and a homosexual Dean in southern California who is "looking for a husband". It's enough to make you believe in the Last Judgment. Now if you would like to send the Presiding Bishop a note about what you think he and the bishops ought to do about the scandalous behavior going on in this and other Episcopal monastic orders send him an E-mail. His address is: pboffice at dfms.org. He'd love to hear from you. And with all the scandal wafting out of ECUSA Griswold thinks that Rome is waiting with open arms to unite with us? Who are we kidding? At this moment in history we are still trying to get it together with the Lutherans and there are stumbling blocks galore there as well. Just wait till the first Lutherans cross the threshold of a Diocese of Newark Episcopal parish and discover the Rev. Vincent Gayflower mincing and prancing down the aisle with his gay lover and you'll see Lutherans heading for the bathrooms faster than the gay Episcopal organization Integrity ordering multi-colored condoms for a night out on the town. This past week Frank Griswold went on the Diane Rehm show and said what we all know that 'local option' is already at work and will continue regardless of what happens at General Convention. Now there's a news flash for you. Now if you think that sexual stupidity is the province of the American Episcopal Church, cross the pond with me to the UK where a vicar is undergoing a sex change operation to go from being the Rev. Peter Stone to the Rev. Carol Stone. And he is doing it with the blessing of the Bishop of Bristol, the Rt. Rev. Barry Rogerson. After he has had the operation he will go right back to being a vicar again. The bishop said he saw no "ethical or ecclesiastical legal reasons why he should not continue in his/her ministry." The Bishop said he got approval from Lambeth Palace. Is he telling us with a straight face that Archbishop Carey approved of this? Even I find that hard to believe. Carey was at one time Bishop of Bristol himself. Mr. Stone apparently has "the overwhelming support" of his congregation at St Philip's Church, Upper Stratton, Swindon, where he has been vicar since 1996. Just to add insult to heterosexual injury Mr. Stone, it has been learned, has been married and divorced twice and has an 18-year-old daughter. He said, "My earliest memory was wishing to be other than I am and every night I prayed that I would wake up as a girl. He added: "My daughter has been tremendously supportive. She is doing her A-levels at the moment and so she has a lot on her mind." Really. Now if you want gender confusion among Sunday school children watch this one. "Mummy why does the vicar now have a higher voice. It was much lower last week." "Well dear it's like this. The Rev. Stone had a sex change operation. He was a he last week and now he is a she." "What did they do, mummy?" "Well dear they cut off his thingie gave him two casabas and a little opening just like yours." "Mummy where is that in the Bible?" "Well dear there was an occasion when three disciples were with Jesus on a mountain and they were transgendered...." "Mummy, I think the word is transfigured..." Add this to the fact that the Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries likened a sex change operation of a British Army man to the Feast of the Transfiguration in an address and you wonder why I write satire. Let me tell you dear friends I couldn't write satire to top this. This stuff is ready for Saturday Night Live. Many years ago when I sat in the living room of Malcolm and Kitty Muggeridge in Robertsbridge, England, Malcolm told me a story about the time he was editor of PUNCH magazine. They were planning an issue around an Anglican bishop announcing that Joe Stalin and Communism was in fact the Kingdom of heaven on earth, the very kingdom Jesus came announcing. Just as they were going to press an Anglican Dean, Hewlett Johnson, who later became known as the "Red Dean" did exactly that, undermining PUNCH's best efforts at humor. Someone should give the Bishop of Oxford the PUNCH award for Biblical exegesis. Just to let you know how entrenched sodomy is in the Episcopal Church, the recent elections of two suffragan bishops in the Diocese of Connecticut should give you pause about whether you might want to move out of the state if you are an Episcopalian. There were nine candidates looking for those two prize positions in one of the most prestigious dioceses in the country - third largest - with lots of dough. When they were all questioned about their views on ordaining homosexual priests and same-sex marriages, only one candidate - The Rev. John Macdonald, a missionary in Honduras with SAMS said a flat "no" to both sexual arrangements. All the rest gave a resounding yes, qualified only by whether General Convention gives its final approval to same-sex marriages. Watch this diocese sink slowly into the sunset. Same-sex unions don't make churches grow, neither does sodomite priests. Only the gospel of God's redeeming grace makes parishes grows, and most of these priests wouldn't know Jesus if He walked on water. Connecticut is strictly the gin and tonic crowd, an overflow from tired New Yorkers fed up with Leno and Letterman. The Rev. Macdonald didn't have a prayer of winning. When The Rev. Martin Minns of Truro Episcopal Church in VA ran for Bishop Coadjutor of Connecticut some months ago he got the same bum's rush. He was vilified before he even made a presentation by pro-homosexual thinking persons on the Standing Committee. I was privy to the E-mails that floated back and forth between that diocese and the Rev. Martin Minns. The truth is this, Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics have about as much chance of winning bishoprics at this historical point in time in ECUSA as Louie and Ernest announcing they had gone straight. You'd think the Reconciliation crowd might get the message here. The sodomite forces have one thing on their mind, may be two. But one of them is winning the culture wars in ECUSA and they will pull out all the stops to win - reconciliation be damned. They also have the Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold on their side. Why then should they make any compromises? Simple really. They know that evangelicals make churches grow and they don't. They also like our money. Just ask Charles E. Bennison, Bishop of PA. He has a resolution on the floor at Denver condemning "the evil of heterosexism and applauding homosexuality." Trust me when I tell you that without heterosexism Bennison wouldn't be on Planet Earth, neither would any of the gays. Well it seems that EARTHQUAKE 2000 has gotten its act together and will be at General Convention, Bibles in one hand and Prayer Books and Praise choruses in the other. They'll give the Rev. Mel White and his gay SOULFORCE crowd a run for their money. The Integrity gang as well. Watch for the sparks to fly. As if to try and defuse all the sex stuff at General Convention, the Presiding Bishop has set up a special committee to deal with all the sexual resolutions. This committee comprises mostly liberal and revisionist bishops - hardly a surprise. The only exception is Bishop John Howe the milquetoast evangelical Bishop of Florida. He's become the new poster boy of evangelical compromise. "First you have straight...then you have gay...my thinking is..." "Yes, bishop, would you care to clarify your position to us, we are a little confused". Now you all know the Anglican Church in Canada is in serious trouble, on the verge of bankruptcy facing charges of sexual pluriformity, among other things with minors. Ian Hunter, a scholar, friend and Virtuosity reader who has written a couple of books on Malcolm Muggeridge has written a letter to Archbishop Peers. You can read it here today. In another part of the world, down under to be precise, where "g/day mate" goes along with "my name's Roo, my friends call me Kanga, you can call me Kanga," the new Primate there, Archbishop Peter Carnley is messing things up with theological pluriformity. He's not quite sure that the resurrection is absolutely necessary to faith and the atonement might not be relevant to the gospel at all. He also believes that all religious paths lead to heaven, if there is one, and being a Christian believer is not entirely necessary. This is an old sawhorse and hardly worth mentioning, except he's in deep conflict with Harry Goodhew evangelical Archbishop of Sydney and there's a good chance that the Anglican Church is in danger of breaking apart. Australia's oldest and largest church is being destabilized by a power struggle ferocious enough to rival anything staged by the main political parties, so one broadcaster put it. Watch for more on this. On a sad note, The Rev. Dr. James Boice died this past week in Philadelphia. He was a significant voice for the Reformed wing of the Presbyterian Church in America along with names like R.C. Sproul and others. He was 61 and died of liver cancer. He authored several commentaries and ministered at Tenth Presbyterian Church. He will be sorely missed. It has also been learned that former Pittsburgh Bishop Alden Hathaway has been diagnosed with cancer. The type of cancer he has is carried through plasma of the blood and attaches to the bone. He will be undergoing further tests, which should be concluded by Friday. The cure rate is good. I first met Alden when I was Managing Editor of the Virginian Churchman in the 70s. We met again at the New Wineskins conference in Ridgecrest, NC where he gave me some wise counsel about the direction Virtuosity might take in the coming months and years. I plan to take it. Now the two retired bishops who got a slap on the wrist from the 20 or so Province IV bishops have struck back. You can read what they say. Today's stories are across the board. I have not written anything personally because I am working on several quite large choice morsels that take time putting together. Nothing quite as big as the Society of St. Francis sodomy in the monastery blockbuster, but close enough. I plan to keep the bishops on their toes and guessing right up till General Convention when I plan to embarrass the heck out of them. As usual I close with a devotional. If you would like to support the ministry of Virtuosity you may do so by sending a check to Media-Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. If you make a donation of $50.00 or more I will send you a copy of Os Guinness's book "Time for Truth" a small but excellent study in post-modernism. You will also help me get to General Convention where I plan to wear my own protest placard which reads: CAN YOU COUNT FROM 1 TO 526. IF NOT ASK ME. (The Lambeth Resolution). All blessings, David W. Virtue PS. If you would like to read past Virtuosity digests you may do so by going to: http://virtuosity.bizland.com. You will read Virtuosity's own correspondents, some 450 links to the world's media and you can buy your books from Amazon. Com right off my website. To date you have made it possible me to receive $66.20 from Amazon because of your book purchases, a sum not to be sneezed at. I am truly grateful. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:46:47 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:46:47 Subject: Christians being Slaughtered in Indonesia Message-ID: Slaughter in Halmahara, Indonesia HALMAHERA IS UNDER ATTACK Villages around Galela and the interior of Tobelo on Halmahera Island have just been attacked this afternoon, Monday 19 June 2000, by between 2,000 and 3,000 Muslim Jihad militia. This is a predominantly Christian area. Duma village, Soatubaru village and Dokulamo village have all been destroyed. The population has either been slaughtered or has fled into the jungle. The Indonesia Army (Company No.512), who have responsibility for security in the area, have offered no protection. Duma village is the site where Chrsitianity was first established in the area. A fine old church, recently rennovated, has been burnt down. It is not known how many people have died. Thousands have fled. The fighting continues. Rev Professor James Haire, Moderator-Elect of the Uniting Church in Australia is in phone contact with Tobleo. For more information or for interviews please contact him now on phone 07 33779950 or 07 33766460. Rev John Barr Secretary for Indonesia Uniting Church in Australia National Assembly PO Box A2266 Sydney South 1235 Australia Phone +61 2 8267 4251(office), 0408826742 (mobile) Fax +61 2 8267 4222 END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:45:55 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:45:55 Subject: Bishop 'Sanctioning Scandal' says REFORM Evangelical Anglicans Message-ID: BISHOP 'SANCTIONING SCANDAL' REFORM, the evangelical Anglican campaigning network, today expressed dismay at the highly publicised support the Bishop of Bristol has given to the idea of the Rev'd Peter Stone remaining as a vicar after an intended sex-change operation. The Bishop appears to be sanctioning scandal. Instead of suggesting that the Rev'd Peter Stone step down from his position of church leadership while he is privately counselled, the Bishop has flown in the face of his consecration vows to uphold truth and drive away error, by failing to allow the Bible's authority on this issue to be pre-eminent. The Bible clearly differentiates between the sexes. Whilst our sex does not affect our status in Christ, God has made us the way we individually are, so that we can give glory to Him by the way we cope with our strengths and weaknesses. Giving in to our own desires when they are contrary to what the Bible shows us about God's will, should never be affirmed by anyone in Church leadership, nor should it be allowed to be a model of leadership. Whatever the personal struggles of Peter Stone, there is a wider issue here of whether or not the Church is prepared to accept the authority of the Bible and its clear teaching that those who lead churches should seek to model godly living. Evangelicals and many others in the Church of England will be both outraged and disenchanted by this turn of events. Even the wider public will wonder what we now stand for. Unless decisive action is taken to remedy this situation, then the only recourse which orthodox clergy and congregations will have, will be to dissociate themselves from the ministry of the Bishop of Bristol in the same sort of way that the Rev'd Charles Raven and the congregation of St John's, Kidderminster have so courageously done in the case of the liberal Bishop of Worcester. To let matters rest would simply be to give in to a nightmarish liberal vision of the Church and ever further disenchantment and numerical decline among ordinary churchgoers. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:46:57 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:46:57 Subject: "It Makes Sense to Believe", says a British Psychiatrist Message-ID: To have faith can be evidence of psychological maturity, says John Follansbee, a British Psychiatrist "It makes sense to believe" The Times, London Faith in God, Creator and Provident Lover, requires significant psychological maturity. Christian scripture calls us to have faith like that of a child. Because personality has a fluid and dynamic aspect, these ideas are entirely compatible. The mature personality has the capacity to regress in the service of its own health. Freud labelled this activity "regression in the service of the ego". It incorporates the ability to play, to let go, to have good sex, for example, and to experience awe. Ego refers to the organising principle of the mind, not pride. Freud, the atheist, held the view that religious faith grows from unfulfilled infantile needs, and these are conflict ridden and unresolved. For him, the perfectly mature person has no need of religion. Some psychoanalysts and I hold a contrary view. My position does not make the same error in reverse. People who have no faith are not necessarily immature or ill. Going further, I would say that there are forms of faith that are quite immature. Faith has qualities rather than degrees. Lately, there have been a lot of press articles about plummeting church attendance in this country. My own country, the United States, remains more church-going for reasons best left to speculation. However, church attendance and the issue of religious faith are not the same thing. People go to church and stay away for all kinds of reasons. Many now resort to small prayer groups outside formal church membership. We have, in the present era, been overwhelmed by the value of science in everything from providence, creation, the stock market, and human sexual response, to existence itself. This is the age of big bangs and big bombs. Science has answered many important questions but not the most important questions. The beleaguered believer experiences society as working against faith. He or she might find some fleeting consolation in a mathematically derived conclusion that evolution could not have been achieved by chance. Such conclusions are reaching the press. But this stuff does not faith make. In the days of Thomas More faith was less abstract, more immediate. It was real, and to him so was the person of Jesus Christ. There was as much reflection on His humanity as His divinity. More lived in an era where people were more likely to be willing to die for their faith. He did. To exist and endure, faith must have objective and subjective components. For the philosopher Kierkegaard, faith was "a venture which chooses an objective uncertainty with the passion of the infinite". Einstein declared the most beautiful, sublime truth as the awareness of the transcendent not to be known in ordinary ways. Kierkegaard and Einstein, scientist and Time magazine's Man of the Century, reach the same understanding. Some notable scientists, having assaulted the boundaries of scientific knowledge, have veered towards an awareness of powerful uncertainty in the process assented to faith. The same awareness can be reached without the soaring intellectual journey. One can, on reflection, conclude one's own insignificance and relative helplessness and experience an epiphany. Science as religion, consumerism, immediate communication, prompt gratification, immunity from want, the fascination with celebrity contribute to a society that belittles the notion of soul. Instead it adopts hierarchies of selfactualisation as creed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- Einstein declared the most beautiful, sublime truth as the awareness of the transcendent ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- It is amazing that anyone can make the leap of faith today. When it does occur, the person must be capable of rejecting all of his or her omnipotent aspirations without rejecting hope. One must have the capacity to accept one's insignificance without despair. One way or the other, by good nurture or powerful later experience, one must possess a fundamental sense of oneself and the world as basically good. There must be an acceptance of one's own fallibility. An epiphany, then, is exquisitely personal. It is objective awareness of the transcendent which defies proof. We grasp that there is some being or force beyond our understanding which, however, makes sense and offers some respite from the anguish of life. Thomas Aquinas in two large works establishes persuasive proof of the existence of God. My instructor, a Dominican priest, stated emphatically that the arguments presented did not prove that God exists. But they did prove that the existence of God is logical. For Aquinas faith must have the consent of the intellect. Ultimately faith is a psychological process. This does not discount the mystical in the least. Faith that is rooted in some conscious decision made in the passion of the moment is more likely to dissipate under stress. That eventuality, too, is a psychological process. Mature faith, also vulnerable in my own view, recognises that conversion is an unending process and expects the "decision" to be assaulted and challenged from within constantly. Faith is ambivalent. As faith emerges we recognise the finite nature of corporeal life and accept that fallibility is part of that very freedom without which life would have little meaning. In the Christian tradition, God offers the fallible the prospect of unity with Himself through His Son. This offer is grace and faith accepts it. A triumph over narcissism and an ascent towards psychological maturity. Dr John Follansbee is a fellow of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:47:07 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:47:07 Subject: Gay Minister, Her Partner Sue The Episcopal Church Message-ID: (NOTE: This occurred in a liberal diocese not a traditionalist or evangelical one. It is an example of what happens when you invite the wolf in the door and you wonder why it bites you in the backside when you're back is turned.) Gay minister, her partner sue the Episcopal Church By Karen Abbott Staff News Staff Writer. Denver Rocky Mountain News Two Boulder women who live together in a committed relationship sued the Episcopal Church on Tuesday, claiming church officials violated their rights out of hatred for homosexuals. Lee Ann Bryce was fired from job as youth minister at St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in Boulder because of prejudice against homosexuals, according to the lawsuit filed in Denver U.S. District Court. Bryce's partner, the Rev. Sara D. Smith, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, also is a plaintiff. The lawsuit said Episcopal officials in Colorado also are biased against members of the United Church of Christ. Bryce plans to become an ordained minister in that faith. Robert Franken, coordinator for the office of Bishop Jerry Winterrowd of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, said church officials received an official copy of the law suit Wednesday. "This is a case that's not about sexual orientation, or how we as a church feel about it," Franken said. "It's a case of two fundamental civil rights: One, whether a church may select and supervise its own ministers as it so deems, and two, whether a pastor has the right to speak freely with the members of his or her own congregation," he said. "We believe those are fundamental First Amendment rights that have been recognized by scores of legal decisions," Franken said. The lawsuit said Bryce was working for a Texas city church in 1997, at a salary of $35,000 per year, when a vestrywoman from St. Aidan's contacted her about becoming the church's youth minister Despite the title of minister, the job was a lay position, and church officials knew that Bryce wasn't an Episcopalian, the lawsuit said. It said no one who interviewed Bryce for the St. Aidan's job ever asked her about her beliefs, her marital status, her sexual orientation or if she would abide by Episcopal doctrine. Bryce accepted the 20-hour-a-week job at $15,000 a year, started work Sept. 1, 1997, and was a good employee, the lawsuit said. In February 1998 Bryce decid ed to become an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and enrolled that fall at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. In November 1998, Bryce and Smith had a commitment service in a United Church of Christ Church. The lawsuit said Smith is Bryce's "life partner." Weeks later, in early 1999, church officials told Bryce she would be fired at the end of that year because she was a homosexual woman living in a committed relationship with another woman, the lawsuit said. The lawsuit said the women's relationship was publicly discussed in several meetings with St. Aidan's members and in information packets the rector sent to members. The women's relationship and the United Church of Christ were described in "harassing, humiliating and defamatory" ways and the women were subjected to degrad ing personal questions in public, the lawsuit said. It said the women were deprived of their constitutional rights to free speech, the exercise of their religious beliefs, their privacy and their reputations, especially in finding other work. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:47:15 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:47:15 Subject: Full Communion between American Episcopalians and Lutherans Likely Message-ID: Full communion between American Episcopalians and Lutherans likely by Bob Libby When you're talking about Anglican/Lutheran relations in the British Isles, you're talking about churches across the North Sea. When we talk about Episcopal/Lutheran relations in the US, we're talking about people across the street. January 1, 2001 is the target date for full communion between the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church in the United States and the 5.2 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. All that is needed is a positive vote of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which convenes in Denver on July 5, 2000. Before the convention will be the Called to Common Mission agreement drafted by the Lutherans. In 1997 the Episcopal Convention overwhelmingly passed a "Concordat" document which would have opened the door to full communion, but it fell six votes short of the two-thirds majority required by the ELCA Assembly. The Lutheran objections had to do with differences in theory and practice regarding the historic episcopate. The task was then given to the Lutherans to draft an agreement, who brought in Dr Martin Marty, a celebrated and popular Lutheran historian and journalist to work with the committee. Called to Common Mission was the result. It passed the ECLA 1999 Assembly with a comfortable 71 per cent of the vote. While there is a mutual recognition and interchangability of current ministries, all future ordinations will be by bishops in the Historic Episcopate. In the current ELCA system, the priesthood of all believers is the overriding principal. The diaconate is not seen as a separate order and bishops serve for a specific term in office and then return to being pastors of local churches. In CMM, the differences are simply not defined too closely and each denomination has the "right to interpret the document according to its own standards". From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:46:24 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:46:24 Subject: Two Evangelical Bishops Respond to Province IV Attack on them Message-ID: TWO BISHOPS RESPOND TO ATTACK FROM PROVINCE IV BISHOPS Contact: Bishop FitzSimons Allison (843) 546-5350 Bishop Alex Dickson (843) 235-0320 BISHOPS RESPOND Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison (South Carolina, retired) and Bishop Alex Dickson (West Tennessee, retired) are responding to a resolution of their peers critical of them. In a 19-1 vote twenty bishops of Province IV, comprising 20 dioceses of the Episcopal Church in southeastern United States, cited Bishops Allison and Dickson for their participation in the January 29 consecrations in Singapore of two U.S. Episcopal priests (John Rodgers and Chuck Murphy) as Anglican Missionary Bishops to the United States independent from the Episcopal Church of the United States. The resolution describes the action as "challenging...disturbing and unsettling." The resolution also re-affirms the Province IV Bishops' belief in basic Christian and Anglican doctrines. Further, the resolution takes the position that the Episcopal Bishop of Newark, John Spong, is not speaking for the Church when he deviates from the faith. In 1998, as Bishop of Newark, he published the TWELVE THESES which agressively deny and repudiate the Christian faith and Anglican doctrine. According to Allison and Dickson, "The Province IV resolution offers no real criticism of the Bishop of Newark or the TWELVE THESES. Indeed, the resolution can be read as a mild defense of the Bishop of Newark's right to deny the Christian faith and Anglican doctrine." Here is the statement from Bishops Allison and Dickson: Statement by Bishops Allison and Dickson in response to the Resolution of the bishops of the Fourth Province. "The Episcopal bishops of the Fourth Province are to be commended that they have responded to Bishop Spong's 'Twelve Theses' and have affirmed portions of the Nicene Creed. However, the 'Twelve Theses,' issued in 1998, are not ones that have merely 'questioned and reinterpreted the tenets of the Christian Faith,' but have blatantly denied this faith. The failure of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church to recognize this denial must be due to either lack of competence, or courage or commitment. "The silence on the part of the Fourth Province bishops in particular and the whole House of Bishops in general regarding Spong's misrepresentation and trashing of the Christian Faith, in spite of specific requests to make a response is unconscionable. Indeed, the response they have now made is so mild that it can be read as a defense of the Bishop of Newark's right to deny the Christian Faith. The commitment bishops have made at ordinations and consecrations to guard the faith does not allow them 'the freedom' to remain silent when the faith has been blatantly denied. "The self-confessed dysfunction of the House of Bishops has resulted in their attempt to ground the unity of the Church in territory and polity (organizational rules) rather than on the faith that gave birth, and alone sustains, the Church's unity and claim to be Christian. "Fortunately, Primates (Archbishops) of the Anglican Communion, holding the faith higher than territorial claims, have provided sustenance and Anglican fellowship to faithful Episcopalians. It is this action by the Archbishops that the bishops of the Episcopal Church call 'disturbing and unsettling.' (The Province IV resolution accompanies this document) We, the bishops of the Fourth Province of the Episcopal Church meeting in Synod in June, 2000A.D.,are aware of the commitment made by all bishops of the church in their ordination vow to be guardians of the church's unity and faith as defined in the Nicene Creed, and guardians of its polity as defined in the Constitution, Canons, and the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church. We hereby reaffirm that this church does teach that Jesus Christ is "the only Son of God eternally begotten of the Father..." and that "For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man...", and we further reaffirm our commitment as bishops to uphold the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church. We note that John S. Spong, the retired Bishop of Newark, has often questioned and reinterpreted the tenets of the Christian faith. In the Episcopal Church, we believe anyone, lay or clergy, has the freedom to question any of the church's teachings; but if Bishop Spong or any others teach and think contrary to the faith of the church, their teaching represents only that individual and does not represent the Episcopal Church. We further note that C. FitzSimons Allison, retired Bishop of South Carolina and Alex D. Dickson, retired Bishop of We Tennessee, have challenged the polity of the Episcopal Church in ways that are disturbing and unsettling to the church's unity which we as bishops are called to uphold. Adopted June 8, 2000 Kanuga Conferences Hendersonville, North Carolina From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:46:35 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:46:35 Subject: Bishop Chartres Address to Christ Our Future Gathering in London Message-ID: Christ Our Future. Celebration on the Eve of Pentecost at the London Arena By Bishop Chartres Christ is our Future but where do we find ourselves? We have lived through a time when the Church world-wide has experienced confusion and violent storms. The 20th century saw more Christian martyrs than any century since the Crucifixion. Even in our own relatively tranquil country, the prophet poets described the spiritual life of our own time as "The Wasteland". Things have grown old and cold; the litter of dead images lies around the cult stone; the stream by the altar of God is very low. What to do in such a time? Some of the most popular TV series at present are concerned with makeovers and instant transformations. Changing Rooms and Ground Force will deliver a new image in the space of a single programme. Public figures are also intensely concerned with image and employ spin-doctors to make them "accessible and cuddly" Likewise, there is a great preoccupation with the image of the Church and the idea that if only we had a makeover, the Church would become popular again. Worship in particular, we are told, should become more "accessible" and led by people like you and me in lounge suits. People, we are told, are put off by anything that is difficult to grasp at first hearing. There are several things wrong with this thesis. It is rather condescending about the capacities of the person in the street to understand where once there wonder is engaged. Anyone who were has seen the Pokemon craze sweep through their families knows that even quite young children are able to master the biographical details of a hundred and fifty mutants. They can describe with bewildering specificity the conditions under which matchoke evolves into a matchamp. Is it really true that they cannot be trusted with anything but a dumbed down version of the thrilling story of the Ancient of Days, on his throne of fiery flames (Daniel VII first lesson). At the same time, when we are sleepwalking in the wasteland then anything instantly graspable in such a state is likely to be of very little value in helping us to wake up spiritually. If we want to wake up spiritually to the fullness of life which is promised when we come home to God, through the way of Jesus Christ, then we accept the need to return to the sources, to enter into a deep conversation with the Bible and to go through a period of de familiarising, of piercing hrough the obvious in order to enter the real. We trust in the spiritual capacity of people, beloved by picture will, to detect the still small voice which follows on the great tempest. We trust in the deep things of God and in the weakness and wisdom of God more than we trust in hip-hop Make covers makeovers. We are called not to fidget with our image but to grow into a Christ-like character, something deep and slowly formed by the action of the Spirit of God, through prayer and worship. There Church is concerned with depth not decor. The future comes into being and the Christ-like character is formed in the world as we contemplate Jesus Christ whose story is told in the scriptures and whose life, as gift and invitation, is held out to once in Baptism and communion. As we gaze upon him "through whom all things in heaven and earth have been created", through whom it is the picture will pleasure "to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross", God lifts us up together to see all creation, as he intended, brought into joyful symphony. Sometimes our neighbours are disappointed find that we have substituted in-house preoccupations of our own for this divine vision of reconciliation. We are sometimes clearer about what we are against them what we are for. We fuss about churchy things. A handbook on Church needlework in the 1950s prescribes that "the length of the lavabo towel should be 12 inches for RCs and 18 inches for Anglicans". Why Anglican should be so mucky as to need the larger towel, I know not. As we gaze upon the Christ and his character is formed in us, his future becomes flesh and blood. Christ leads us as his students, his disciples, to enrol others in a future which bears at least these four marks of "the good pleasure of the Father". 1. Whole persons are brought home to God through the way of the Cross. Cut off from God, human beings fulfil less than their human potential. Through prayer and worship and walking ourselves the way of the Cross, we must play our part in retelling and enacting the story of what Jesus Christ has done. It will take every ounce of our God-given imagination to reveal the beauty of the story so ancient but so fresh. Everyone here has a role in this work. 2. The Church of Jesus Christ will be one and whole. It was his will and commandment but we should be one. This is not a matter of tactics but an essential part of the Father's good pleasure and a contribution to achieving his intention that the whole world should dwell in symphony. Be impatient for unity among Christians. Do not retreat into a sectarian mentality. Jesus Christ pleads with us to help build his great and coming Church. 3. There will be one, whole Humanity. Joy and fullness of life do not flow from dis-related pleasure-seeking. Individual persons are unique and precious but they grow and flourish only to the extent that they are in communion with other persons. If the Christ character is being formed in us then we shall be partners with people of goodwill no matter what their belief or apparent lack of it: to feed the hungry, heal the sick and to build one whole humanity. When the Christ character was formed in him, St Anthony the Great was able to sum up the Christian life thus, "my life and death are in my neighbour". The Catholic movement in the Church of England gained ground finally because of the self-sacrificing love of slum priests like Father Lowder who worked just down the road in beloved London Docks. Christ calls us to contribute to the symphony by depending on one another for everything and being responsible for one another in everything. 4. Lastly the Father's good pleasure there will be one whole creation, animate and inanimate, which we shall be able to enjoy and see as God did in the beginning that it is good and beautiful. The Creation faces the threat of a godless project of human exploitation without limits with no end in view beyond the process itself. We are alive at a time when means pretend to be ends. As we see more and more the divine love in the face of Jesus Christ "through whom all things in heaven and earth were made" we shall find ourselves in partnership with all those who are concerned for the health of the planet and will know that in the end there will be one world -- or none. Christ is not only our vision of the future but our way into it. Only in his strength can we see this challenge and not be daunted. Today we celebrate not a demo or a show of party strength or a churchy triumph. We celebrate because he has promised "I am with you always even unto the end of the world". From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Wed Jun 21 01:47:24 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 1:47:24 Subject: Devotional - The End of the Matter is Better Message-ID: DEVOTIONAL - THE END OF A MATTER IS BETTER "The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride. Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools." - Ecclesiastes 7:8-9 Jonas Salk was born in New York City in 1914. He entered the City College of New York intending to study law, but soon became intrigued by medical science. In 1938, he was interning under microbiologist Thomas Francis, Jr. when they discovered a vaccine for influenza. It was used by the armed forces during World War II. In 1947, he became the head of the Virus Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. While working there, with the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, Salk saw an opportunity to develop a vaccine against polio, and devoted himself to this work for the next eight years. In 1955 Salk's years of research paid off and his vaccine has virtually eliminated polio in the United States. During his research, Dr. Salk had his share of critics. At one point, he made an interesting observation about the nature of criticism. "First," he said, "people will tell you that you are wrong. Then they will tell you that you are right, but what you're doing really isn't important. Finally, they will admit that you are right and that what you are doing is very important; but after all, they knew it all the time." During any difficult undertaking, you will encounter criticism and discouragement. Take heart, for if the Lord wants you to do it, it will get done! Are you facing an uphill battle? Today in prayer, thank Christ that He is with you and is committed to see the undertaking through to its completion. "Criticism is easier than craftsmanship." - Zeuxis, Greek painter God's Word: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." - Psalm 37:5-6 From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:03:11 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:03:11 Subject: Opening Comments 6-26-2000 Message-ID: Dear Brothers and Sisters, A brouhaha has broken out in the Diocese of Texas. The bishop, one Claude Payne, (known unaffectionately as Clawed Pain) has issued a decree, (he calls it a memo) stating that only those "invited to officiate, assist, or participate in any way in services in congregations of the Diocese of Texas must be licensed by the bishop's authority to so participate?" What is behind this decree apparently is his wish to keep out those pesky First Promise bishops, Messrs. Rodgers and Murphy newly consecrated by Singapore and Rwanda. Now why "I Claudius" should feel so threatened remains something of a mystery. Both bishops have said they would not invade diocese uninvited, but would only go at the request of parishes under attack by liberal or revisionist ECUSA bishops and inform the Diocesan bishop when they did. To date that has not happened in the Diocese of Texas. Oddly enough Bishop Payne is not a liberal having made it clear he will not ordain known non-celibate homosexuals to the priesthood nor will he perform same-sex unions. So why his paranoia? I know of no parish ready to fly the coup in his diocese and it would seem decidedly silly to raise an issue that doesn't in any way pose, as yet, a problem. Consider that the Rt. Rev. Terence Kelshaw the decidedly Evangelical bishop of the Rio Grande actually participated alongside Bishop Chuck Murphy when he came to town, (Albuquerque, NM) recently, one has to wonder why the Bishop of Texas feels the need to flex his muscle at this time. What is he afraid of? Now if it was Charles Bennison of PA or Tom Shaw of Massachusetts one could indeed understand the edict, but from Bishop Payne? It makes no sense. He writes: "The Canons provide (Title III, Canon 24.2) that 'No Bishop shall perform episcopal acts or officiate by preaching, ministering the Sacraments, or holding any public service in a Diocese other than that in which the Bishop is canonically resident, without permission or a license to perform occasional public services from the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese in which the Bishop desires to officiate.' He then goes on to say: "I am also giving my permission in advance for you to invite Jewish rabbis to assist. For all other traditions, including the so-called "Anglican" churches or Episcopal Churches not in communion with The Episcopal Church, permission must be requested." Jewish Rabbis!!! What gives? A Rabbi is more orthodox than Chuck Murphy or John Rodgers? A Rabbi will sign a Trinitarian statement? Minister the sacraments? This is ecumenicity-gone nuts. He might just as well invite Jack Spong as invite a Rabbi, at least he's consecrated. Spong may have denied virtually every doctrine there is in Christianity but he wears the purple. Methinks the Bishop of Texas has gone overboard here and by doing what he has done, is actually inciting rebellion within the ranks. If an Anglo-Catholic or Evangelical parish rebels against Bishop Payne and invites either of the Singapore bishops the question will be, what are they going to fight over? Both groups agree on essentials - no gay priests and no same-sex marriages. Watch for more on this. There is clearly more to the story than meets the eye or edict. Across the pond Prince Charles is looking at a Scottish marriage. He is considering marrying Camilla Parker-Bowles in the Church of Scotland so sources tell the London Times. Unlike the Church of England, the Church of Scotland is happy to allow divorcees to marry in a religious ceremony. It is claimed that the Prince has been told there would be no obstacles to his marrying in Scotland. If the marriage went ahead the Prince would be following in family footsteps - the Princess Royal married in a Scottish church eight years ago after her divorce from Captain Mark Phillips. Nobody at St. James's Palace, the official residence of the Prince, or Buckingham Palace was available for comment. Earlier this month the English Church was said to be holding a referendum over plans to drop its ban on second marriages when a former spouse was still alive, as is Camilla's ex-husband. Some notes and small corrections on the recent Connecticut election of two Suffragan bishops. Apparently there were eight not nine nominees for the two positions. I have also learned that the Diocese has never elected a bishop from outside itself. They always choose their bishops from within. A very inclusive attitude. I have also learned that the Rev. Jim Curry one of the two new bishops would openly ordain homosexual priests and go for same-sex marriages. The Rev. Alfredo Ramos-Orench, the other elected bishop would ask to be recused while the priests of the diocese decided. Another hand-washing bishop. The Rev. John MacDonald was the only person who said NO to either option. He was not elected. In another story I said the Archbishop of Canterbury was, at one time, Bishop of Bristol. That was incorrect. He was Bishop of Bath and Wells. In the sickness corner it has been learned that Bishop Edward Salmon of South Carolina has had biopsy tests which revealed cancer cells in his prostate. He decided to have it removed. He writes: "Dr. Donaldson will probably give me shots to slow the growth, and have surgery in September. I will need four to six weeks for recovery. When plans are complete, I will let you know. Since I had tests last year, this is early detection. Please keep me in your prayers as you are in mine." In another part of the country, The Right Rev. John-David Schofield, Diocese of San Joaquin has had a serious heart attack. They are planning to do angioplasty. He is in hospital. Both men are good orthodox believers and the loss to their dioceses would be our loss. Pray that God will raise them up for continued service. Today's lead story is an interview I did with the relatively new Primate of Nigeria, The Rt. Rev. Peter Akinola. This bishop is a fire breathing no nonsense, hard-hitting evangelical, as indeed are nearly all the African bishops, which might account for the fact that they are growing and we in the West are dying. When I asked him what made his province grow he said it was evangelism pure and simple with a commitment to having 20 new dioceses with new bishops in every area of the country, a foresight by the previous Primate, Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye. Nigeria has 65 bishops in the Province. Akinola got 56 in the first vote. He was a shoe-in. He said they took seriously the Decade of Evangelism in his country and planted thousands of churches all around Nigeria by simply preaching the gospel. One wonders why that idea hasn't caught on here? Sounds simple and uncomplicated. They don't believe in pluriformity of truths. They preach against sin and for salvation, also something quite new for many ECUSA bishops. They don't tolerate homosexuality, regarding its practice as sin. Another truly novel idea. They also don't tolerate whining and they accept suffering and martyrdom as normative in the Christian life. And they have 15 million Anglicans all going to church on Sunday. We have less than two million. Go figure. Other stories today include a look at the United Religions Initiative by Lee Penn a lay Roman Catholic who has been dogging Episcopal Bishop Swing of California, and making his life a necessary misery. Virtuosity's own columnists are also on deck. Mike McManus a syndicated columnist for the New York Times has words of wisdom for us as does Terry Mattingly of Scripps Howard News Service. Dr. Chris Seitz an American Evangelical Episcopal theologian living in Scotland comments on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music's statement and as usual I close with a Devotional. I apologize for not posting Mike McManus's column in my last digest. I temporarily lost it. I will also post Dr. Ian Hunter's letter to the Primate of Canada next time as well. All blessings, David W. Virtue If you would like to read past Virtuosity digests go to http://virtuosity.bizland.com. If you would like to subscribe a friend you may do so from my website. If you would like to make a financial contribution to this ministry you may do so by sending a check to: Media Link, 1236 Waterford Road, West Chester, PA 19380. I will send you FREE a copy of Os Guinness's book "Time for Truth" as my way of saying thank you. Next week I head out to Denver and General Convention. I would solicit your prayers for my sanity at the end of 12 days and for revival for our Church. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:13:27 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:13:27 Subject: Nigerian Primate Warns American Episcopal Church to Preach the Gospel or... Message-ID: NIGERIAN PRIMATE WARNS AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OR FACE CONSEQUENCES. AKINOLA SAYS SINGAPORE CONSECRATIONS WERE POSITIVE RESPONSE TO AN UGLY SITUATION. CANTERBURY'S POWERS SHOULD BE EXPANDED TO DISCIPLINE APOSTATE PROVINCES, HE SAYS. Special Report By David W. Virtue The primate of the largest Province in the worldwide Anglican Communion says the American Episcopal Church must return to preaching the historic gospel or face the consequences of decline with no clear biblical message. The Rt. Rev. Peter Akinola, 57, primate of the 15-million strong Anglican Church of Nigeria said in an interview that the Singapore consecrations were "a positive response to an ugly situation" and that the Episcopal Church must cease ordaining non-celibate homosexuals to the priesthood and never marry persons of the same sex. The archbishop said the Episcopal Church must get its own house in order, and while the international Anglican Communion has no legislative authority to toss them out of the Communion it could invoke Matthew 18:15-18 and exercise "spiritual discipline" to let the Episcopal Church know it would no longer be welcome. In a wide-ranging interview with the Primate at the evangelical parish of St. Michael's in Wayne, NJ Archbishop Akinola, said the Word of God must be central to the Church's teaching and what is written must be regarded as God's Word written and be obeyed. "It can never be compromised or allowed by the culture to dictate the terms of truth," said the archbishop, a fearless preacher who has lead thousands to Christ in his own country. The archbishop said he was in the US at the invitation of the Rev. John Donnelly and the North Jersey Chapter of the American Anglican Council (AAC) to preach the gospel and because "some people feel ostracized by the Episcopal Church." "I have come to preach the gospel as a challenge to the liberals who are not preaching a biblical message," he said. Questioned on the integrity of the Anglican Communion's response to the Singapore consecrations and flying bishops, the archbishop said, "We in Nigeria adopted what happened in Singapore. But in order to maintain our Anglican cohesion and unity it should not become a precedent for others. Singapore is a reaction to what is going on in this country. People are losing their faith and [spiritual] identity here." In a scathing indictment of the American Episcopal Church the outspoken evangelical leader said, "We have evidence that many Nigerians are coming to this country who are faithful Anglicans and because they can't find room in the Episcopal Church they are beginning to give up their faith or go to other churches. The Singapore consecrations were a way for other Anglicans to find a home here. The consecrations were needed." The Primate said, "When we saw members of our church pulling out [we knew] something had to be done. Citing Jesus' condemnation of those who give offense, Akinola said, "It is better that a millstone were put around their necks than losing one of these people. We are accountable to God and as God's stewards we cannot by our action or inaction lead people astray. It is better to find a way when they are not welcome in the official church," he said. On the subject of homosexuality the archbishop said this: "Homosexuality in whatever form is anathema. Scripture is the final authority. Homosexuality is totally unacceptable. It is not just one passage, both Old and New Testaments are quite clear. The evidence is conclusive. What God approves are heterosexual relations between a man and a woman in marriage." Asked if he had met with Episcopal gays and lesbians while he was in the US, Akinola said he had not. "There is so much talk about homosexuality here and in the newspapers. But I have not seen two men holding hands either in Columbus, Ohio or New York City which suggests to me that you need to determine how many there are and why all the talk over a handful of people." When told it was less than one percent of persons in the Episcopal Church, the archbishop replied, "Then why all this noise and tearing of the Christian community apart. Why?" Questioned on whether he met with gays and lesbians in Nigeria, the archbishops said he had never met homosexuals in Nigeria. "Our issue is polygamy and we have dealt with that. I am a Bible practicing Christian, one who is living by God's grace. I live and do what Scripture commands. What is the pattern of human sexuality? It is heterosexuality. Sexual relations can only have validity in the context of man and woman in marriage." Questioned on the Episcopal Church's doctrine of Inclusivity that would include multiple sexual options like homosexuality and lesbitransgay, Akinola replied, "That is an unfortunate doctrine. If a man becomes a thief or adulterer do we suddenly turn around and include their behavior in the church? If there are clear-cut biblical instructions and sanctions then we must follow them. Scripture is clear-cut on [the issue] of homosexuality. When I preach that thou shalt not practice homosexuality [I do so] because what is bad is bad and what is good is good. It has nothing to do with a cultural context. These are biblical standards. The word [inclusivity] is unfortunate. Does the dog wag the tail, does the church wag the truth of God or the world. We must bring the sinful world back to God. We in the church have a word to call the world to order, to Jesus Christ. The culture cannot dictate the word of God to the world." Questioned on whether Africa will in time be caught up in the post modern world with pluriform thinking and if so catch our problems and the thinking that goes with it, the archbishop said, "What you have is permissiveness not advancement. Anything goes in your society. We are accountable to God. We have freedom too. Your freedom has become permissiveness. Your civilization has led you to homosexuality. Any advancement that does not promote obedience to Jesus Christ is permissiveness." Questioned on whether he saw the possibility of schism if ECUSA were to continue ordaining non-celibate gay priests and perform same sex marriages, Akinola replied, "It is not going to be easy. I know there are people who are strong on both sides. However schism doesn't take place just like this. My belief is that with time and prayers and evangelicals standing up for the truth, and asking God to honor His word, they will begin to see the gospel transform the church." Questioned on whether it was enough not to deny the Lambeth Quadrilateral, and Archbishop Kolini's remarks at the Primates meeting in Oporto that continued defiance of the Lambeth Resolution on human sexuality could lead to ECUSA's excommunication, Akinola replied, "I don't think so. Any resolution of Primates can only persuade and advise. We can and should expect them to comply. If a diocese goes their own way they have priests who can act. Nothing can be done from outside the church. We have no legislative authority to act." "If it comes up and comes to a vote [at Kanuga] the Primates could vote for excommunication, but what effect will it have on the [canons and] constitution of ECUSA? If you tell Griswold you are no longer a Primate member, it does not change very much what is going on inside ECUSA. It might humiliate him but that is all." "As the official spokesman of ECUSA Griswold says you do not have problems, just a few disgruntled malcontents. But if Griswold ties our hands we could act." When asked about the consecrations of Rodgers and Murphy and where these men stood now and why Griswold will not recognize them even though he was asked to do so at Oporto, Akinola replied, "What has happened is abnormal. It is a matter of territorial integrity. Change will not come overnight. The bishops of Nigeria said it was a positive response to an ugly situation. I agree with them." "I believe the bishops in ECUSA should say yes to them. We endorsed their consecrations. But we are still partners in communion with ECUSA. I want to see the position of bishops in ECUSA change. We should all repent and they [Rodgers and Murphy] should be allowed to function within ECUSA. But only ECUSA can do that." Acknowledging there was no disciplinary authority in the worldwide Anglican Communion, and that the Communion was held together by "a free association by consent and that the Lambeth Conference was advisory," the archbishop said the Archbishop of Canterbury should be given more power to handle these matters. The Virginia report has put a wedge between us. I would love to see a situation that gives more power to the Archbishop [of Canterbury] to handle these matters." Asked what his best hopes and worst fears for the communion were, Akinola said he had no fear about [the Church] dividing. "The Church has always had its ups and downs, good and bad theology and persecution. I believe we shall come out of it. When we do then will come real peace." Questioned on whether Matthew 18:15-18 was a higher than the laws and canons of individual provinces, Akinola replied, "Matthew 18 does not start and end with expulsion, there are steps. You call a liberal to be reconciled on the essentials of the gospel. When you have exhausted all those steps you take other action. After we have done that we would exercise a spiritual discipline." Asked what the language of that would be, the archbishop said it would include "the faith once delivered. Where there is evidence of not doing what is right and preaching another gospel and if they don't own up then we would have to take more serious steps." On internal struggles between Christians and Moslems, the Nigerian bishop said problems with the northern, predominantly Moslem areas of Nigeria and the laws of Sharia were largely "overblown." "Even where they are predominantly Moslem, half the population is still Christian. The problem is that those who maintain [secular] power are Moslems. Christians are very docile and passive in the face of political oppression. The issues are more ethnic than religious." Questioned about the recent assassination attempt on another Nigerian Bishop and Archbishop Harry Goodhew of Sydney, Australia, Akinola said the story was "a lie. I was in Kaduna that day. There was a reception. It is true there was an outbreak of violence. It was not premeditated or preplanned. I drove through fire. It was ethnic not a Moslem Christian thing. Later on the bishop made the mistake of stopping his car and the windshield was smashed. He was at the wrong time and place that is all." Asked if the next Archbishop of Canterbury or Roman Catholic Pope might come from Nigeria as both had enormous constituencies, Akinola said any Anglican archbishop would have to show allegiance to the Queen and that would be difficult for him. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:39:39 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:39:39 Subject: Response to SCLM Report on "Local Option" by Dr. Chris Seitz Message-ID: Response to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music Report on "Local Option" By Christopher R Seitz Professor of Old Testament and Theological Studies The University of St. Andrews, Scotland Preliminary Remarks Let us be clear about where the SCLM Report is going to go. The Episcopal Church will be a "church," if this report be followed, where people who have convictions about essentials -- not about adiaphora, secondary matters like vestments, frequency of communion, confession to a priest, or even prayers for the dead but about matters as central as marriage, the Fatherhood of God, sin and salvation -- which are mutually cancelling, or inherently and categorically opposed. The Commission that produced this report and accompanying resolution thinks that such a view of the church is endorsed or is capable of justification from classical Anglican sources, including George Herbert, the 39 Articles, and Richard Hooker, among others. Let us be clear that all these sources of classic Anglicanism took as a starting point an understanding of Scripture as perspicuous, uncontraverted, and authoritative on the moral and theological issues referred to below. Let us be clear therefore that that a revision of scripture is here being joined by a revision of ecclesial understanding, itself based upon a similar misreading and misinterpretation of traditional Anglican teaching. There is consistency, but it is not salutary. The article on Scripture by Professor William Countryman addresses the proper formal questions. He is surely right when he says that Anglican Christians read the Bible in an interpretative tradition. His appeal to the Articles of Religion (the Thirty-Nine Articles) is also formally salutary, because these Articles point to the fact that any Christian interpreter operates with some "rule of faith" whereby the mind, or scope, or hypothesis of Christian Scripture, as a two-Testament unity, is set forth. But the formal virtues of Countryman's appeal are vitiated by his undercutting of the substance and consistency of the biblical witness. The question-begging aspect of Countryman's article -- i.e., setting up definitions which predetermine one's conclusions -- becomes apparent immediately when he speaks of "sexual orientation." We need to know what is meant by a word like "orientation." The author implies that "orientation" is a given, and he does not attempt to demonstrate how such a conceptuality is at work in the Scriptures themselves. "Orientation" could imply, e.g., what the Bible means by an urge or desire or natural tendency. Obviously, some desires are good ones, whilst others are manifestly wrong. But Countryman does not wrestle with this kind of biblical question: he simply adopts the politically-correct phrase of our day unreflectively. Or perhaps reflectively after all: as we do know where this whole report is going. Anglican Hermeneutics Countryman divides his brief essay into two parts. The first part is a consideration of Anglican hermeneutical practice, i.e., how Anglicans use Scripture as a guide to faith and morals. The second part has to do with what he takes the Scriptures actually to say about homosexuality (and that is not much). I shall follow him in addressing the hermeneutical issue first. Instead of truly listening to the whole of Scripture, Countryman says that the Anglican approach is one of understanding and determining the authority of the "passages, aspects, or themes of scripture we deem relevant." Focusing on what we deem relevant in Scripture is not what I would call hermeneutical reflection of the best sort. Indeed, it makes it sound like everyone has a "take" on scripture, with their own particular selections of prooftexts to bolster their position. It cannot be shown, however, that classical sources of Anglican reflection on scripture--certainly before the mid-nineteenth century -- would have ever described their interpretative concerns along these lines. Turning to Article VII -- "Of the Old Testament," Countryman's focus seems to be not so much on the unity of the Old and New Testament as on the limited applicability of the "Torah" (i.e., the Old Testament taken as normative teaching). In doing this he avoids the last phrase of the article which distinguishes ceremonial and civil norms from "Commandments which are called Moral." The distinction of laws in Article VII follows a tradition of natural law held in common by medieval, Reformation, and Anglican theologians like Richard Hooker, and which is alive and well today in all these traditions. The logic of the Article assumes that proscriptions of a "man lying with another man" (Lev 18:22), and the entire catalogue of proscriptions in which the command is imbedded (involving incest, bestiality, and sacrifice of the first-born) runs afoul of some natural law, mixing up God's distinctly created genders and kinds. Of course, Countryman himself does not accept this distinction, as he has made clear in his book, Dirt, Greed, and Sex (1988). There he declares the entire Torah to be ceremonial and thus non-binding on the Christian. For Countryman, when Jesus "declared all foods clean" (Mark 7:19), we are meant to extend that to all activities as well. Hence he can say in this book: To be specific, the gospel allows no rule against the following, in and of themselves: masturbation, nonvaginal heterosexual intercourse, bestiality, polygamy, homosexual acts, or erotic art and literature. The Christian is free to be repelled by any or all of these and may continue to practice his or her own purity code in relation to them. What we are not free to do is impose our codes on others. (pp. 243-244) As a piece of historical argument, it is manifestly the case that the authors of the Article would have reckoned any sexual intercourse outwith the sacrament of Christian marriage as breaking a "commandment called moral." Countryman cannot appeal to the Article without revising its plain, historical sense in this specific arena. If he wishes to do so, so be it, but he cannot claim to be part of Anglican hermeneutical tradition in the process. Countryman interprets Article VI -- "Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation -- minimalistically as reflecting "the persistent refusal of Anglicanism=85to define itself narrowly in theological terms. "Sufficiency" in the Articles means something far stronger, what Hooker would have described as Scripture's ability to "deliver plainly" the truth of a matter, like sexual behaviour, idolatry, confession and absolution, the resurrection of the dead, or even, more controversially, the mysterious presence of Christ in the elements. Anglicanism did not dispute the perspicuity of scripture on matters essential. It disputed the rationalising of matters the Bible treated as mystery (double predestination) or as adiaphora (vestments). Homosexual behaviour is neither, so far as the Articles are concerned. The selectivity of Countryman's use of the Articles is revealed by a significant omission. He makes no reference to Article XX, the fraternal twin of Article VI. Article XX lays down a hermeneutical practice by which the Church may not "so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another." Why is that left out? So as to pound down a veneer of Anglicanism to hide the plywood of a revisionism completely at odds with genuine Anglican Christianity. Countryman blithely quotes George Herbert on the "middle way" of the British Church. But it this same Herbert who said, "Abstain wholly or wed. Thy bounteous Lord Allows thee choice of paths: take no byways." Herbert, unlike Countryman, is drawing from the "mass of strange delights" in Scripture, in this case the book of Proverbs (7:25). Countryman can rightly speak of the willingness of Reformation Anglicans to die for what they understood to be biblical principle. They not only died for it, but they maintained a schism with the Church of Rome on the grounds that Rome was "idolatrous" on matters of biblical principle. As Bishop John Jewell said: "We had not departed therefrom but of very necessity and much against our own wills. But I put the case, an idol be set up in the church of God, and the same desolation which Christ prophesied to come stood openly in the holy place." Finally, Countryman seeks to make Anglican hermeneutics distinctive because of the commitment to reason. Far be it from me to step back from using reason in seeking to understand the meaning of Scripture as God's word. But I ask: what if, in the interpretation of the passages that follow, the traditional view of sexuality were shown to be the biblical view, would that matter? Would it not be the case that other reasons would be adduced to defend the position that the church should bless same-sex unions? We should be clear about the character of the argument mounted here. It is an argument for unclarity or obscurity regarding passages which have never been regarded as obscure and are still not regarded as such by the best scholars in the field. What Does the Bible Say? In the second half of his essay, Countryman turns to key texts and dismisses them one by one. For instance, he claims that the sexual reading in the Sodom and Gomorrah account is wrong because prophets later make no use of that particular theme. What sort of argument is this anyway? The references to Sodom in the Prophets are specific cross references drawing out significance of the event as a total judgment of God. The threat of same-sex mistreatment need not be referenced so explicitly and woodenly on every occasion. In fact, the sexual character of the account is not entirely absent from subsequent cross-reference (Jerusalem the whoring bride is likened to "the daughters of Sodom...were haughty and did abominable things" Ezek 16:49). Ezekiel clearly sees Sodom as entailing more than inhospitality, as has the entire history of the Sodom story in the interpretation of church and synagogue. As to his treatment of the explicit prohibitions of homosexual acts in Leviticus 18:22; 20:13, Countryman asks: "What is the basis for the prohibition?" Why does this question arise? What difference does it make? It is not necessary to understand the basis of a prohibition in order for the prohibition to have force. Why should we be commanded to have no other gods before the One God? Is the command held hostage to our capacity to discover its logic? Is that not a form of rationalising, external to the plain sense? The rationale given for the commands in Leviticus is clear: Israel is not to be like other nations, but "you shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). Obedience to laws against incest, homosexual behaviour, bestiality and such constitute Israel's differentiation from the nations. The same justification is given for purity in the New Testament to ground those newly constituted in Christ (1 Peter 1:15-16). Now we come one of the foundational texts for the understanding of Christian marriage, Genesis 2:24: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." Countryman dismisses this passage with a flick of the hermeneutical wand. "Some have argued that the second creation narrative contains a positive command [Gen. 2:24] that all human beings are to marry heterosexually." That "some" includes the entire Jewish and Christian tradition, not to mention Jesus himself. BUT, he adds, some say "the passage, however, can equally well be read simply as an etiological story, telling how the institution of marriage came into being." This is a severe reduction of the primary account of the nature of the world and humanity's place in it. Countryman employs the same "divide and conquer" approach to specific New Testament texts that speak about homosexuality. Having noted that "some" argue that Paul's denunciation of arsenokoites (1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10) refers to homosexuals in general, Countryman confesses himself agnosticism: "The term is rare, however, and there is no evidence to show what it actually meant to speakers of Greek in the first century." In fact, there are three views: that arsenokoites refers to male prostitutes (least likely), to pederasts, or specifically to any "male-lying" prohibited in Leviticus. In all three possible interpretations, however, the assumption is that sexuality is to be confined to monogamous heterosexual marriage. Finally, Countryman's take on the foundational New Testament text, Romans 1:18-32, is as vitiating as his reading of its counterpart in Genesis: "Paul does not specifically identify [homosexuality] as sinful; and nowhere is there evidence to show what it actually meant to speakers of Greek in the first century." Countryman's attempt to whittle away the plain sense of this passage is idiosyncratic not only within the Christian tradition of interpretation but even within the scholarly community today. Much more representative is the observation by New Testament theologian Richard Hays: The New Testament confronts us with an account of how the ordering of human life before God has gone awry. to use these texts appropriately in ethical reflection about homosexuality, we should not try to wring rules out of them, nor should abstract principles from them. Instead, we should attend primarily to the way the texts function to shape the symbolic world within which human sexuality is understood. If Romans 1 -- the key text -- is to inform normative judgments about homosexuality, it must function as a diagnostic tool, laying bare the truth about humankind's dishonorable "exchange" of the natural for the unnatural. According to Paul, homosexual relations, however they may be interpreted (or rationalized: see Rom. 1:32) by fallen and confused creatures, represent a tragic distortion of the created order. If we accept the authority of the New Testament on this subject, we will be taught to perceive homosexuality accordingly. (The Moral Vision of the New Testament, p. 396) Concluding Remarks Richard Hays's remark above is telling because his approach reveals by contrast the failure of Prof. Countryman's way of using the Bible. Countryman is busy finding ways of minimizing the Bible's impact on our life as Christians (note his reference to "our relatively minimalist tradition about biblical authority") whereas the classic Anglican tradition has avoided reductionism and biblicism in order to maximise the authority in life, even in those areas where reason may be the primary guide. Countryman's hermeneutic is not the generous liberalism of Richard Hooker and George Herbert but the reductionism of John Locke. It does not unlock the riches of Scripture but make it, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant in addressing this grave issue that confronts the Church. Yes, the Episcopal Church will be a "church," if this report be followed, where Scripture is read on Sunday and called "shared" by bishops in buzz groups but where it is of no real relevance in forming the worldview of its members or guiding corporate identity. It will be a double-minded church with a dithering hermeneutic. And for those who take Scripture seriously, there can be no doubt what fruit double-mindedness will bear and what end it will meet (James 1:7; Mark 3:25). END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:39:54 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:39:54 Subject: The State of Marriage in America by Mike McManus (First of three parts) Message-ID: McManus - Ethics & Religion (First of a series of three columns on marriage) HERITAGE FOUNDATION CALLS FOR POLITICAL LEADERSHIP ON MARRIAGE by Mike McManus A million children a year see their parents divorce, the impact of which is calamitous. A new report by the Heritage Foundation ''demonstrates that the devastating physical, emotional and financial effects on these children will last well into adulthood and affect future generations.'' Only 42 percent of teens aged 14-18 live in a ''first family,'' an intact, two-parent married family. Children of divorce experience ''anger, fear, sadness, worry, rejection, conflicting loyalties, lowered self-confidence, heightened anxiety, loneliness, more depressed moods, more suicidal thoughts,'' says the Heritage report, ''The Effects of Divorce on America'' by Patrick Fagan and Robert Rector. Compared to kids in intact homes children of divorce face startling risks. They are: - 12 times more liable to be incarcerated as juveniles - 14 times more prone to be physically abused by a single mother, and 33 times more at risk if she cohabits; - Three times more apt to get pregnant, and males commit suicide at six-fold higher rates; - Twice as vulnerable to drop out of school; - Four times more likely to be in poverty. In divorce, household income in 1993 plunged from $43,600 to $25,300, a 42 percent drop. If the parent remarries, the children's prospects grow worse. They are more likely to be disruptive in school than children of divorce, and girls are 6-40 times more likely to be sexually abused by stepfathers than by biological fathers. Even more chilling, Fagan and Rector cite dozens of studies showing that many children of divorce become dysfunctional adults: ''Even 30 years after the divorce, negative long-term effects were clearly present in the income, health and behavior of many of the grown offspring.'' They have more failed romantic relationships, a greater number of sexual partners, are 2-3 times as apt to cohabit, are less trusting of fiances, less giving to them and are twice as likely to divorce. When both are from divorced homes their risk of divorce is as much as 620 percent higher in early years of marriage. Thus the ''marital instability of one generation is passed on to the next.'' One reason that children of divorce do poorly is that many lose their faith. They worship less frequently which has ''serious consequences because religious practice has been found to have beneficial effects on such factors as physical and mental health, education level, income, virginity, marital stability, crime, addiction and general happiness,'' reports Heritage. ''Church attendance is the most significant predictor of marital stability...lower crime rates, better health and longevity.'' Thus, divorce ''weakens relationships, communities, cities, states and the nation. The increases in the rates of child abuse and neglect, crime, behavioral and emotional problems, health problems, cohabitation, future divorce and out-of-wedlock births as well as the decrease in religious worship, educational attainment and income potential should alarm every policymaker and community leader.'' Heritage's surprising conclusion is that more government is needed. Though it is a very conservative think tank that usually urges less government, Heritage notes that federal and state governments spend $150 billion per year to subsidize single parent families and only $150 million to strengthen marriage. ''Thus, for every $1,000 spent to deal with the effects of family disintegration, only $1 is spent to prevent that disintegration,'' a ''folly...evident to all.'' It suggests a compelling agenda to those running for state or federal government office: 1. ''Establish by resolution, a national goal of reducing divorce among families with children by one-third over the next decade. It would send a clear signal to parents that society values marriage and is concerned about the effects of divorce on children.'' 2. ''Establish pro-marriage demonstration programs to provide training in marriage skills to provide young people, dating couples and married couples with the information and tools necessary to help them build and maintain a strong marriage including an understanding of the major reasons why marriages break up. The programs also should seek to develop skills for handling conflict, dealing with change and enhancing the marital relationship. Such pro-marriage services should be offered in a variety of venues: churches, community centers, courts, maternity and childbirth clinics, health centers, welfare offices, military bases and high schools.'' Heritage notes state governments have $6 billion of ''surplus welfare funds'' to pay for these initiatives, but virtually no money has been spent on them, though one goal of the welfare reform law is to ''encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.'' 3. States are urged to ''end no-fault divorce for parents with children under 18.'' Divorces for parents should only be granted by ''mutual consent'' or if fault is proven and only if ''grave harm will be visited upon the children by the continuance of the marriage.'' More next week on Heritage's remarkable report. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:40:21 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:40:21 Subject: Midwives of a Common God - United Religions Initiative by Lee Penn Message-ID: Midwives of a Common God The Myriad Friends of the United Religions Initiative By Lee Penn Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, June 2000, Vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 44-46 San Francisco's Episcopal Bishop William E. Swing expects "tens of thousands of leaders of the world's religions, spiritualities, and indigenous traditions" to attend the signing of the United Religions Initiative (URI) Charter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on June 26, 2000. The URI also expects United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the Dalai Lama to attend. Bishop Swing founded the United Religions Initiative in 1995. The URI intends to become "a permanent assembly, with the stature and visibility of the United Nations" encompassing "all religions, spiritual expressions, and indigenous traditions." While the URI actually may not see its "tens of thousands" show up in Pittsburgh in June, it has been highly successful in extending its reach in only five years, and is growing steadily. So far, URI activities have occurred in 58 countries on all continents, and in 33 states in the United States. The URI claims that one million people participated in its three-day global "religious cease-fire" from December 31, 1999, to January 2, 2000 - a millennial bash dedicated to the propositions that good intentions are the road to peace, and that all religions really intend the same thing. Birthing & Funding the "New Hope" The leaders of the URI hope to assist in creating an earthly utopia. The proposed URI charter says that the organization's purpose is "to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation" and to "end religiously motivated violence." The URI also plans to "create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings." Bishop Swing told the 1997 URI summit conference: "If you have come here because a spirit of colossal energy is being born in the loins of earth, then come here and be a midwife. Assist, in awe, at the birth of new hope." This "new hope" will have the Earth, not the Church or the Virgin Mary, as its mother. In a sermon given during the 1999 Parliament of World Religions, Bishop Swing said, "What a time to wait on God. . . . for the coming new light among religions, spiritual expressions, and indigenous traditions." This "new light" will not be the light of Christ. As a parallel effort with the URI, Bishop Swing has formed the Inter-Religious Friendship Group (IRFG). Other leaders of the IRFG are the Dalai Lama and Richard Blum, a wealthy San Francisco investment banker - and the husband of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). The founders of the IRFG say that their goal is to "create a confidential and relatively unstructured forum where the leaders of the world's religions can have regular conversations with one another." The IRFG has met three times, most recently in November 1999 at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The Reverend Dr. Gary Gunderson, director of the Carter Center's Interfaith Health Program, says that the URI "is one of the most promising global initiatives," a "long term alignment that will bear fruit for decades." He said, "While not a formal member of the URI, President Carter stressed how much the Center valued the role of religious leaders in conflict situations. . . . He asked the group to request his involvement in the future as specific interventions or projects crystallize." Thus, President Carter may become an open ally of the URI. The URI has recently acquired substantial funding. In October 1999, Bishop Swing announced that the URI had received a $1.7 million grant from a Pittsburgh-area foundation, and that the URI will move its headquarters there from San Francisco. Swing noted that many people have not wanted to cooperate with the URI because the current San Francisco location carries "negative connotations." A source in close contact with the ECUSA hierarchy indicates that "the move is being sponsored by some foundations with deep pockets and a strong liberal agenda that includes putting pressure on the Episcopal diocesan structure"; one of these foundations is the Hillman Foundation, associated with a wealthy, nationally prominent liberal Republican family and with Calvary Church, "one of the few remaining liberal parishes in Pittsburgh." The Pittsburgh URI coordinator is a UN employee, Karen Plavan; she is also associated with the Pittsburgh Leadership Foundation. The URI has applied for UN recognition as a nongovernmental organization, showing that it seeks a UN seal of approval. The URI has received grants from the Soros Foundation and the Copen Family Foundation, the Christopher Columbus Foundation, the Surdna Fund, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Community Foundation of Monterey County, the San Francisco Foundation, the International Education and Resource Network, the Worldwide Education and Research Institute, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. Foundation money has been essential to the URI from the start. In 1998, Bishop Swing said that "ninety-nine percent" of URI funding "is raised from private, nonreligious sources." Gathering Religious Partners Numerous leaders of Asian religions - most notably, the Dalai Lama - support the URI. Muslim URI supporters include URI board member Iftekhar Hai, of the United Muslims of America; Javid Iqbal, a former Pakistani supreme court justice; and W. D. Mohammed. URI outreach now also includes Iranian Shiites. The URI in Zimbabwe "has formed a unique and innovative Partnership with the Iranian Embassy in Harare. The URI convened a meeting to be funded by the Iranian Embassy at which the URI Preamble, Purpose & Principles was discussed, and more members were received into the URI community." Meanwhile, URI Vice President William Rankin has provided an excuse for the crimes of the Islamic regime in Sudan: "In North Sudan the government, in some measure, is forced into strong Muslim identity by the history of overthrows when a more tolerant attitude was promulgated." The URI has the tacit support or active cooperation of most of the other active interfaith organizations - including the Millennium Forum, the International Interfaith Centre, the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, the Global Education Associates, the Interfaith Center of New York, the Interfaith Youth Corps, the Temple of Understanding, the North American Interfaith Network, the International Association for Religious Freedom, the World Congress of Faiths, the Peace Council, and the World Conference on Religion and Peace. The URI has support among liberal Protestants and Jews, dissident Catholics, a few bishops of non-Chalcedonian East Syriac and Coptic Churches, and the leaders of the China Christian Council, the state-approved Protestant church in China. In November 1999, URI Vice President William Rankin spoke to an interfaith forum at Foundry Methodist Church - the church usually attended by the First Family. Catholic supporters of the URI include Cardinal Paul Evaristo Arns, the retired Archbishop of S?o Paulo, Brazil; Archbishop Anthony Pantin, from Trinidad; and the auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Thomas Gumbleton. Other Catholic URI activists include two URI board members - Fr. John LoSchiavo, S.J. (former president of the University of San Francisco), and Fr. Gerard O'Rourke, director of ecumenical affairs for the Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco - URI treasurer Rick Murray, and Latin American URI Coordinator Fr. Luis Dolan. Sister Joan Kirby, of the Temple of Understanding, also supports the URI. Theologians supporting the URI include Paul Knitter, senior editor at Orbis Books and professor of theology at Xavier University; Leonard Swidler, professor at Temple University; and Hans K?ng; all are dissenters from Church teachings. These Catholic religious groups supported the URI's global "religious cease-fire": the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Monastic Inter-Religious Dialogue, the Pakistani Catholic Bishops National Commission for Christian Muslim Relations, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Saco, Maine, the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in New York and New Jersey, the Sisters of St. Joseph in Wheeling, West Virginia and in Philadelphia, the Sisters of St. Francis in Philadelphia, the Medical Mission Sisters in Philadelphia, the Sisters of the Humility of Mary in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania, 40,000 Benedictine and Cistercian monks worldwide, Pax Christi of Cleveland, Ohio, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in Richfield, Ohio, the Notre Dame Sisters in Omaha, Nebraska, Pax Christi USA and the Los Angeles Catholic Worker, the Holy Redeemer Retreat Center in Oakland, California, the Justice and Peace Committee of the California province of the Sisters of the Holy Name, the Sisters of Providence in St. Mary-in-the-Woods in Indiana and the Religious Orders Partnership (associated with Global Education Associates and more than 165 religious orders worldwide), the Maryknoll religious, and the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in the Philippines. In addition to Bishop Swing, the Anglican bishops who publicly support the URI include Frank Griswold, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA); Bishop James Ottley, formerly the Anglican Observer at the UN; Samir Kafity, formerly the Bishop of Jerusalem; Bishop Michael Ingham, of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada; and the Nobel laureate Archbishop from South Africa, Desmond Tutu. Bishop Clark Grew of Ohio, who is one of 11 members of Griswold's "Council of Advice," asked his diocese to participate in the URI's three-day global "religious cease-fire." The annual convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles has likewise endorsed the "cease-fire"; Bishop Talton, suffragan Bishop for this diocese, is also a member of Griswold's "Council of Advice." Not Everyone Is Friendly The Archbishop of Canterbury has not spoken publicly about the URI, although the Church of England newspaper offered gentle criticism in an October 1999 editorial. One active Anglican bishop - Archbishop Harry Goodhew, of Australia - has publicly criticized the URI. Bishop Charles Murphy, recently consecrated in Singapore by two conservative Anglican Archbishops, has denounced the URI as part of the "crisis of faith" in ECUSA - but the Archbishop of Canterbury will not recognize Murphy as an Anglican Bishop because of his belief that the Singapore consecrations were "irresponsible and irregular." No Eastern Orthodox bishops support the URI. Evangelical Protestants and the Vatican oppose the URI. In 1996, Cardinal Arinze declined Bishop Swing's invitation to participate in the URI. In mid-1999, a representative of the Vatican department responsible for interfaith work stated: "Religious syncretism is a theological error. That is why the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue does not approve of the United Religions Initiative and does not work with it." In a January 28, 2000 message to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pope said, "It is erroneous to consider the Church as a way of salvation equal to those of other religions, which would be complementary to the Church." No Fundamentalists, No Martyrs Faithful Christians have good reason to shun the URI. Bishop Swing condemns Christian evangelism, which he calls "proselytizing." Swing says that "proselytizing, condemning, murdering, or dominating" will "not be tolerated in the United Religions zone" - the whole world. URI leaders say "proselytizing" is the work of "fundamentalists," and URI board member Paul Chafee said in 1997 that "We can't afford fundamentalists in a world this small." ECUSA Presiding Bishop Griswold shares the URI's loathing of "fundamentalism." When denouncing the Singapore consecrations of two evangelical bishops to serve in the United States, Griswold condemned "the dangerous fundamentalism - both within Islam and our own Christian community - which threatens to turn our God of compassion into a [sic] idol of wrath." Bishop Swing has said, "The United Religions will not be a rejection of ancient religion but will be found buried in the depths of these religions." If United Religions were "buried in the depths" of Christianity, countless martyrs could have avoided death by burning incense before the statue of the Roman emperor, and today's martyrs in Sudan and China could apostatize with a clear conscience. Maybe martyrs are pass?; URI Vice President William Rankin says, "The United Religions Initiative exists to bring people together from all the religions of the world, to create a world where no one has to die because of God, or for God, any more." Rankin, formerly the president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, joined the URI staff in 1998. Regarding the ecclesiastical trial of Episcopal Bishop Walter Righter for ordaining an openly homosexual deacon, Rankin said in 1995, "Heresy implies orthodoxy, and we have no such thing in the Episcopal Church." Despite the URI's insistent denial that it intends to mix the world's religions or start a new religion, URI ceremonies point in that direction. Lex orandi, lex credendi - the law of praying is the law of believing. At the 1995 interfaith service that launched the URI, "holy water from the Ganges, the Amazon, the Red Sea, the River Jordan, and other sacred streams" was mixed in a single "bowl of unity" on the altar of Grace Cathedral. Bishop Swing made the meaning of the ritual clear: "As these sacred waters find confluence here . . . may the city that chartered the nations of the world bring together the religions of the world." Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham said in support of the URI that "I can imagine a time when the founders and saints of all the traditions - Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Guru Nanak, and so on - are honoured and cherished in all of them." In The Coming United Religions, Bishop Swing says, "The time comes, though, when common language and a common purpose for all religions and spiritual movements must be discerned and agreed upon. Merely respecting and understanding other religions is not enough." Since the purpose of religion is the service and worship of God, Bishop Swing's call for "all religions and spiritual movements" to have "common language and a common purpose" is, in effect, a call for all to worship a common god. No Closed Doors Organizations should be known by the company they keep. Enthusiastic URI supporters include New Age authors Robert Muller (former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN), Neale Donald Walsch (author of the best-selling Conversations With God books), and Barbara Marx Hubbard. Ms. Hubbard introduced Dee Hock, the founder of VISA, to the URI and to Bishop Swing; he is now an active supporter of the URI. Ms. Hubbard was also active in the early 1998 preparation of the draft URI Charter. The Rudolf Steiner Foundation, which promotes theosophical schools, has recently made a grant to the URI. The New York-based Lucis Trust, which spreads the teachings of American theosophist Alice Bailey, praised the URI in two 1999 issues of its newsletter World Goodwill, citing it as part of a "global shift in consciousness" that will usher in "an era in which the glory of the One will be free to shine forth in all human actions." The URI proclaims its openness to all "spiritual expressions," and its logo, 15 miniature religious symbols in a circle around the letters "URI", includes a Wiccan pentagram, as well as an empty circle to represent "the people of all beliefs yet to come." A motley crew has responded to the invitation. Participants in URI events have included the Association for Global New Thought, Unity Church, the founder of "The Order of Divinity," the "New Cult Awareness Network" - dominated by Scientologists since they sued the former Cult Awareness Network out of existence in 1996, Reiki circles, the World Federalist Association, followers of "Supreme Master Ching Hai," the Pagan Sanctuary Network, Druids, the Temple of Isis, the "Goddess Holding the World Mural Project," the Covenant of the Goddess, the Coven of the Stone and the Mirror, the Wittenberg Center for Alternative Resources (an interfaith seminary whose core courses include such topics as "crystal & etheric healing"), and the Western Federation Church and Tribe. The Tribe has adopted the URI as part of its "by-laws and tenets," and declares that Mars and "the Earth's Moon" are "entirely owned by the Western Federation Church and Tribe." It does seem that maybe the sky is the limit. Bishop Swing has vowed that the URI will remain all-inclusive, saying, "Once you open the door, you have to keep it open." Perhaps the Episcopalian prelate now wishes he had kept the key to the front door. END Lee Penn is a health care information systems consultant who is also active as a researcher and writer on Church affairs, covering the United Religions Initiative and the New Age movement. His work has appeared in the New Oxford Review, the Journal of the Spiritual Counterfeits Project, and the Christian Challenge. Episcopalian by background, Penn was received into the Russian Catholic Church, an Eastern Rite Church in communion with Rome, in 1995. A footnoted version of this report will be available soon, when the June issue is posted on the Web. See the issue on the Touchstone web site (www.touchstonemag.com). From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:40:30 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:40:30 Subject: Faith of the Fatherless by Dr. Paul Vitz - Book Review Message-ID: Faith of the Fatherless Wonder why atheists hate God? Check out their relationship with Dad by Anne Morse She's a high-powered attorney who just gave birth. She wanted hubby to take paternity leave and help care for the older kids. A busy executive, he was reluctant to do so. What's a prime minister to do? As it turned out, as soon as Baby Leo was born last month, Britain's Tony Blair changed his mind. Although he'd insisted for weeks that he planned no paternity leave, Blair abruptly canceled everything except his meetings with the queen to spend some time with his family. He's even changing Leo's nappies and getting up with him at night. A wise move, Tony--not just because helping wife Cherie out will help you hang on to the women's vote, and not as a way to avoid having to sleep on the sofa. Spending quality time with your kids is good for their spiritual health. The author of a new book about faith says the relationship kids have with their dads profoundly affects how they view God. Fathers who go AWOL on their kids tend to end up with children who reject God. But involved, affectionate dads provide earthly role models for a loving heavenly Father. The result: Their kids' faith catches fire. Psychologist Paul Vitz of New York University recently explored the childhoods of more than a dozen of the world's most influential atheists. He discovered they all have one thing in common: defective father relationships. By defective, Vitz means the fathers were weak, abusive, abandoned their children, or died when the children were young. Vitz points to Friedrich Nietzsche, a philosopher whose writings influenced everyone from Adolf Hitler to the Columbine killers. Nietzsche was extremely close to his dad, a Lutheran pastor who died of a brain disease when his son was 5. "Nietzsche often spoke positively of his father and of his death as a great loss which he never forgot," Vitz says in his new book, "Faith of the Fatherless." "But "he also saw him as weak and sickly." It is not hard, Vitz observes, "to view Nietzsche's rejection of God and Christianity as a rejection of the weakness of his father." French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre also fits the defective father theory: His father died when Jean-Paul was a baby. "Jean-Paul was obsessed with fatherhood all his life," Vitz says. "His father's absence was such a painful reality that Jean-Paul spent a lifetime trying to deny the loss and build a philosophy in which the absence of a father and of God is the very starting place for the 'good' or 'authentic' life." Sigmund Freud despised his father, a weak man who was unable to support his family. Freud connected his father to God--and also to cowardice and sexual perversion. It's not unreasonable to assume, Vitz writes, that Freud's Oedipus Complex, which places hatred of the father at the center of his psychology, expresses "his strong unconscious hostility to and rejection of his own father." Of course, not all atheists become philosophers or psychiatrists; some of them go into politics. Among the most infamous are Hitler and Stalin, who share not only a reputation for efficient butchery but also demonic fathers. Hitler's father was a violent man who unmercifully beat Adolf and his mother; he died when Adolf was 14. Stalin's father also administered brutal beatings to his son. "It is not difficult to understand, Vitz writes, "why communism, with its explicit rejection of God and all other higher authorities...had great appeal for him." Once in power, Stalin had thousands of priests murdered. Interestingly, both Stalin and Hitler had deeply religious mothers; their influence on their sons' spiritual development appears to have been negligible. Vitz didn't leave out America's favorite atheist, Madalyn Murray O'Hair. It turns out she loathed her father. Her son William relates that O'Hair once attacked her father with a butcher knife. Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, David Hume, H.G. Wells, Bertrand Russell, Albert Camus, Kate Millett--these intellectuals, too, were children of dead, weak, abusive, or absent fathers. It's convincing evidence that bad dads create kids who reject God. But is it possible that what modern Americans view as bad fathering simply reflected the social conditions of the day? In order to test his defective father hypothesis, Vitz studied the childhoods of many prominent Christian and Jewish theists from the same historical periods. Remarkably, every single one enjoyed a strong, loving relationship with his father, or with a father substitute. For example, Christian apologist and mystery writer G.K. Chesterton was extremely close to his father, a kind man who spent a great deal of time with his young son. Chesterton writes, "My father is the very best man I ever knew of that generation." Martin Buber, a Jewish theologian and author of the book I and Thou was raised by a strong and loving grandfather who ignited Buber's interest in the intellectual life. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoffer, who was executed by Hitler, was the much-loved son of a psychiatrist. Bonhoffer's father was an agnostic, which suggests that strong, loving fathers inadvertently provide what Vitz calls "a model for a benevolent Father-God." (Ironically, this means a good atheist dad may find his kids embracing theism.) Alexis de Tocqueville, the French aristocrat and author of "Democracy in America," adored his father. Tocqueville argued that religion is a vital component in the life of a nation. This view was, Vitz notes, "quite unusual" in the 1830s, when atheistic views of culture and society "were becoming standard in Europe." The father of Blaise Pascal, the brilliant French mathematician and philosopher, homeschooled his son; the relationship between the two was close and affectionate. Pascal is remembered in part for writing "a powerful and imaginative defense of Christianity," Vitz notes. One wonders who will write those defenses for future generations. Consider: Today, more than a third of American children live apart from their biological fathers. If current trends hold, only about half of America's kids will spend their entire childhood within an intact family. Even nuclear families are at risk, spiritually speaking: Studies show that busy boomer parents spend far less time with their kids than parents did a generation ago. Vitz warns that all this faulty fathering will lead not only to skepticism toward God but also to increased social pathologies--especially among boys. "Boys very much look to their fathers as a model, not only for God, but for what they would like to be," Vitz told Beliefnet. "Nietschze was really saying, 'Dad is dead, therefore God is dead. Dad isn't here, so therefore God doesn't exist.'" But the hunger for a father never goes away, Vitz cautions. A boy without a father "will move into gangs, or hero worship of some sports star," or worse--a charismatic political or cult leader. Badly fathered girls will reject God, as well--and spend their lives seeking a relationship to replace him. "Faith of the Fatherless" serves as a wake-up call to people of faith: Unless they want to see America slide further into atheism, they must reach out to all those fatherless kids with strong, tender father figures. Vitz's book is a warning to dads as well: If you want your kids to share your faith, you must share your time and love with them. If you don't, Vitz says, "they will reject everything you stand for--your politics, your worldview, and your faith, if you have one. And you will deserve it." END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:49:48 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:49:48 Subject: Looking for Tradition-PLUS by Terry Mattingly Message-ID: Looking for tradition-PLUS By Terry Mattingly The Romanesque sanctuary of South Main Baptist Church near downtown Houston may seem like a strange home for the Gen-X faithful in the Ecclesia Christian Community. The church holds 1000, which means there are acres of empty oak pews when the 250-plus in the Rev. Chris Seay's new congregation gather on Sunday nights. But the sanctuary with the giant rose window has one essential element welcomed by the singles, artists and seekers in trendy urban neighborhoods -- beauty. "It's as close to a Baptist cathedral as you can get," said Seay. "It may not be the right size for us, right now, but it still feels right. ... It has amazing stained-glass windows. You can look around and see the whole life of Christ. It feels like a real church, a sacred space." But this is tradition-PLUS. The sanctuary also has room for three projection screens and an arc of television monitors. Seay and his team of Ecclesia (Greek for "church") musicians and artists use these multi-media tools to surround worshippers with a swirling sea of visual art during their worship services, which can last nearly two hours. Sometimes the images connect with the words of the sermon, music, prayers or scriptures. But often they do not. Then there are times when worshippers are free to drift over to "creative spaces" in which they can paint or sculpt their impressions of what is happening in the service. Seay invited a painter to work behind him at Easter, so that his flock could watch as an impressionistic image entitled "The Body of Christ" developed during the sermon. The point of all this, said Seay, is to tell a story that touches hearts and invites people into a community, not to conquer unbelievers through a barrage of Western rationalism and legal arguments. He is part of a growing movement of postmodern church leaders who want to blend past and present, the ancient and the digital, to create new forms of worship that appeal to all the senses -- sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. "Most of us have grown up with worship that is like a one-lane highway," said Seay, who is 28. "You get one message at a time, one after another, either a hymn or a prayer or a sermon. That isn't how people live today. ... We want to create a multi-lane highway during worship, because we know that people -- especially young people -- can handle many different messages, even if they are stacked on top of each other." Seay is a Baptist, but his sponsors and co-workers in this project range from conservative Presbyterians to mainline Methodists. They want to build a congregation that is truly "multi-denominational" and linked to other bodies, not one of the free-floating, "non-denominational" churches that have radically altered the face of contemporary American Protestantism. The Ecclesia fellowship doesn't want to be "contemporary" because its leaders believe "contemporary" religious groups are fighting for deck space on a sinking ship. Americans who watch MTV and live on the World Wide Web are not hungry for "the whole Western, modern, scientific model" of truth and salvation, said Seay. Postmodern seekers are increasingly turning to Buddhism, Hinduism and other Eastern, mystical, traditions. Church leaders must realize that they, too, are heirs to a religious tradition that began in the East, he said. Christianity's roots are in Eastern culture, language and faith. It would help, he said, if future church leaders were required to read Saint John of the Cross and the Desert Fathers, as well as Martin Luther and John Calvin. The goal is Protestantism-PLUS. Believers must experience truth, he said, as well as hear truth preached. "Truth cannot be limited to propositions. Christ said, 'I AM the truth.' If the truth of the Gospel is to be experienced, the church must embody it," argued Seay, writing in Leadership magazine. "In a postmodern culture, the effort to know Christ must fully engage the head and the heart. ... We are moving toward a more spiritual world, one that faces East. The question is whether Christ or karma will be the focus of our spirituality." Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) leads the Institute of Journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C. He writes this weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service. END From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 01:58:06 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 1:58:06 Subject: 81 Demonstrators Arrested during Soulforce Rally at Presbyterian Gen. Assembly Message-ID: NOTE: This group will be demonstrating at ECUSA's General Convention in Denver. Gay agit-prop is not new, and these people are not Episcopalians. They are being trucked in to demonstrate for "inclusivity" and to support Louie Crew and Integrity. From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 02:02:18 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 2:02:18 Subject: Medical News Briefs Message-ID: MEDICAL NEWS BRIEFS A British survey has found that four in 10 girls have taken the morning-after pill by the age of 19. Dr Roger Ingham, director of the centre for sexual health research at Southampton University, England, conducted his research among more than 1,000 youngsters aged between 14 and 19 for Channel 4, a national television station. The survey also indicated that the most common age for first sex was 15, and that seven out of 10 teenagers had not discussed contraception with their first sexual partner. [The Independent, 23 June] The Italian Senate has voted to re-introduce the rights of the unborn, after cancelling them in a previous vote. The amendment to a bill dealing with artificial insemination was the result of a direct intervention by Nicola Mancino, the Senate's president. A ruling by the Italian constitutional court in 1997 recognised the rights of the unborn, but this had been passed over by the bill's authors. In any case the bill might not have time to be approved before elections due next year. [Zenit news agency, Rome, 22 June] A new report has claimed that women over 35 are considerably more prone to miscarriages, and that by the age of 42, half of all unborn babies conceived are lost. The study, undertaken by the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre in Copenhagen and published in the British Medical Journal, indicated that a fifth of all pregnancies at the age of 35 result in miscarriage, still-birth or ectopic pregnancy. Furthermore, the risk of miscarriage at the age of 22 is only 9 percent, but has risen to 75 percent by the age of 45 and to 84 percent by the age of 48. [The Times, 23 June] Marie Stopes International, the provider of 35,000 abortions in Great Britain every year, has issued a statement in defence of its record following reports in the press of complications at a clinic operated by the charity. The statement rejected "any attempt to imply or infer that MSI's complication rates are greater than any other organisation providing similar services." The statement acknowledged that about five uterine perforations, or ruptured wombs, occur each year in its clinics, and added that ectopic pregnancies are "notoriously difficult to detect". [This is London website, Associated Newspapers, 14 June] The Catholic bishop of London, Ontario, has apologised for disparaging comments he recently made about pro-life campaigners [see news digest for 8 June]. Bishop John Michael Sherlock wrote: "I deeply regret that anything I have said should be interpreted as hostile to those who stand courageously in defense of the unborn, the developmentally disabled, and the aged." In the same statement the bishop also re-affirmed his support for the March for Women, participants in which included pro-abortion campaigners. He justified his position partly by claiming that poverty and violence "kills and disables more children than abortion does" but added that the presence of the Catholic Church "should be a public sign that true concern for women's dignity, equality and human rights rejects the inclusion of abortion and other so-called rights." [LifeSite Daily News, 21 June & Bishop Sherlock's statement, London diocesan website, 19 June] A study carried out in the United States has suggested that teenage boys are increasingly turning against abortion. 50.5 percent disagreed "a lot" with abortion "for any reason" in 1995, compared to 40.4 percent in 1988. Two researchers writing in Family Planning Perspectives analysed data from the 1988 and 1995 National Survey of Adolescent Males and concluded: "The large decrease in approval of abortion among white teenage males has closed the racial and ethnic gap in attitudes toward abortion that was evident in 1988 ... This trend toward more conservative abortion-related attitudes among whites coincides with increasingly conservative attitudes regarding premarital sex and greater religiosity among white male adolescents." [Pro-Life E-News, 22 June & Family Planning Perspectives, Vol.32, No.3, May/June 2000] The full report can be seen at http://www.agi-usa.org/pubs/journals/3211800.html [This bulletin is privately circulated by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, www.spuc.org.uk, 5/6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 3763. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. Please forward this bulletin to other interested parties.] From DVirtue236 at AOL.COM Mon Jun 26 02:04:56 2000 From: DVirtue236 at AOL.COM (David Virtue) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 2:04:56 Subject: Devotional - No Easy Jobs Message-ID: DEVOTIONAL - NO EASY JOBS "If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks." - Ecclesiastes 10:18 Henry Ward Beecher was born June 24, 1813 in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was educated at Amherst College and Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati where his father, Lyman Beecher, was president. In 1847, he was called to pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, New York and served there forty years. He became one of the most popular and widely known ministers in America emphasizing the love of God in his sermons. He often spoke out against slavery and in favor of women's suffrage and industrial reform. A student once wrote to Henry Ward Beecher, asking him how to obtain "an easy job." Mr. Beecher replied, "If that's your attitude, you'll never amount to anything. You cannot be an editor or become a lawyer or think of entering the ministry. None of these professions are easy. You will have to forget the fields of merchandising and shipping, abhor the practice of politics, and forget about the difficult field of medicine. To be a farmer or even a good soldier, you must study and think. My son, you have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is in the grave." The Lord has given us work to do and He desires us to be busy at it. Are you prone to laziness? Today in prayer, ask Christ to give you a heart for your job so you can do your work unto Him. "There is not a thing on the face of the earth that I abhor so much as idleness or idle people." - George Whitefield God's Word: "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." - Proverbs 24:33-34