Anglicans United & Latimer Press

The morning visit, requested by Griswold last spring, provided the Presiding Bishop the opportunity to introduce his successor to the Archbishop in the week preceding the November 1 start of the nine-year
tenure to which she was elected June 18.

"I was pleased to see the warmth of cordial interaction between the Archbishop and the Presiding Bishop-elect," Griswold said after the meeting, where the three shared private conversations for which no observers were present.

Jefferts Schori stated her appreciation for the "frank conversation about challenges in the Communion," and for "the opportunity to meet together face to face and begin a relationship that we hope will be fruitful and collegial."

[Ed. Note: emphasis on collegial, when more than 10 archbishops have already stated they will not recognise her at the Feb. meeting.]

Griswold stressed the importance of relational collaboration, noting that "at the heart of communion is found the reality of incarnation."

Williams greeted Griswold and Jefferts Schori in the State Room of Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop's official London residence since the year 1197. After their meeting in the Archbishop's office, Williams
accompanied his guests downstairs into the palace grounds prior to their departure.

Lambeth Palace also announced that England's Bishop of Lincoln, the Rt Rev. John Saxbee, will represent the Archbishop of Canterbury in Washington D.C. at Jefferts Schori's November 4 investiture as the
Episcopal Church's 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate. The Anglican Communion's Secretary General, the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, will also attend the liturgy, set for the Washington National Cathedral.

After departing Lambeth Palace, Griswold and Jefferts Schori joined the congregation for a noontime Eucharist at nearby St. Matthew's Church, Westminster. In an unexpected moment, Ephesians 4:1-6 was read as one of the day's scripture lessons, significant because the passage is also scheduled to be read at Jefferts Schori's upcoming investiture.

The Presiding Bishop and Presiding Bishop-elect later visited Westminster Abbey to join the congregation for Evensong.

Jefferts Schori officially concluded on October 25 more than five years of ministry as bishop of the Diocese of Nevada. The House of Bishops elected her 26th Presiding Bishop during the 75th General Convention's
nine-day meeting in Columbus, Ohio. The House of Deputies affirmed the vote the same day.

Article from: Episcopal News Service By Bob Williams

-- Canon Robert Williams, director of communication for the Episcopal Church, is traveling with the Presiding Bishop and Presiding Bishop-elect in London.

Photographs for this article are available here:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/42/00/acns4207.cfm

For them the real Jesus of the Gospels is the Jesus who included the outcasts, who went to their homes, who enjoyed their company, who affirmed them, said God loved them and sought them, and made them part of his inner group of disciples. Today, for them the action of God as Spirit in the world is to support and affirm the excluded, the needy, those without rights and food. For God loves everyone JUST AS she or he is.

In an affluent city like Seattle, this means God shows special partiality towards those whom the “traditional Church” tends to exclude—e.g., those whose sexual orientation is not within the bounds of normal respectability. Further, in the context of the Anglican Family of Churches, which is dominated by views of God based solely on the first two books of records (OT & NT) and is not reading the later books that bring us into the 21st century, God is seen as using the Diocese of Olympia in a prophetic way to call attention to the later books and to the revelation therein. The pioneers for the radical Jesus in Seattle seek to lead the way not only in The Episcopal Church but also in the global Communion—that is, the way into a full appreciation that GOD IS LOVE and LOVE and TRUE PASSION are of GOD, and that true holiness is found in same-sex relationships.

Here is the resolution passed by the Diocese with a 2/3 majority on October 28.

RESOLVED, That this 96th Convention of the Diocese of Olympia affirms and calls upon the Bishops and Standing Committee of the Diocese to affirm the full inclusion in all areas of the life of the Episcopal Church of our otherwise qualified brother and sister Christians who are single or partnered heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans-gendered persons, non-celibate singles, and divorced persons as well as the full inclusion in the Episcopal Church in the full life of the Anglican Communion.

This goes past resolutions passed in the General Convention in its doctrine of inclusivity by specifically including “non-celibate singles and divorced persons.” It blazes the trail for God’s love that the prophets of Seattle have seen and felt clearly, the trail that they want all to walk on and enjoy.

Reflection:
If we slow down for a moment and go back into the recent history of The Episcopal Church, we find that there was in the early 1970s a very powerful period of radical prophetic activity, even more radical than that of the Diocese of Olympia on October 28, 2006.

In the early 1970s began the first general moves to give a full place in the life of the churches to active homosexual and lesbian persons and also, very importantly, at this time, very major changes were made in the doctrine of marriage in The Episcopal Church. The new marriage canon of 1973 passed by the General Convention abandoned the received, traditional view of marriage and created a new “pastoral” canon and doctrine, in accord with the divorce culture and the artificial birth control culture and the self-fulfillment/realization culture from the late 1960s. Here the developing doctrine of the secular world was simply baptized with the name of God and given the blessing of the Church, and thereby serial monogamy, deliberate childless marriage and the ordination and deployment of divorced and remarried persons became common in The Episcopal Church, and remain so until today—even in the so called “conservative” and “orthodox” dioceses. Such radical liberalization served to strengthen the claims of the LesBiGay lobby for full rights (which now they have) and to weaken the whole moral and spiritual fiber of this Church on a very wide front.

Thus it is clear that one of the major causes of the spiritual and moral weakness of the reforming movements (such The Network) in The Episcopal Church is that every time they/we point a finger and criticize the LesBiGay lobby they/we also find their/our thumbs pointing to themselves/ourselves, for what they/we have embraced (the effective rejection of Christian marriage) and made very little effort to change is actually—in the great scheme of things—far more serious that what the LesBiGay lobby works for (because what the LesBiGay lobby works for is parasitic on the failure of Christian Marriage in The Episcopal Church).

drpetertoon@yahoo.com October 30, 2006

“The timing of this letter is shocking,” Fort Worth Bishop Jack L. Iker told The Living Church. “Some of the changes he refers to go back as far as 1989. All this was done completely out in the open and news of it was distributed widely. We have kept the Presiding Bishop informed at every step.

“We are still contemplating our response, but I think we will refuse to take the ‘bait’ by responding in kind,” Bishop Iker said. “We will probably refer him to our website where our constitution and canons are published.”

In recent years, four dioceses – Fort Worth (Texas), Pittsburgh, Quincy (Ill.) and San Joaquin (Calif.) – have amended their constitutions to qualify the diocese’s accession to General Convention, reserving the right of the diocese to reject bylaws which in their view contradict scripture and/or historic church teachings. Spokespersons for Pittsburgh and San Joaquin reported being unaware of receiving a similar letter. Fort Worth, Quincy and San Joaquin are the only three dioceses in The Episcopal Church which do not ordain women.

Mr. Beers concludes his letter stating “should your diocese decline to take that step, the Presiding Bishop will have to consider what sort of action she must take in order to bring your diocese into compliance.”

Bishop Iker questioned whether this was possible given that in September, Bishop Jefferts Schori told him to his face at a special meeting in New York City called by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the Presiding Bishop has no jurisdiction or oversight of dioceses under Episcopal Church polity. Also during September, a disciplinary review board rejected holding San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield guilty of abandoning the communion of this church for similar changes made to its constitution by convention in that diocese.

Steve Waring

"Commissary” or Commissarius Apostolicus is an ecclesial term for someone appointed to act on behalf of a bishop as an episcopal agent in the bishop’s absence. Commissaries were appointed by the Bishop of London for the 13 colonies to oversee Church of England parishes until the American Revolution.

The modification of the APO request is due in part to developments which occurred during the Sept. 11-13 meeting in New York City called by Archbishop Williams. As part of a draft agreement which was rejected later by both sides in the current disagreement, Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies was named as an acceptable commissary, a Network bishop told TLC. Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori also told the traditionalist bishops during the meeting their request was problematic as she could not grant something she did not possess. She was not a metropolitan or archbishop, but a presiding bishop, and had no oversight over their dioceses.

I attended school in Columbia. I was confirmed at the Church of the Good Shepherd, and later with my family became a parishioner at Trinity Church (now Trinity Cathedral). My parents have been my most formative mentors.
I attended Kenyon College, in central Ohio, from 1977-1981. This was a significant time in which friendships were made and the intellect challenged. During this time I began the ordination process in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina. Clergy at both Kenyon and the Cathedral were important mentors in this process. In my final year at Kenyon I became a postulant for Holy Orders, and also met my wife, Caroline.
I attended the General Theological Seminary in New York, from 1981-1984. New York (along with New Orleans) remains one of my favorite places. In 1984 I was ordained deacon by Bishop Beckham of Upper South Carolina. In that same year I became Curate of All Saints’ Church, Worcester, in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. Bishop Beckham ordained me priest in 1985. Caroline and I were married in 1986.
In 1987 I returned to school, as a graduate student at New College at Oxford University, UK. Caroline and I lived in Britain from 1987-1991. During this time I lived and worked as a Priest-Librarian (Chaplain) at Pusey House, an Anglican house of studies and chaplaincy to the entire University community. My supervisor in my academic program was Prof. Oliver O’Donovan, the Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology in the University, and Canon of Christ Church. The opportunity to study theology under learned and insightful guides, in concert with intellectually gifted peers, was both stimulating and humbling.
Our oldest son William was born in 1991, shortly before we returned to the United States. He was joined in 1994 by son Henry, and in 1997 by daughter Caroline. I love being a husband and parent.
In 1992 I became Rector of Christ Church, Albemarle, a pastoral-sized parish in the Diocese of North Carolina. As the only full-time staff member of this parish I learned the unique skill set that goes with this sort of ministry. Christ Church is a great parish, open and willing to tolerate the ministrations of a priest in his first try as Rector. I also completed my D.Phil. thesis for Oxford while in North Carolina, and was awarded the degree in 1996.
In 1997 I moved to the Diocese of Louisiana to become Rector of Christ Church, Covington. This parish has challenged and stretched me as a priest. I have learned much from our Bishop, clergy colleagues, and parishioners. Christ Church is a program-sized parish, with significant resource-sized features that make it transitional. As Rector I have served for over nine years on the Board of Trustees of Christ Episcopal School. I have also served for nine years on the Board of Directors of Christwood, an affiliated Continuing Care Retirement Community, for two of them as President of the Board. I have learned much about building community in these endeavors. Our time in Covington and in the Christ Church community has been a blessing for the Bauerschmidt family.

But that has long been a hallmark of government in the Arab world. Whoever seizes power can never relax the use or threat of force, lest he be overthrown by superior force.

Lebanon is a microcosm, and an object lesson. It is a country where Christianity is on the wane. By one estimate, it was once over 70 percent Christian; today it is less than half that. Shi'ite Muslims alone probably outnumber Lebanese Christians (mostly Maronite). The decline may be greater than that. The Washington Post reported a few years ago that Lebanon has not conducted a census for about 50 years "out of concern that the evidence of Christian decline and Shi'ite Muslim advancement might fuel sectarian tension."

A similar pattern holds across the Middle East, where the Christian downfall has been dramatic. The Catholic Archbishop of Algeria, interviewed recently by the New York Times, described "the ebbing of Christianity from North Africa's shores as Islam spreads across Europe." In 1958, there were more than 700 churches in the country where St. Augustine was born and died. Now there are about 20, and they are mostly empty. "The rest have been converted into mosques or cultural centers or have been abandoned." The archbishop says Mass for a remnant of 20 people.

In The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam (1997) Bat Ye'Or wrote that 13 percent of the Middle East was Christian a century ago. Today that figure may be as low as 2 percent.

Something similar is happening, although more slowly, in Europe.

The English writer G.K. Chesterton feared that if Christianity ever began to disappear, "superstition would drown out all your old rationalism and skepticism." He is often quoted as saying that when people stop believing in God "they don't believe in nothing, but in anything." But no one has been able to find that famous remark in all his copious writings. He did write something similar-that your "hard-shelled materialists [are] all

balanced on the very edge of belief-of belief in almost anything."

Writing after the suicide attacks on the London Underground last year, the British historian Niall Ferguson drew attention to Chesterton's comment (and misquotation) and added that the "moral vacuum" left by de-Christianization seemed to be creating a "soft target for the religious fanaticism of others." Plainly, the rise of Islam in Europe is directly related to the fall of Christianity.

"Into the void are coming Islam and Muslims," Daniel Pipes wrote in the New York Sun two years ago. "As Christianity falters, Islam is robust, assertive and ambitious." He foresaw a time when Europe's "grand cathedrals will appear as vestiges of a prior civilization." Until they are transformed into mosques, that is.

A RECENT STUDY SHOWED that the Catholic Church in Britain is facing its greatest threat since the Reformation. Its membership is in "terminal decline," much of it recent. What Henry VIII persecuted the modern world simply ignores. The faith is withering away. Meanwhile, the Church of England has devolved into a museum. Those old cathedrals are still maintained-even admired as works of art. Increasingly, however, they are venues for music festivals. As for the Church of England's Episcopalian equivalent in the U.S., it suggests nothing so much as a wounded animal beset by carnivores.

How to explain this decline? Nothing less than a book-length response would suffice. But here are a few thoughts. Enfeebled bishops, selected precisely for their feebleness, preside over dwindling flocks. Bishops have lost all authority and few listen to their public comments, which almost always deal with material (not spiritual) concerns. Rome slumbers on, imagining that English Catholics must above all repair the breach with Canterbury, and that the way to do so is to stand for as little as possible. Diplomacy triumphs over conviction. There is no sign that the old pope, John Paul II, paid attention to the problem. Benedict XVI understands that Catholicism is in trouble in Europe, but has not yet shown that he has the courage to do anything about it.

Christianity has been under constant attack since the time of the Enlightenment and the attacks have come from within. In recent decades, mullahs and imams have hardly needed to say a word against Christianity. All the work was being done for them by critics, reformers, apostates, defectors. In some ways Muslims are actually more respectful of Christianity than the Church's internal foes. And Islam's spiritual leaders have not lost the faith, defective though it is in key areas.

Friedrich Nietzsche, the son of a Lutheran pastor, composed his nonsensical but influential work The Antichrist (better translated as "The Anti-Christian," as Walter Kaufmann noted), and proclaimed the death of God in a country still nominally Christian. His diatribes were influential not because they were cogent but because they were daring. He was thought profound merely because he had disturbed the peace. (In earlier centuries such exercises in egotism were smothered at birth.) In droves, Western
intellectuals wanted to believe that they could safely defy the parson-ignore a creator perceived as more tyrannical than loving. So they disparaged the "wishful thinking" of believers, and in so doing imputed their own mindset to the faithful remnant.

The Jesuits turned to liberation theology, and many have also fallen under the homosexual spell. A succession of popes has failed to mount any effective response.

A likely ingredient in the Christian decline is increased material prosperity, which turns minds and hearts toward the things of this world. One could say that wealth makes materialists of us all. (But why hasn't there been an equivalent decline in the United States?) The Muslims of the Arab world, in contrast, have been unable to achieve anything beyond rudimentary levels of development. A material advance in the Middle East comparable to that of Western Europe possibly would undermine Islam. But why has it not already happened? The Muslims seem unable to achieve one of the most basic features of Western civilization-the rule of law. And they have remained largely frozen in a pre-medieval past. The strong rule by fear, force, and power replace law and consent, and property is insecure.

THE MOST COMMON SECULAR RESPONSE to all this is to say: What was so great about Christianity? One blogger responded to Niall Ferguson: "I don't get it. What's wrong with, say, secular humanism filling the moral vacuum? Why does he think the Christian doctrine is irreplaceable?"

It's an important question, deserving a full response. Just at the most basic level of demography, however, the secular-humanist option is not working. Sustaining a population requires each woman on average to bear 2.1 children. In the European Union, Daniel Pipes wrote, "the overall rate is one-third short, at 1.5 and falling." Should current population trends continue and immigration cease, the EU population of 375 million could fall to 275 million by 2075. Furthermore, birth rates are not lower than they already are (in France and Britain, for example, they are noticeably above the EU average) because Muslim immigrants to those countries are having more children than fallen-away Christians.

As for those who imagine that the Christian legacy is one of imperialism, racism, and inquisition, and we are better off without it-legions on the left do believe that-they will have to start thinking about what will replace it. Some are already doing so. Whittaker Chambers is worth reading on these issues, even though Islam was still dormant when he wrote Witness. The attempt to reconstruct faith without God produced Communism, he wrote. And the attempt to live without any faith at all is, I believe, impossible. If faith collapses, civilization goes with it.

Tom Bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of the new book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science (Regnery Publishing). This article appears in the October 2006 issue of The American Spectator.

Many of the delegates hope that a year's delay will allow the international Anglican Communion to create a new home for conservative American Episcopalians. The Anglican Communion is an association of independent national churches.

"We're still in the opening act of this play," said Steve Wilensky, a convention delegate from St. John's Episcopal Church in Dallas who said he would have preferred a more definitive disconnection from the denomination.
According to a survey of local church leaders commissioned by Bishop James Stanton and released at the convention, more than half said the denomination had gone seriously wrong, with 42 percent saying it had gone so wrong that they were ready to leave. Almost a third said they want to take the word "Episcopal" from the church signs, letterheads and literature.

Only a quarter of the more than 700 leaders surveyed said that the Episcopal Church had not gone seriously wrong.

But rejection of the national church's position on issues such as ordination of gay priests or blessings for same-sex unions was not universal at the convention at Southfork Ranch.

"There is still a loyal minority within the diocese that needs to be ministered to," Joe Walker of Ascension Church in Dallas told more than 300 delegates.

Based strictly on numbers, the Dallas meeting may not seem significant. Combining a couple of local megachurches would exceed the entire diocese membership of about 37,000. And the national denomination, claiming about 2.4 million members, may now be smaller than the number of Muslims in America.

But the local diocese, which sprawls from Texarkana to Waxahachie, is one of the fastest growing – up 13 percent over the past 25 years, while the denomination shrank by a quarter. And the Episcopal Church remains disproportionately influential in America, experts say.

The issues that rack the relatively small denomination are also playing out in many others.
For Episcopalians, as with several other denominations, the most divisive issues are about how the Bible treats gender and sexuality.

A few Episcopal leaders – including Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth, but not Bishop Stanton – object to the ordination of women, approved by the denomination in 1974. Many more, including Bishop Stanton, object to the ordination of openly gay priests and the approval of locally created blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions.

In 2003, the denomination's biennial convention confirmed its first openly gay bishop and agreed to allow local bishops to bless same-sex unions. Four months ago, the denomination elected a new presiding bishop who supported both moves in 2003.

Those votes galvanized the opposition.

As many as a third of this weekend's convention delegates, based on voice votes, seemed to be willing to walk away from the denomination now. But Bishop Stanton asked his more conservative churches to stay with the diocese in spite of the national church.

"Separation is never a strategy," he said in a speech. "Those who depart the church are not, I think, fulfilling Christ's call but are fulfilling the expectations the world has about the church, that we cannot really get along," he said.

Bishop Stanton is a leader in the conservative Anglican Communion Network and shares the opinions of many of his conservative members. But he wasn't just making a rhetorical point about unity.

The largest church in the diocese – one of the largest in the denomination – pulled out last month. Christ Church of Plano may be followed by St. Matthias of Dallas, which sent a note but no representatives to the weekend convention.

After the convention, the bishop said his call for church unity would apply to the denomination only if it follows "the teachings of the apostles."

Whether that's happening is what created the rift in the Episcopal Church – and is roiling other denominations including the Methodists, Presbyterians and even the Southern Baptist Convention. In the conservative-led SBC, its leaders are battling over whether a "private prayer language" – commonly known as speaking in tongues – is in accord with the Bible.

Those battles may make the local survey particularly interesting. It's an unusually detailed snapshot taken by a market research company whose owner is a local Episcopalian.

According to the survey, about three-quarters of the local leaders said the national denomination did not reflect their personal convictions or their Christian beliefs. About 70 percent disagreed with the right granted by the national body for the ordination of "people living in homosexual unions" or for local clergy to perform same-sex marriages.

But some Episcopalians question whether the survey met scientific standards. David Pyke, a member of Good Shepherd Church of Dallas, took the survey. He's also on the steering committee of Via Media, an organization that supports the denomination.

He participated in the online survey and dismissed it Saturday as a "push poll" that started with inflammatory questions.

"It was typical advocacy polling," he said.

But the survey results didn't necessarily indicate that the diocese would split with the denomination, Bishop Stanton said. Even some who oppose national policies are uninterested in leaving, he said.

Leaders at two of the fastest-growing churches in the diocese, one in Frisco and one in McKinney, told the bishop that a split "would represent a distraction," he said. "But they were no less upset [with the denomination] than anyone else in the diocese."

In addition to the online survey, which reached three-quarters of local church leaders, Bishop Stanton met with leaders at 76 of the 77 churches in the diocese in the past four months. What he heard was not so much a call for separation as a request for more time, he said.

Most of those in Dallas who want to separate from the Episcopal Church want to attach themselves directly to the Anglican Communion.

The communion, based in England, claims more than 74 million members in 160 countries. In the United States, the national representative is the Episcopal Church. There is no provision for dissident dioceses or churches to link directly to the communion.

But Anglican leaders, including the presiding Archbishop of Canterbury, have suggested the creation of a two-tier system that could relegate the American church to second-class status. Some American conservatives hope that the communion will also establish a system that would allow them to join directly.

Some Episcopalians who want to leave the denomination hope the new system would allow them to avoid an important legal hurdle. Currently, church property belongs to the diocese and the denomination. That means a congregation that chooses to leave the Episcopal Church usually must find a new place to worship.
If the Anglican Communion recognizes an alternative membership for Americans outside the Episcopal Church, some dissident Episcopalians hope that would allow them to retain their principles without losing their church buildings.

The local convention voted Friday to amend its constitution to create a system to disengage with the national church if it loses its status in the communion. That amendment must be approved again at next year's convention to take effect. And then the convention would need to approve the split by a two-thirds majority.

But Anglican officials will need to take action against the American church to trigger the new procedure.
And maybe that's the message from the Dallas convention, said the Rev. Gregory Crosthwait, rector at Intercession Church in Carrollton – that the local diocese isn't going to take the first step to leave.

"In this convention, we've said 'we're in,' " said Father Crosthwait, a member of the conservative Anglican Communion Network. "Any exit will be led by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the primates of the Anglican Communion and will not be led from the ground up."

E-mail jweiss@dallasnews.com

The Very Rev. Mark J. Lawrence, 56, was elected September 16 on the first ballot out of a field of three nominees as the 14th bishop of South Carolina. He is the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Parish in Bakersfield, California, in the Diocese of San Joaquin.

Both South Carolina and San Joaquin are part of a group of eight dioceses out of the Church's 111 that have requested a relationship with a primate of the Anglican Communion other than the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, citing 2003 and 2006 General Convention actions. The process is being called alternative primatial oversight (APO).

In response to one of three questions presented to the South Carolina candidates prior to a series of meetings with the diocese, Lawrence said he approved of the APO requests, calling them "a temporary gasp for air" that is needed while the Communion works out a new "Anglican ecclesiology."

Via Media USA's letters argue that "Father Lawrence's episcopacy would represent a threat to the unity of our church and to the cohesion of the Diocese of South Carolina."

"The case against consenting to Father Lawrence's election is not based on his theology or personal beliefs, but on the way these are likely to affect the polity, and hence the unity and integrity, of this church," the letter sent to the presidents and members of diocesan standing committees says.

"Father Lawrence has endorsed separating the Diocese of South Carolina from the Episcopal Church and has advocated that the authority of the General Convention be surrendered to the primates of the Anglican Communion. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to see how Father Lawrence could be asked or expected to take the vow required of each bishop in The Episcopal Church to 'guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the Church' (BCP page 517)."

Via Media USA's letter to bishops contains similar language. Both letters, dated October 17 and mailed October 19, should arrive in recipients' mail in the next few days. The letters should be posted on the group's website soon.
The letters included copies of an essay by Pittsburgh Episcopalian Lionel Deimel, a member of Via Media USA-affiliated Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh. The letters ask that recipients read and consider what they describe as Deimel's "carefully reasoned discussion."

Christopher Wilkins, Via Media USA's facilitator, said October 20 that the group decided to write the letters after considering Lawrence's written and spoken comments, made before and since his election, about the tensions between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It seemed to the Via Media USA members that consent to Lawrence's election should not be given, he said.

Wilkins said there are people in the Episcopal Church, including Lawrence, who want to be part of another church. "It seems time to recognize where we are," he said.

Lawrence was elected to succeed Bishop Edward L. Salmon Jr., 72, who was consecrated on February 24, 1990.
Under the canons the Episcopal Church (III.16.4(a)), a majority of the bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to Lawrence's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of his election. (Episcopal elections that occur within 120 days before the start of General Convention require consents from the houses of Bishops and Deputies during Convention.)

In section III.16.4(b), those bishops and standing committees consenting to a bishop-elect's ordination (by majority vote of the standing committee) "in the presence of Almighty God, testify that we know of no impediment on account of which [name of priest] ought not to be ordained to that Holy Order".
Lawrence's consecration is planned for February 24, 2007.

It is not altogether unusual for people to advocate against consents. In April of 1976, 70 priests and laymen from 35 dioceses signed a letter urging bishops and standing committee presidents to refuse to consent to the election of John Shelby Spong as bishop of the Diocese of Newark, citing what they called Spong's unorthodox theology. Spong's election eventually received the needed consent.

er bishops have faced contentious debate during the consent process, including the Episcopal Church's first woman bishop, now-retired Massachusetts Bishop Suffragan Barbara Harris in late 1988 and early 1989, current Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker in 1993 and current Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman the following year.

The last time a person elected as a bishop in the Episcopal Church did not receive the needed consents from a majority of the diocesan standing committees and the bishops exercising jurisdiction was in 1875. The Rev. James DeKoven, who was elected bishop of the Diocese of Illinois, was denied confirmation by the church's standing committees because of his devotion to Anglo-Catholic beliefs, specifically that Christ is actually present in the Eucharistic bread and wine. Although DeKoven never made it to the episcopal ranks, he did make the list of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, with March 22 as his feast day.

Via Media USA has chapters in 12 Episcopal Church dioceses, including the eight dioceses requesting APO arrangements. Via Media USA and its affiliates want to promote the faith, unity, and vitality of the Episcopal Church, according to the group's website.

The other dioceses requesting APO are Central Florida (Orlando-based), Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy (Illinois), Springfield (Illinois), and San Joaquin (California). Only Quincy's diocesan convention has ratified an APO request.

Salmon was part of a group of bishops who met September 11-13 in New York City to discuss the Alternative Primatial Oversight (APO) requests, but which came to no agreement.

The constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Communion's main policy-making body, makes no provisions for alternative primatial oversight. Neither do the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.
The fabric of the Episcopal Church has been frayed "by our misguided passion to be culturally sensitive and intellectually flexible," Lawrence wrote in his South Carolina responses.

"I am personally saddened for those gay and lesbian Christians within the church that so much of the debate has focused upon homosexual behavior and relationships," he said. "It has too often given way to bigotry or to an easy self-righteousness among heterosexuals. Nevertheless, it is for now the place where he battle lines have been drawn."

"This present crisis in the Anglican Communion is a sign that among other things we have entered into an ever-flattening world. We need to have an Anglican ecclesiology that takes seriously this new era," Lawrence wrote.
"At this point the 'conservatives' are being progressive, and the 'progressives' strike me as digging in their heels for the past," he wrote.

Prior to the South Carolina election, the Episcopal Forum of South Carolina, a Via Media USA-affiliated group whose mission is to "preserve unity with diversity in the diocese," [http://www.episcopalforumofsc.org] told the diocesan electors that the group was "concerned that the new bishop be committed, without reservation, to the ordination oath signed by every new bishop to conform to the 'doctrine, discipline, and worship of The Episcopal Church."
"We understand that commitment to include respecting the democratic actions of the General Convention, and the elected leadership of The Episcopal Church as it is now constituted. In recent years our diocesan leadership has voiced opposition to actions of General Convention and the Church's leaders," the group said in an open letter that ran in the Charleston Post and Courier newspaper. "The Diocese of South Carolina has joined fewer than 10% of all Episcopal dioceses in an alliance, The Anglican Communion Network, that threatens to lead us out of The Episcopal Church."

The Anglican Church of Burundi remains committed to the Anglican Communion and to endeavouring to work with all the Primates who have been entrusted with leadership of its Provinces. We are committed to the Gospel imperative to maintain unity and communion that is rooted in truth and love. We are called to be a "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" church and to affirm loyalty to the authority of Scripture and the traditional teachings of the Church. Though we recognise the principle of unity in diversity, Scripture should remain our guide in all matters of doctrine, ethics and decision-making. As has become apparent, we ignore Biblical teaching, the Apostolic Faith, and Church practice at our peril, and compromise our unity, fellowship, and
communion. We must pray t hat we shall find ways to move forward with renewed commitment to "keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace" (Eph.4v3)

We recognise the interdependence of Provinces and the responsibilities that we have towards one another. We regret, however, that decisions taken by some Provinces have led to a fracturing of the unity of the Church to such an extent that it has threatened the future of the Anglican Communion as a communion.

It is regrettable that these decisions also threaten our relationships with other denominations, and the mission and witness of the Church in a world that is already confused in areas of sexuality, morality and theology.

We recommend therefore that our relationships should be guided by the decisions of the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I. 10 and Resolution III. 2(e), the Windsor Report recommendations, and the Dromantine requests.

As those called to fulfill the Great Commission of Christ, we need to find ways to join together under God's grace and, with repentance and faith, encourage one another in the work of the Kingdom. We need to continue to prayerfully encourage understanding and dialogue and
re-assess structures and ways of drawing closer to each other rather than walking apart. Such should be the spirit of our communion.

We support the idea of an Anglican Covenant and trust that it will, as the recent Kigali Communiqué states, "demonstrate to the world that it is possible to be a truly global communion where differences are not affirmed at the expense of faith and truth but within the framework of a
common confession of faith and mutual accountability".

Finally, we believe that hope for the Anglican Communion is dependent on the Church worldwide earnestly seeking a deep work of the Holy Spirit that will lead to repentance, forgiveness, revival, and healing. We should work for a Church characterised by justice and compassion that
strives to be a sanctuary of care where the truth can be told with love. Only then will we be able to meet the challenge to walk together in a way that honours the name of Christ whom we seek to serve, and witness to his reconciling love in a hurting and fragmented world.

Issued: Bujumbura October 2006
The Most Rev. Bernard NTAHOTURI
Archbishop of Burundi

Archbishop Drexel Gomez's Response:
RESPONSE TO THE REPORT OF THE PANEL OF REFERENCE

The entire Anglican Communion has been awaiting information on the work of the Panel, and this report will undoubtedly receive comments from Canada and other parts of the Communion. The recommendations of the Panel will have impact not only on the applicants but in the wider Anglican Communion especially the conservatives of the Communion.

The basic argument of the report comes down to the question of "jurisdiction" vs "oversight" (par. 31-34) on the one hand, and to the time-line or "ordering" of the Windsor Report's (TWR) notion of adjudication of the current Communion-wide dispute. In the first case, the Panel believes that jurisdiction cannot be "divided" (33, 34), and therefore only some form of "delegated oversight" that remains under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop can be accepted. In the second, it believes that the dispute over, for example, sexuality teaching and discipline, is not yet fully adjudicated by the Communion, and therefore Canadian bishops are, with whatever impairments, "full members of the Communion." Taken together, the Panel cannot accept the request by the parishes to be "put under" another jurisdiction, in order to remain members of the Communion. The report raises questions over "the situation" which was referred to the Panel. Paragraph 6 offers such a description "as a temporary breakdown in relation ships between the dissenting congregations and their Diocese." There are, of course, other ways of describing the "situation" such as that found in paragraph 143, that is, New Westminster has taken 'action in breach of the legitimate application of the Christian faith as the churches of the Anglican Communion have received it, and of bonds of affection in the life of the Communion...'. That description would, I suspect, lead to different conclusions.

Steps which formalize the transfer of Episcopal ministry on a longer term basis can not be justified unless formal reconciliation has demonstrably proved impossible to achieve. The report is clearly correct in terms of its terms of reference and theology, but it begs the enormous question of when and how we know that "formal reconciliation has demonstrably proved impossible to achieve" and given the note in paragraph 3 that the Diocese of New Westminster is disputing practically everything to do with the Windsor Report, there is surely a case to be made that we have either arrived at this situation or we are very close to this situation. In paragraph 21, the report deals with the applicants' desire to remain "in full communion with the Church of England throughout the world." The claim is not in relations to the Church of England but 'the Church of England throughout the world,' that is, the Communion. It is clear that many provinces are not in communion with the bishop of the diocese and so the Panel needs to make clear how they can fulfill their clear declaration to 'remain in communion with those whom they regard as faithful' as long as they are under the jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop. The Panel seems to want to say there is no problem because parts of the Communion have not declared impaired communion with the diocese and even those who have not declared it with the parishes but (a) it is not clear how the Panel makes sense of this latter claim canonically or ecclesiologically and (b) if there is any doubt many of the Provinces will make clear that indeed "In order to continue in full communion... 'we cannot at present function in structural fellowship with Bishop Ingham and the Diocese of New Westminster. (AS 3.2.3)". This is a crucial stage in the Panel's whole argument and it is precarious to say the least. In paragraph 25, the Panel's response to the request for special arrangements given the current status of the Diocese and Province within the worldwide Anglican Communion. However one describes it, the situation is clear and unprecedented - the province of which they are part, as a result of the actions of the diocese of which they are part, are currently unable to participate in the Instruments of Commuion. To attempt to force any solution to this unprecedented situation into the normal systems of provincial authority as if nothing is problematic about the diocese's status in the wider Communion needs stronger justification. Even when one accepts the terms of reference of the Panel and their determination not to prejudge the outcome of the eventual outcome of the Windsor process, there is one major problem with their reasoning, it seems to me, and that is given in their own description of the nature of "jurisdiction" in paragraph 31:

"It includes guardianship and promotion of Christian doctrine, both in the bishop's own teaching, and in ensuring the standards of education and orthodoxy of the clergy serving in the Diocese. It includes discipline, exercised by supervision of the clergy and parishes of the Diocese, expressed in the case of the clergy by an undertaking of canonical obedience to the bishop. The bishop is called to be a focus of unity within the Diocese, and representative of the unity of the wider church within the Communion.

Put this way, it is clear that the Bishop of New Westminster is not 'in fact' exercising proper 'jurisdiction' over his Diocese! He is neither guarding nor promoting Christian doctrine nor ensuring the standards of orthodoxy among his clergy; he is not exercising discipline in a way that coheres with the above; and he is certainly not proving either a focus of unity or a representative of unity within the larger church and Communion.

I take it that the Panel would say that they are not in a position to make a judgement about this, given that the ordering of the Windsor Report's adjudication has not taken place fully yet. But they are certainly in a position to accept that this engaged 'jurisdiction' is in serious question, given the well-expressed and publicized and formal views of many Provinces, Primates and already Instruments of Communion. And that being in such 'question,' it would be better to recommend limits on this jurisdiction.

It would be better that the Panel not simply reject the call for alternative 'jurisdiction,' but rather recommend that some aspect of the bishop's jurisdiction be 'ceded' to the Province. The Province should effect provisional jurisdictional oversight of these congregations through a delegated arrangement, that is, that jurisdiction be ceded to a 'college' of bishops for a time (who then delegate), until the adjudication envisaged by the Windsor Report be completed. This would not involve recognizing some 'new entity.'

While one appreciates the legal logic displayed by the Panel, one cannot help but conclude that the Panel has failed to understand the political and theological reality of the situation in which the applicants find themselves. Consequently, in my opinion, the recommendations of the Panel do not respond adequately to the real situation. In addition the Panel seems to have ignored the present situation in the Communion as described by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his 14th of September, 2006, letter:

"It is clear that the Communion as a whole remains committed to the teaching on human sexuality expressed in Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, and also that the recommendations of the Windsor Report have been widely accepted as a basis for any progress in resolving the tensions that trouble us. As a Communion, we need to move forward on the basis of this twofold recognition."

The Panel is recommending that the applicants who share the position outlined by the A rchbishop of Canterbury to submit to the jurisdiction of a bishop who vociferously denies both of the elements so clearly articulated by the Archbishop. In the circumstances, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the Province of Canada provide a secure resting place for the applicants while the Province prepares for its General Synod. Christian charity demands no less.

The Most Rev'd. Drexel Wellington Gomez
ARCHBISHOP OF THE WEST INDIES
Nassau, Bahamas

------------------------------------------------------------

Archbishop Venable's Response:
Statement Concerning the Report of the Panel of Reference on the Conflict in New Westminster, Canada

Given that the Panel of Reference process has taken twenty painfully slow and drawn out months to do what was considered desperately urgent at the onset, it is now tragic to receive a report that fails to address the crisis in New Westminster adequately. It simply does not reflect the depth nor the severity of the crisis that has been precipitated by Michael Ingham's actions.

While the Windsor Report had the stated aim of "a mutually agreed commitment to effecting reconciliation," the last two years have merely and obviously seen an entrenchment of the attitudes and commitments of those whose actions have "torn the fabric of the communion." Whilst Kingdom values call us to be open to the possibility of repentance, it is unreasonable and irresponsible to continue to wait for what has been so clearly refused. There is not the tiniest indication that Michael Ingham might have any intention of turning away from pursuing an agenda that the instruments of Unity of the Communion have already rejected as being outside the boundaries of the Christian faith.

It is unrealistic and most unwise to send Biblically committed clergy and congregations back to a synod and bishop who have so tragically abandoned the foundations of the faith. These faithful clergy and people need the jurisdiction of a bishop who is fully committed to Biblical faith and Anglican tradition and practice.

Global South Primates are committed to working with Communion structures to implement the steps and solutions that the crisis requires. Unless there is a radical revision of the Panel's operation, it does not appear that it will offer solutions of adequate or appropriate substance.

The Most Revd Gregory J. Venables
Primate of the Southern Cone
Buenos Aires, Argentina
October 13, 2006

Forgiveness? So quickly, and for such a heinous crime? Why and how could they do such a thing so rapidly? Was it a genuine gesture or just an Amish gimmick?
The world was outraged by the senseless assault on 10 Amish girls in the one-room West Nickel Mines School. Why would a killer turn his gun on the most innocent of the innocent? Questions first focused on the killer's motivations: Why did he unleash his anger on the Amish? Then questions shifted to the Amish: How would they cope with such an unprecedented tragedy?
In many ways, the Amish are better equipped to process grief than are many other Americans. First, their faith sees even tragic events under the canopy of divine providence, having a higher purpose or meaning hidden from human sight at first glance.
The Amish don't argue with God. They have an enormous capacity to absorb adversity - a willingness to yield to divine providence in the face of hostility. Such religious resolve enables them to move forward without the endless paralysis of analysis that asks why, letting the analysis rest in the hands of God.
Second, their historic habits of mutual aid - such as barn-raising - arise from their understanding that Christian teaching compels them to care for one another in time of disaster. This is why they reject commercial insurance and government-funded Social Security, believing that the Bible teaches them to care for one another. In moments of disaster, the resources of this socio-spiritual capital spring into action.
Meals are brought to grieving families. Neighbours milk cows and perform other daily chores. Hundreds of friends and neighbors visit the home of the bereaved to share quiet words and simply the gift of presence. After the burial, adult women who have lost a close family member will wear black dresses in public for as long as a year to signal their mourning and welcome visits of support.
In all these ways, Amish faith and culture provide profound resources for processing the sting of death. Make no mistake: Death is painful. Many tears are shed. The pain is sharp, searing the hearts of Amish mothers and fathers as it would those of any other parents.
But why forgiveness? Surely some anger - at least some grudges - are justifiable in the face of such a slaughter.
But a frequent phrase in Amish life is "forgive and forget." That's the recipe for responding to Amish members who transgress Amish rules if they confess their failures. Amish forgiveness also reaches to outsiders, even to killers of their children.
Amish roots stretch back to the Anabaptist movement at the time of the Protestant Reformation in 16th-century Europe. Hundreds of Anabaptists were burned at the stake, decapitated and tortured because they contended that individuals should have the freedom to make voluntary decisions about religion. This insistence that the church, not the state, had the authority to decide matters such as the age of baptism laid the foundation for our modern notions of religious liberty and the separation of church and state.
Anabaptist martyrs emphasized yielding one's life completely to God. Songs by imprisoned Anabaptists, recorded in the Ausbund, the Amish hymn book, are regularly used in Amish church services today. The 1,200-page Martyrs Mirror, first printed in 1660, which tells the martyr stories, is found in many Amish houses and is cited by preachers in their sermons. The martyr voice still rings loudly in Amish ears with the message of forgiveness of those who tortured them and burned their bodies at the stake.
The martyr testimony springs from the example of Jesus, the cornerstone of Amish faith. As do other Anabaptists, the Amish take the life and teachings of Jesus seriously. Without formal creeds, their simple (but not simplistic) faith accents living in the way of Jesus rather than comprehending the complexities of religious doctrine.
Their model is the suffering Jesus who carried his cross without complaint. And who, hanging on the cross, extended forgiveness to his tormentors: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Beyond his example, the Amish try to practice Jesus' admonitions to turn the other cheek, to love one's enemies, to forgive 70 times seven times, and to leave vengeance to the Lord. Retaliation and revenge are not part of their vocabulary.
As pragmatic as they are about other things, the Amish do not ask if forgiveness works; they simply seek to practice it as the Jesus way of responding to adversaries, even enemies. Rest assured, grudges are not always easily tossed aside in Amish life. Sometimes forgiveness is harder to dispense to fellow church members, whom Amish people know too well, than to unknown strangers.
Forgiveness is woven into the fabric of Amish faith. And that is why words of forgiveness were sent to the killer's family before the blood had dried on the schoolhouse floor. It was just the natural thing to do, the Amish way of doing things. Such courage to forgive has jolted the watching world as much as the killing itself. The transforming power of forgiveness may be the one redeeming thing that flows from the blood shed in Nickel Mines.

© the author. Donald B. Kraybill is a distinguished professor at Elizabethtown College, Pennsylvania, USA, and a world expert on the Amish. He is Senior Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, and has written many books on Amish life, including The Riddle of Amish Culture. This article first appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now I realize that I was too optimistic. This also helped me to understand that the culture of individualism and personal freedom has more influence on the thinking of many church leaders in North America and some western counties than the spirit of the oneness of the corporate body of Christ.
A member of the Convention said “we are one church with two minds” but it seems to me that it is two churches with two minds and two hearts!! The views are too diverse and are not constructed on one but very different types of Theological foundations. Of course we Anglicans accept diversity but there must be some boundaries to it. These boundaries are made by the whole Communion.
In his historical document “Challenge and Hope for the Anglican Communion” Archbishop Rowan Williams described very wisely the differences between the two ways or concerns, the catholic concern and the cultural concern and how “each of these would lead to a different place”.
I noticed that the House of Deputies during the Convention has honestly expressed the views of the majority in the House with regard to the blessing of same sex marriage. Their voice clearly said “we value our truth more than the unity with the Anglican Communion”. They did not want to compromise the truth they claim was revealed to them. I respect their honesty though I disagree with them on a theological basis. In contrast the House of Bishops tried to compose a resolution that gave the impression that they accepted the Windsor Report but does not clearly stop the ordination and consecration of practicing homosexual clergy and bishops. This is mainly to keep a presence in the Communion.
It seems to me now that we all need the honesty and courage to acknowledge that we are two churches, not one, and these two churches are walking apart. This will save a lot of time, energy and resources that should be used for advancing the mission of the church. It does not mean that it is the end of future listening and dialogue.

For Episcopalians/Anglicans who declare the Trinity, primacy of Scripture and “Windsor” compliance
U. S. Pan-Anglican Renewal and Restoration Conference

Proven “doers” share strategies with “doers” across America to educate for vital decisions to be made by the innocent and misguided in “The Middle 80%”

How-To seminars and workshops respond to orthodox bishops’, theologians’ and laity calls for strong LAY action. Strengthen our church against revisionist radicals. TEACHING TOOLS for Clergy, Wardens, Vestries, other leaders.

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The U.S. Pan-Anglican Renewal and Restoration Conference
Orlando -- November 20-21, 2006 – Marriott World Center, headquarters hotel

THE MOST EXPERIENCED, DIVERSE ANTI-REVISIONIST TEACHERS EVER ASSEMBLED

DAVID W. VIRTUE, America’s most-read Anglican journalist. Conference Moderator
LEE A. BUCK, America’s first national Anglican lay evangelist, Honorary Chairman (posthumous)

THE TEACHERS: “THE RIGHT STUFF FOR THE RIGHT CHURCH”
THE MOST REV. WALTER H. GRUNDORF, Presiding Bishop, Anglican Province in America
THE RT. REV. KEITH L. ACKERMAN, President of Forward in Faith NA, Bishop, Diocese of Quincy
THE RT. REV. PETER H. BECKWITH, Bishop, Diocese of Springfield, VP, American Anglican Council
THE RT. REV. JOHN W. RODGERS, a Founder of Anglican Mission in America and SPREAD
THE REV. BILL ATWOOD, General Secretary, Ekklesia
THE REV. TODD H. WETZEL, President, Anglicans United and anti-revisionism movement pioneer
THE REV. EDWARD RIX (Bp. Bennison survivor) and Hudson Barton, on Educational Models
“THE CONNECTICUT 6 STORY,” with THE REV. RONALD GAUSS and the brave team’s attorneys
“THE 6 OHIO TRANSFEREES TO BOLIVIA – WHY & HOW,” Rev. Roger Ames, Akron & key leaders ANGLICAN ALLIANCE OF NORTH FLORIDA (breakaways from ECUSA) – Revs. Robert H. Coon and Neil Lebhar and lay leaders Harris Willman, AAC chapter president, Coordinator, and William Harkey
CHURCH LAW TEAM – Eric Sohlgren (Calif.), Ralph Dupont and Barbara Radlauer (Conn.), David Dearing (Fla.), Mary McReynolds (D.C.) and Richard Toikka of LEAC Steering Committee, Moderator
GEORGETTE FORNEY, President, NOEL
DAVID R. BICKEL, Atty., boards of American Anglican Council, Anglicans United and NOEL
FRANK GALLO, Steering Committee Chairman, Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion

SPECIAL CURRICULA AND EVENTS
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Nov. 20 (Monday) – Registration/Coffee 8:00 - 10. Session A 9:00 - 11:45. Luncheon 12:00 - 1:30. Session B 1:30 - 5. Evening Prayer 5:15. Nov. 21 (Tuesday) -- Registration 8:00 - 9:00. Session C 9:00 - 11:45. Awards Luncheon with speakers 12:00 - 1:30. Session D Workshops (Law, Mobilization/Chapter Formation, Education) 1:45 – 4:00. Session E (plenary) 4:15 – 5.

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Underwritten by Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion
CO-SPONSORS: Anglicans United, Anglican Province of America, VirtueOnline
LEAC is a nonprofit tax-exempt coalition of American Anglicans faithful to the Trinity and pre-eminence of Scripture.
P.O. Box 42604, Washington, DC 20015 Email info@layepiscopalians.org Phone (301) 229-5151