VirtueOnline Viewpoints - February 03, 2012

[david at virtueonline.org]

Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God's grace and compassion. ---- St. Mark the Ascetic, 5th century

Keep Looking Unto Jesus. Keep on looking unto Jesus. Faith shall soon be changed to sight, and hope to certainty. Looking to Jesus on earth by faith, you shall end with seeing Jesus eye to eye in heaven. Those eyes of yours shall look on the head that was crowned with thorns, the hands and feet that were pierced with nails, and the side that was pierced with a spear. You shall find that seeing is the blessed consequence of believing, and that looking at Jesus by faith, ends with seeing Jesus in glory, and living with Jesus for evermore. When you awake up after His likeness, you shall be satisfied. --- J.C. Ryle

Spiritual sacrifices. The uniqueness of Christ's sacrifice does not mean, then, that we have no sacrifices to offer, but only that their nature and purpose are different. They are not material but spiritual, and their object is not propitiatory but eucharistic, the expression of a responsive gratitude. This is the second biblical undergirding of Cranmer's position. The New Testament describes the church as a priestly community, both a 'holy priesthood' and a 'royal priesthood', in which all God's people share equally as 'priests'. This is the famous 'priesthood of all believers', on which the Reformers laid great stress. In consequence of this universal priesthood, the word 'priest' (*hiereus*) is never in the New Testament applied to the ordained minister, since he shares in offering what the people offer, but has no distinctive offering to make which differs from theirs. –-- John R. W. Stott

The Plea of Jesus: Come Unto Me. The Lord Jesus does not bid the laboring and heavy-laden "go and work." Those words would carry no comfort to heavy consciences - it would be like requiring labor from an exhausted man. No. He bids them "Come." He does not say, "Pay Me what you owe." That demand would drive a broken heart into despair - it would be like claiming a debt from a ruined bankrupt. No. He says, "Come." He does not say, "Stand still and wait." That command would only be a mockery - it would be like promising to give medicine at the end of a week to one at the point of death." No - He says, "Come." Today; at once; without any delay, "Come unto Me." --- Bishop J.C. Ryle

Justification and the Lord's Supper. The English Reformers were resolved, being consistent theologians, that their doctrines of justification and of the Lord's Supper should be compatible with one another. They strenuously denied transubstantiation ('the change is not in the nature, but the dignity' - Latimer), the real presence of Christ in the elements ('his true body is truly present to them that truly receive him, but spiritually' - Cranmer), and the notion that the mass could be a propitiatory sacrifice (for then 'doth this sacrament take upon it the office of Christ's passion, whereby it might follow that Christ died in vain' - Ridley). They were also consistent (as we should be) in their vocabulary, believing that the presbyter is a minister serving a sacramental supper from a table, not a priest offering a sacrifice on an altar. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters
www.virtueonline.org 
February 3, 2012

Fr. David L. Moyer, the former Anglo-Catholic priest of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, PA, hit a wall this week when he learned that he had been denied his final step into the Roman Catholic Church following 10 years of ecclesiastical wandering that started with The Episcopal Church, migrated through the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Forward in Faith, the Church of the Province of Central Africa, and the Anglican Church in America, a branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion.

Moyer said he received a letter from Fr. Jeffrey Steenson, Ordinary for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, informing him that Archbishop Charles Chaput (Philadelphia) has declined to give him his votum (a promise) to proceed toward ordination in the Roman Catholic Church.

Moyer's chequered history has parallels with that of John Hepworth, the TAC archbishop whose entry into full communion with Rome can only come now as a layman. In losing his battle with TEC over his parish, he ended up suing his own attorney and leaving a trail of bitter people in the process.

Anglo-Catholicism has bred more than one "Lone Ranger" whose principal focus of authority is their own. With Steenson as a native guide, the Roman Catholic church is attempting to keep this personality type out of its leadership, and justifiably so, wrote a blogger familiar with both sides of the issue.

One thing that the Ordinariate will do is to bring the reality of Roman Catholicism to Anglo-Catholicism, which will come as a rude awakening to some. The Roman Catholic Church makes no bones about it. If you go to Rome, even with some Anglican liturgical practices allowed, you will be fully Roman. There is no compromise on that. What Anglicans who cross the Tiber must know is that this is about as good as it's going to get.

In a letter to his small flock concerning his rejection slip, Moyer said moving forward now was "in the hands of God."

"I accept and embrace the days ahead as a time of penance for sins of omission and commission, and possibly will need to do what Fr. John Jay Hughes did - give one's priesthood to Our Lady, asking her to keep it (for me), and to give it back (to me) when the time is right."

One thing Moyer has steadfastly refused to do is to apologize to his former friend and attorney John H. Lewis after he withdrew his lawsuit. Perhaps that might come under the category of "sin of commission."

In allied news, TAC Archbishop John Hepworth announced that he would resign on Easter Day. He tooted his horn by saying that he would not allow his own circumstances to become an impediment to unity. The truth is the vast majority of the TAC never had any interest in going to Rome it was all Hepworth's idea from the very beginning, himself a former Roman Catholic priest, He managed to induce a small handful of Continuing Anglo-Catholics including Moyer into going to Rome, now it has crumbled around him.

"I have been deeply concerned that most of our Communion has been marginalized by the process of implementing the Apostolic Constitution. My correspondence and personal representations have not been as effective as I would have wished." Indeed not.

Next month, members of the TAC College of Bishops and Vicars General of the TAC will meet in Johannesburg, South Africa, where Hepworth will be formally voted out from leadership of the TAC.

*****

The PB of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori had a faceoff with the president of the HOD, Bonnie Anderson, in Maryland where the Executive Council of the Church met to establish a budget that to get through GC2012. The dust up between the two women went viral. VOL has reported on it for you in today's digest. At issue is how much of the church millions should be spent on "mission" -- however that TEC leadership defines word, --and how much should be spent on maintenance. At root is the reality that more must be spent on maintenance (Jefferts Schori) because the legal fees fighting dioceses over property has been enormously costly and payments on the $60 million remortgaging of 815 2nd Avenue means that some big areas of "mission" must be cut.

A shrewd observer noted that Antony Jay's book, "Management and Machiavelli; an inquiry into the politics of corporate life" (1967), which considered the belief systems that underlay the art of management said that one of Jay's topics considered the concept of "turf" in management systems. He described such in terms of "the defecating habits of the hippopotamus". It seems the hippopotamus switches its tail around as it defecates in order to spread its effluent over the widest possible area and so marks out the "turf" that the hippo will defend to the death. Seems to be some conjunction with the respective concepts of TEC management, he mused.

*****

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu told PM David Cameron not to overrule the Bible by allowing gay marriage. Marriage is set in history and cannot be changed overnight. It should be between a man and a woman, said Sentamu. Cameron has shown support for a gay marriage bill. Ministers should not overrule the Bible by allowing same-sex marriage, the Archbishop of York has said. Cameron would be acting like a 'dictator' and overruling the Bible, if he legalizes gay marriage, he warned.

He told the prime minister that he would face a rebellion if he pushes ahead with plans to allow full-fledged gay marriages. Marriage is set in history and the government cannot change it overnight, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England added. "I don't think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is. It is set in tradition and history and you can't just (change it) overnight, no matter how powerful you are," said Sentamu.

*****

Meantime, a letter signed by 120 clergy is calling for the Church of England to reverse its ban on civil partnership ceremonies being held in churches.

The signatories, from the Diocese of London, want discretion to uphold loving homosexual relationships.

It is the first sign of significant resistance within the Church to its refusal to permit civil partnership ceremonies in Anglican churches.

The law has allowed them in English and Welsh places of worship since December.

In their letter to the London diocese representatives on the General Synod, the signatories stopped short of calling for same-sex marriage.

However, they said they should be given the same discretion in deciding whether to hold civil partnerships in church as they currently have in deciding whether to remarry divorced people.

One of the signatories said they were dismayed at having to deny "the Church's fullest ministry" to increasing numbers of gay couples with loving relationships, said BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott.

The Church said in December it would not host civil ceremonies, just as a "gentlemen's outfitter is not required to supply women's clothes".

Secretary General William Fittall wrote that no religious premises would be allowed to host the registration of civil partnerships without written permission from the general synod - the Church's governing body.

The government said no religious group would be forced to hold ceremonies.

*****

The White House is picking a fight with conscience and Congress is fighting back. A remarkable page in the history of American conscientious objection is being written by citizens throughout the United States who are standing up and saying, "We cannot-we will not-comply with this unjust law."

These are not unemployed, bedraggled 20-somethings looking for a free pass on student loans and camping trips in downtown parks, nor are they unknowns with little influence.

These citizens are Roman Catholic bishops throughout the United States. In statement after statement, issued in diocese after diocese, many bishops are publicly declaring that they "cannot" and "will not" comply with "this unjust law."

The unjust law in question is a mandate issued last August by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that requires non-exempt private health insurance plans to provide coverage for all Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contraception methods, sterilization, counseling and education.

This past Sunday, the following letter was read in many Roman Catholic parishes across this country. The question is why isn't this letter being read in all Episcopal churches?

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be "of, by, and for the people," has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people - the Catholic population - and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees' health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those "services" in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration's sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.

We cannot-we will not-comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second-class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America's cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience, to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration's decision.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample 
Bishop of Marquette

*****

More than 40 non-Catholic religious organizations, including Protestant-affiliated colleges, National Association of Evangelicals, Focus on the Family, Assemblies of God, Northwest Nazarene University, and Eastern Mennonite University, sent a letter to the White House demanding religious protection against the newly issued HHS contraceptive mandate.

"We write not in opposition to Catholic leaders and organizations. We write in solidarity." Says the coalition letter. "Leaders of other faiths are also deeply troubled by and opposed to the mandate and the narrow exemption."

The American Catholic backlash against the administration's treatment of contraceptive services in the new health care law continues to grow, threatening President Obama's support among a key group of swing voters that was critical to his victory in 2008. In the 11 days since the Health and Human Services Department announced its new policy, the administration has been condemned by even progressive Catholic leaders and, remarkably, denounced from the pulpit in thousands of Catholic churches across the country as well as by bishops representing more than 100 dioceses.

At issue are the regulations released Jan. 20 that require women's contraceptive services to be covered by insurance policies under the president's Affordable Health Care Act. The church had sought a broad exemption for the many Catholic institutions in the country to recognize its canonical opposition to artificial birth control. Instead, HHS excluded only "religious employers" that primarily employ members of their own faith communities. This narrow exception protects those who work directly for Catholic churches, but not the many Catholic universities, hospitals, or social-service agencies such as Catholic Charities.

No bishop was swayed by the fact that the administration is giving religious communities a year to figure out how to comply. New York Bishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, dismissed this, saying, "In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences." Dolan, a cardinal-designate who will receive his red cap at a ceremony in the Vatican later this month, added, "To force American citizens to choose between violating their consciences and forgoing their health care is literally unconscionable."

There is a political warning in the bishops' protests. It is not that American Catholics march in lockstep behind the bishops. Quite the contrary. Most American Catholics already disregard church teachings against birth control Church hierarchy has probably never been held in lower regard by American Catholics who are angry at attempted cover-ups of sexual crimes and resentful whenever priests try to tell them how to vote. This is not like 2004 when it was just a handful of conservative prelates threatening to deny Communion to Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, a Catholic. This time, it is the majority of bishops. And this time, it is the church fighting back against Washington telling it what it must do with its own employees.

The numbers contain the political warnings. Fifty-five of the bishops represent dioceses in what will be battleground states in the election - seven from Michigan; six each from Florida and Pennsylvania; five each from Ohio and Wisconsin; three from Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, Arizona, and Colorado.

Additionally, the clout of the Catholic vote is unquestioned. Since 1972, only once has a candidate won the presidency despite losing the Catholic vote, according to network exit polls. That lone exception was 2000 when Democrat Al Gore won 50 percent of Catholics but lost in the Electoral College to Republican George W. Bush, who got 47 percent of Catholics. If Hispanic Catholics are excluded and only white Catholics counted, the winning streak is unbroken: From 1972 to 2008, the candidate who got the most votes from white Catholics won the election. Hat tip MCJ 
http://www.becketfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/To-President-NonCatholics-RelExemptionSigned.pdf

*****

An interesting side show at Executive Council this week occurred when the Lofty Ones voted to rejoice in the establishment of the independent state of the Republic 
of South Sudan, while deploring "the great human tragedy" still occurring in Abyei, Blue Nile State, and Southern Kordofan State. They called upon the U.S. government "to renew and continue its economic sanctions and diplomatic efforts urgently to secure peace and an end to the egregious human rights violations and ongoing military brutality against the people in all areas of the Sudan," reaffirm solidarity with the Episcopal Church of Sudan, and remind and urge all Episcopalians to continue in prayer and advocacy for all the people of Sudan, especially those in the war torn regions. There is a ton of irony here. While Mrs. Jefferts Schori lauds the courage of the Sudan she herself got gob smacked by Sudanese Archbishop Deng Bul who told her she was not welcome in the Sudan because of TEC's position on sodomy and for supporting Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool getting miters.

*****

Virginia's breakaway Anglican congregations have lost the latest legal round over possession of their properties, but the deeper issue is can Virginia Episcopalians afford to keep them? It may well be a pyrrhic victory.

In a 113-page ruling issued Jan. 10, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows reversed a ruling he made in 2008 giving custody to the conservative congregations. The Virginia Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2010 and ordered a new trial.

At issue is ownership of seven Virginia churches, including two prominent, historic congregations that trace their roots to George Washington: Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church, for which the city of Falls Church is named. It is not clear that the denomination, on the verge of finally winning the battle that began in 2006, has either the members or the money to keep operating the churches themselves. 

The one minor victory Bellows gave to the conservative congregations was that they could keep any donations and personal property associated with the churches that they have acquired since the split. The Falls Church, for example, has average weekly attendance of around 2,000 and a $6 million annual budget. The continuing congregation of that church has a reported average attendance of 74. Similarly, the continuing congregation of the Church of the Epiphany in Herndon reported 2010 income, including pledges, of $50,000 and average attendance of 20, according to the Institute for Religion and Democracy. The congregation that now maintains the facilities has average attendance of 380 and a budget of $800,000. 

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has drawn from a line of credit to fund litigation, expecting to sell some properties following a favorable court ruling. According to self-reported statistics, the diocese has lost 26 percent of its attendance in the past decade and has ceased planting new churches, despite significant population growth in Virginia.

The Episcopal Church is engaged in ongoing litigation against departing parishes and dioceses across the country. Sadly, the declining Episcopal Church appears more interested in property than people. You can read the full story in today's digest.

*****

The Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, Neff Powell announced that he is retiring in the spring of 2013. Powell, bishop since 1996, made his decision formal during the diocese's 93rd annual council meeting, in front of more than 200 congregational leaders who gave him a standing ovation.

Powell, 64, is leaving as he nears retirement age and as the diocese - like the Episcopal Church itself - is grappling with slowly declining membership, attendance and revenues. A committee is presenting over the weekend a proposal that would partially decentralize resources to the parishes.

*****

TWEETING ANYBODY? To tweet or not to tweet that is the question. Episcopal listservs and blogs were alive with the sound of tweeting this week. Should Executive Council meetings, which are open for anyone to attend, be tweetable? Or should tweeting be banned from such? Free speech liberals are caught in a bind. They want free speech, but not so much free speech as to air all of TEC's dirty laundry to the wider world. Currently, the two leading women of the church are at loggerheads over money and mission and what should be delivered to GC2012 this summer. 

We need to get used to issues of reporting, not from the top-down ways that we're used to, said one blogger. I'm sure we are all clear that when Executive Council is in executive session, no such reporting is permissible, said another.

But, what about open sessions?

It seems that the principle is this: if Executive Council sessions are open, they are open for broadcast via whatever means, whether Twitter, Facebook, blogging, or personal email distribution list. An open meeting is an open meeting. To ban tweeting is to smash a thumbtack with a sledgehammer.

"I think we should flood the cloud with information and opinion. Everyone should tweet. Let the EC do it's business live on Skype. Upload a live broadcast to Facebook and on our website and immediately address comments from viewers. There are no secrets anymore. My mother used to say that we must never write anything we wouldn't want to see printed in the newspaper. Today EC, PB, or PHoD must never say or do anything anywhere they wouldn't want the whole world to know five minutes later. If TEC votes to bar tweeting - we will be affirmed in our belief there is no commitment to really open meetings. For those who watch Downton Abbey - I think this discussion is much like the comments about "electricity" and "telephones"," wrote one blogger.

*****

Lords Spiritual. 'Six out of ten Brits think bishops should be booted out of the House of Lords after defeating plans to cap benefits at £26,000 ($41,000) a year.' So declared The Sun on 25 January 2012, following the poll it commissioned from YouGov on the public's reactions to the Welfare Reform Bill.

Five of the 26 senior bishops of the Church of England who are entitled to sit in the House of Lords had voted in favor of the amendment, and one of them (Rt. Rev. John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds) had actually proposed it. Three-fifths of YouGov's interviewees opposed the amendment, and 74% supported the Government's original cap.

Removal of bishops from the House of Lords particularly appealed to Conservative and Liberal Democrat voters, 67% and 68% respectively. This was unsurprising, given that these are the two parties that form the Coalition Government, which had been on the receiving end of episcopal votes against the welfare cap.

*****

A prayer giving thanks for the reign of the Queen has been released by the Church of England to mark her 60 years on the throne.

The Diamond Jubilee Prayer, written at the Queen's direction by the chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, will be used at the Jubilee Thanksgiving Service on June 5 in St Paul's as well as at other events throughout the year.

The Church of England said the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have commended the prayer for use throughout all its parishes. Other denominations are also welcome to use it.

The Diamond Jubilee Prayer has been released ahead of a loyal address to the Queen, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, due to be moved by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, at the start of the General Synod meeting in London on Monday.

The address coincides with the 60th anniversary of King George VI's death and the Queen's Accession to the throne.

*****

For the first time since the inaugural Provincial Assembly in Bedford/Plano, Texas in June of 2009, the Anglican Church in North America says that the next gathering of the whole church Assembly 2012 will take place Thursday, June 7 through Saturday, June 9 in Ridgecrest, North Carolina. "My hope is that Assembly 2012 would be a celebration of God's favor. Many things have happened in these years that show God has blessed and prospered what we've done in ways we never imagined. We've been doing what we see the Father doing and we want to celebrate that," said Archbishop Robert Duncan, referencing John 5:19. 

Assembly 2012 will be held at Ridgecrest Conference Center nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside of Asheville, N.C. "Provincial Assembly is very much about building up the mission of the church and encouraging the next generation of leaders in our midst," proclaimed Archbishop Duncan.  A quarter of the participants this year will be young leaders and delegates of our dioceses, between the ages of 16 and 25. 

"We are in the transformation business and this Assembly is about equipping captivated disciples to transform communities. Central to that, planting new congregations is principally important if we're going to reach North America," Archbishop Duncan continued.

The Assemble will have speakers as well as other special guests for Bible teachings, plenary sessions and workshops include Dr. Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research, The Baroness Caroline Cox, Honorary Chair of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund, member of the British House of Lords, and tireless campaigner for human rights around the world, The Rt. Rev. Rennis Ponniah, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Singapore, one of the most well-known Bible teachers in the Anglican world. The Rev. Dr. Michael Youssef, Founder and Rector of Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia with more than 3,000 members and President of Leading the Way, a worldwide radio and TV evangelistic and teaching ministry and the The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America

*****

Anglo-Catholic Clinical Psychologist Charles Zeiders, Psy.D., has been invited by the European Movement for Christian Anthropology Psychology and Psychotherapy (EMCAPP) to be the only American to speak at plenary during the group's 11th Symposium to be held in Warsaw Poland in September. The European Movement brings together international leaders and pioneers in the field of Christian psychology and psychotherapy and its underlying anthropology. Dr. Zeiders came to EMCAPP's attention on the heals of articles he published in the internationally distributed Journal of Christian Healing and the publication of his 2004 book The Clinical Christ. Zeiders' work has a drawn national and international attention. Intervarsity Press will publish Zeiders' work on Christian Holism - a model of Christian psychotherapy - in an upcoming anthology of leading-edge American clinicians and scientists who integrate clinical best practices with wellness strategies based in Christian spirituality and mysticism. Recent published work that Zeiders will integrate into his Warsaw lecture covers such topics as the neurology of mystical prayer, psychopathology and spiritual health, and addiction medicine and religious experience. Zeiders worships at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont in the Diocese of Pennsylvania and is a founding member of Good Shepherd's Healing Mission Team. For examples of Dr. Zeiders' work visit www.drzeiders.com.

*****

Shari'a Law: Coming to a Courthouse Near You? What Shari'a Really Means to American Muslims. This is the first empirical study to ask North American Muslims what shari'a means to them in their everyday lives. The study demonstrates that the present "moral panic" over shari'a and its alleged impact on American legal and social culture is wildly overblown. Based on the study, for most American Muslims shari'a represents a private system of morality and identity, primarily focused on marriage and divorce rituals. None of the American Muslims interviewed for this study expected American courts to enforce shari'a. Just like other Americans, they will access the courts for adjudication according to American family law if they cannot make a private agreement (relating to divorce) that meets their needs and values, says Julie Macfarlane, Fellow of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Download: Download the Full Report (PDF)

*****

FOR THE RECORD. In Houston recently at the AMIA conference, Bishop Sandy Greene ordained four deacons under a temporary license from Bishop William of Boga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. George Conger disseminated inaccurate comments making up a story from (mid-level) sources then surprising the Archbishop of Congo with a call causing him to wonder, no doubt, what, exactly, is going on... then he rams it home with his remarkable journalistic prowess by revealing the breaking news that he was wrong about the AMIA and Congo in the first place. 

*****

VOL revamps its website. This past week VOL made some gentle updates to its website. It is clearer and cleaner looking with new and better graphics. On the front page you will find a list of stories under the heading "Rising Islamic Persecution." We have also brought VOL’s Global Anglican Theological Institute into better focus. We hope to broaden our overall news offensive in the coming months while keeping the central focus always on The Anglican Communion.

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