CofE: We remain a fairly top-heavy Church with an annual budget of over $50 million. There was a move to work towards addressing this and a close vote followed. Sadly, the amendment to work toward shrinking our budget for future years did not pass, but I hope our voice was heard. We cannot continue to budget for the Church we were 20 years ago. And while we do good things with the money, perhaps more good things could also be done if that money stayed at the diocesan and parish level. -- Rev. Chas Marks

"A religion that doesn't interfere with the secular order will soon discover that the secular order will not refrain from interfering with it." --- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

"We don't celebrate Pride; we preach Christ crucified." --- Halling Baptist Church in Kent, England

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
Sept. 30 2022

Once in a while the news is good. This past week saw the conclusion of decade's long litigation between the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina (EDOSC) and the Anglican Diocese of SC (ADOSC).

They announced a settlement agreement resolving the numerous outstanding legal issues between the two dioceses. While the settlement does not affect the remaining issues regarding the property rights of three parishes currently pending before the South Carolina Supreme Court, nor the betterments lawsuit by several parishes pending in state trial court, it does resolve all issues regarding diocesan and trustee property and assets.

We are thankful to have reached this settlement after extensive, good-faith discussions, marked by mutual respect and good will, that have been occurring between both dioceses since the South Carolina Supreme Court ruling in April. While this settlement has required sacrifices from all involved, finalizing these issues enables us to move forward in mission and ministry free from impending litigation.

The full details of the settlement have not been released, but the bishops did release certain elements, including:

The Anglican Diocese of SC (ADOSC) will transfer full control of all real estate owned by the Trustees including the bishop's residence at 50 Smith Street and St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center to the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina (EDOSC).

Full control of all assets, equipment, and bank accounts relating to St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center, will transfer from the ADOSC to the EDOSC on October 1, 2022. Camp and conference center operations will continue uninterrupted when EDOSC assumes control.

ADOSC will transfer rental property at 129 Coming Street, Charleston, and a vacant lot in the town of Santee, both properties in possession of the ADOSC, to the EDOSC.

EDOSC waives and relinquishes any claim in the ADOSC leasehold interest in the Diocesan Headquarters building.

The parties will not pursue further or future litigation between each other and all parishes and missions of the ADOSC except for those currently awaiting rulings from the South Carolina Supreme Court or those which have pending claims in the betterments lawsuit.

The pending litigation in Federal Court will be dismissed, leaving in place the current Federal District Court orders regarding use of certain names and seals.

You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/information-regarding-settlement-reached-anglican-and-episcopal-dioceses-south-carolina-released

Overall, the ACNA won more than they lost in property litigation. In the case of San Joaquin, the California Supreme Court "declined to review" a decision made by a state appellate court putting an end to eight years of litigation and awarding 28 properties worth an estimated $50 million to the continuing Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin.

In Ft. Worth, the TEC Episcopal Diocese lost all its property in a 12-year legal battle with orthodox members of the Episcopal Diocese. The orthodox Episcopalians were awarded $100 million worth of property in a stinging rebuke to both the Episcopal Church and the Dennis Canon. The courts gave them rights over all the churches and their contents.

In Quincy, The Illinois Supreme Court denied a petition by the Episcopal Church to review the ruling of a lower court which found that contested funds and properties in various locations throughout Illinois rightfully belong to the Diocese of Quincy of the Anglican Church in North America.

In Pittsburgh, the two sides announced a 'comprehensive agreement' over the future of nine parishes which seceded from the diocese in October 2008. The nine parishes and the Anglican diocese of Pittsburgh are now part of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA).

While the property issues have been resolved, the deeper theological issues that separate them remain and will, in all likelihood, never be resolved. The Episcopal Church has moved forward enshrining homosexual marriage into canon law, causing two bishops -- William Love and John W. Howe to leave TEC and join with the ACNA.

***

The Diocese of Newark has reached an agreement to sell its headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, to an arts organization for $3.85 million and plans to move into new diocesan offices by September 2024, according to a message to the diocese from Bishop Carlye Hughes.

The "physical limitations" of the current Episcopal House site at 31 Mulberry St. have been apparent for years, Hughes said. At the same time, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center was willing to pay a premium price for the property because of its desire to locate a major expansion project there.

TRANSLATION. The diocese is shrinking and needs the money. In 2011, the diocese had an ASA of 8,706. By 2020, it had dropped to 5,848, a drop of 34.7%. Between 2019 and 2020, the drop was nearly 12%.

Other dioceses are also selling off valuable inner-city properties for beaucoup bucks. The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago's decision to list its headquarters in downtown Chicago for sale drew the ire of the building's next-door neighbor, St. James Cathedral. No matter. It will sooner or later sell. The building costs $750,000 annually to sustain, an impossible burden to maintain.

The Episcopal Diocese of Rochester sold its East Avenue offices and chapel for nearly $1.2 million. The 12,000-square-foot property was a financial millstone around the bishop's neck.

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh sold a downtown property adjacent to the cathedral for lease or development. The property known as Trinity House housed offices for cathedral and diocesan staff, meeting space, and social services spread over approximately 20,000 square feet on four levels.

***

The Diocese of New York is looking for a new bishop to succeed Bishop Andrew Dietsche, who, no surprise, is a big champion of the LGBT Gay Pride crowd.

Of the five candidates who have stepped forward offering to replace him is a "married" homosexual in the person of Steven Paulikas, who it turns out, is a big fan of President Joe Biden's Secretary of Transportation appointee Pete Buttigieg.

If Paulikas should win, it would be the first time in the history of The Anglican Communion that an activist homosexual diocesan bishop and assistant lesbian bishop was at the helm of a diocese. Mary Glasspool, an activist lesbian is currently assistant bishop in the Diocese of New York. She is the first avowed lesbian to be consecrated a bishop in the Anglican Communion. She was present with her partner at the recent Lambeth Conference.

Dietsche, who has served there since 2013, saw a massive decline in Average Sunday Attendance by as much as 45.5% during his tenure.

The other candidates are: two straight white males, married with children; one straight white female, married with children and one person of color, married with children.

The new bishop will be the dioceses' 17th. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/diocese-new-york-sees-major-decline-even-it-seeks-new-bishop

***

The Diocese of Vermont wants to cut its ties with the Anglican Communion.
When the diocese of Vermont meets at its next diocesan convention in early October, they will vote on distancing itself from the Anglican communion over what they call "inadequate treatment of LGBTQ persons." They will also be asked to vote to end monetary contributions to the Anglican Communion Office and send support instead to the Human Dignity Trust.

A group of 14 lay and clergy members of the diocese are asking Diocesan Convention to forward to the 2024 General Convention a resolution responding to the recent Lambeth Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion. They believe the recent Lambeth Conference did not adequately protect homosexual and lesbian bishops, even though Archbishop Justin Welby adopted the two integrities "call" on Resolution 1:10, forbidding homosexual behavior.

"It's weird to see liberals thinking of leaving the communion because it is not liberal enough," a parishioner told VOL.

You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/diocese-vermont-seeks-cut-ties-anglican-communion

***

I wrote an "appreciation" letter to the outgoing Suffragan Bishop of Virginia,Bishop Susan Goff as she exits the diocese in retirement.

My tongue in cheek letter started out like this: "I read with joy this week that you are retiring as bishop suffragan of Virginia. I can't tell you the moment it hit me thunderbolt-like that you were out the door heading into retirement to belt golf balls or whatever it is wymin bishops do once he/she/they lose their miters.

"But the joy I felt was inescapable, nay uncontainable it seems, and so I am writing to wish you bon voyage.

"I am wondering if in the 42 years you were a priest and then bishop, how many you led to Christ, or even proclaimed the Good News of God's salvation in Christ, by grace through faith alone in the finished work of Christ at the cross. I'm sure they must be taped and recorded for future Episcopalians, even seminarians to hear and grow spiritually. I will ask around". You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/bishop-goff-letter-appreciation-following-good-news-you-are-retiring-suffragan-virginia-0

For the record, Average Sunday Attendance in 2011 was 24,706. By 2019, it had dropped to 17,237 or -30.2%. In the last two years it dropped 17%.

***

REVISIONISTS ARE THE CAUSE FOR AMERICAN CHURCH DECLINE. The Liberal Protestant experiment began in America at the time of American theologian Walter Rauschenbusch and Congregational pastor Washington Gladden, the two most famous proponents of the Social Gospel. They flourished at the end of the 19th century.

Both taught that doctrine divides while experience unites, and besides (sound familiar?) and besides, the doctrine of blood atonement to appease the Father's wrath sounds pagan. So, let's not talk about that--too many disagree with it--and focus on what we can all agree on, Jesus' social teaching.

Shailer Mathews brought this teaching to the University of Chicago Divinity School in the 1920s, writing several books on the social teaching of Jesus.

Ironically, all three--Rauschenbusch, Gladden, and Mathews--called themselves evangelicals. And all talked about having a personal relationship with Jesus. However, these social gospel activists paved the way for TEC to move away from a truly apostolic gospel to a social and sexual gospel that has caused its decline. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/revisionists-are-cause-american-church-decline

***

The long-awaited report on sexual misconduct in the Upper Midwest Diocese of the ACNA has been released. There is much to digest in the report, but one situation that receives mention on pages 38-39 could have wider implications. That is the apparent lying on an insurance application which the Greenhouse organization submitted to GuideOne Insurance. Greenhouse is an amorphous church planting organization that dates back to AMiA days if not before and which was primarily, though not exclusively, housed within the Upper Midwest Diocese. The founder of Greenhouse is Canon William Beasley, who has since been forced to retire from official leadership of the organization. You can read the full report here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iwp47k9qf91jxat/ACNA%20Report%20for%20Public%20Release.pdf?dl=0

***

New Wineskins for Global Mission, a triennial gathering of mission agencies, relief and development groups, seminaries, clergy and laity met in the mountains of western North Carolina, September 22-25. The conference drew more than 2,000 registrants (an increase from 1,200 in 2019) to the event. A parallel youth event drew 218 children and young adults.

One of the speakers was Uganda Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba of the Anglican Church in Uganda. Begun in 1994 as the Episcopal Church Missionary Community, New Wineskins has grown across 10 conferences to become a vibrant pan-Anglican event that includes participants from many Anglican provinces and other Christian traditions. Jeff Walton of IRD wrote the following article on the event and you can read it here: https://virtueonline.org/no-ducks-row-anglican-missionaries-encouraged-step-out-faith

***

North India Primate Accused of Corruption. Police in Madhya Pradesh have arrested the Most Rev. Prem Chand Singh, Bishop of Jabalpur and primate of the Church of North India, on charges of cheating, breach of trust, and forgery, according to a report in TLC. You can read more here: https://livingchurch.org/2022/09/28/north-indian-primate-accused-of-corruption/

The Church of South India is enormously corrupt and VOL has been reporting on their corruption for years now. Bishop Thiruvananthapuram was arrested at Chennai Airport enroute to the Lambeth Conference, a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided several premises of the Church of South India (CSI) in Kerala in connection with an alleged money laundering case. The bishop was detained by emigration officials after they were directed to do so by the ED, The Indian Express reported.

The former Moderator of the Church of South India, The Most Rev. Bishop G. Dyvasirvadom, was arrested and jailed on numerous criminal charges of corruption, including the sale of church properties and keeping the money for himself back in 2018.

There was a time when the Episcopal church in Mexico was the most corrupt in the communion. They have now been replaced by the CSI and CNI.

***

Anne van der Bijl, a Dutch evangelical known to Christians worldwide as Brother Andrew, the man who smuggled Bibles into closed Communist countries, died this week at the age of 94.

Van der Bijl became famous as "God's smuggler" when the first-person account of his missionary adventures--slipping past border guards with Bibles hidden in his blue Volkswagen Beetle--was published in 1967. God's Smuggler was written with evangelical journalists John and Elizabeth Sherrill and published under his code name "Brother Andrew." It sold more than 10 million copies and was translated into 35 languages. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/dutch-missionary-and-bestselling-memoirist-who-found-fame-smuggling-bibles-across-iron-curtain-blue

***

The Diocese of Sydney declared a 'breach of fellowship' with the Anglican Church in Australia which it says is at odds on matters of doctrine and human sexuality.

The synod of the diocese carried several motions urging changes to the way in which the diocese interacts with the Anglican Church of Australia.

It follows the Australian General Synod's not having carried a formal resolution from the diocese declaring that both same-sex marriage and same-sex marriage blessings were contrary "to the teaching of Christ and the faith, ritual, ceremonial and/or discipline of this Church" (News, 13 May). Although the Sydney statement attracted support in the Houses of Clergy and Laity, it failed by two votes in the House of Bishops.

One motion carried at the Sydney diocesan synod noted "with godly grief the deep breach of fellowship in the Anglican Church of Australia exposed at the eighteenth session of General Synod on matters of doctrine and human sexuality". It requested the synod's Standing Committee "to consider our future approach as a Diocese to meetings of the General Synod". You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/sydney-diocese-declares-breach-fellowship-australian-church

***

LOCALLY, VOL got word this week that Christ Anglican Church in Hot Springs, AR voted to leave the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC). They will join the ACNA Diocese of the Church for the Sake of Others (C4SO) under its bishop Todd Hunter. Many of the parishioners described themselves as "heartbroken" by the act.

The REC parish voted this last Sunday to leave the REC because they reportedly want Critical Race Theory, (CRT), the ordination of women and gay affirmation, a source told VOL.

"Many wonder why Fr. Marcus Emmons and parishioners who wished to leave couldn't have gone to TEC and left the parish to the REC? The local TEC parish has a gay priest and is less than 3 miles from the REC parish," queried one parishioner.
We will write more as this story unfolds.

***

ACRFOSS THE POND, the daughter of the late Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu was barred by the Church of England from officiating at her godfather's funeral in a Shropshire church because she is married to a woman.

Mpho Tutu van Furth, an ordained priest in the Anglican church, was invited to preside over the funeral of Martin Kenyon, who died last week at the age of 92. The C of E said its actions were "in line with the House of Bishops current guidance on same-sex marriage".

Tutu van Furth's wife, Marceline, a Dutch academic, accused the C of E of homophobia. She said the couple had visited Kenyon in April, and he asked Mpho to preside over his funeral. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/church-england-bars-desmond-tutus-daughter-officiating-funeral

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell denounced trickle-down economics and huge disparities of wealth and opportunity in Britain.

Two days after the chancellor announced tax breaks for the rich, the archbishop spoke out against the idea that wealth trickles down and challenged people who will pay less tax to consider the" uncomfortable question" of what to do with the extra cash.

He was speaking at St James in the City, Liverpool, on the opening day of the Labour Party conference in the city. The set Bible reading happened to be about wealth and riches, including: "The love of money is the root of all evil". You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/york-archbishop-denounces-trickle-down-economics-and-huge-disparities-wealth-and-opportunity-britain

***

CULTURE WARS. Study: More than 3/4 of Republican evangelicals want US declared a Christian nation. While some Christian groups would like the US government to make their faith the official religion of the US, a new poll shows most Americans know that would be unconstitutional. One exception: Making America officially a Christian nation would be unconstitutional. You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/study-more-34-republican-evangelicals-want-us-declared-christian-nation

THE QUIET RISE OF LGBT INFLUENCE IN CHRISTIAN AND CONSERVATIVE CIRCLESThe conservative movement aims to save civilization. But conservative elites will fail if they abandon marriage, the nuclear family, and every child's right to his or her mother and father. Doug Mainwaring of Lifesite News explores the latest in homosexual marriage. He writes; "During the 2020 Presidential campaign, it became apparent that Donald Trump had won over many self-identifying homosexuals. One poll in the final months of the campaign showed that over 40% of them planned to vote for Trump." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/quiet-rise-lgbt-influence-christian-and-conservative-circles

Syncretism is one of 'the brilliant strategies of the evil one', says Barna research founder, George Barna. Most Americans blend their beliefs to create "a customized worldview" that is far from biblical as the country is in a spiritual "crisis."

Barna, who also serves as an Family Research Council (FRC) senior fellow, told those gathered that he believes one of the "brilliant strategies of the evil one" is luring people into believing that they can combine and adopt as many worldviews as they want.
Barna warned that "America is a nation in crisis" because its citizens do not hold a biblical worldview and will instead add their own "worldly ideas." You can read more here: https://virtueonline.org/syncretism-one-brilliant-strategies-evil-one-says-barna-research-founder

Os Guinness, one of the truly great evangelical minds of our times gave a brilliant address, titled, The Christian Core of the West and the Need for Renewal

Both America and the West in general are in a crisis of identity and morality because the central inspiration of both, namely Christianity, no longer holds the confidence of the public at large. Christian renewal is essential for the continued life of Western civilization, otherwise, it faces demise. This was the message of British author, speaker, and social critic Os Guinness at a Faith and Law forum.

In the sense of science, technology, and the urban/industrial and business culture associated with it, the modernity of Western civilization now dominates the world, including places that are markedly anti-liberal, such as China. But Western religion was the decisive factor in making the world today. Christianity has been dominant in the West since 380 A.D., when the Roman emperor Theodosius "declared the empire officially Christian" in the Edict of Thessalonica.

Then it was the Reformation that gave impetus to the modern world, Guinness maintained. Indeed, "the Reformation created the modern world." He said that "for 500 years, the West has dominated the world." He added that from the Jewish perspective, the Reformation was a rediscovery of the Torah. When historians say that "'Western civilization is the greatest civilization, ever,' that's not a moral compliment," he said. "Every previous civilization was regional," but Western civilization is now "global."

You can read his brilliant analysis of the current crisis the West is in here: https://virtueonline.org/christian-core-west-and-need-renewal

***

A NEW BOOK, jointly written by myself and former Episcopal layman Brad Hutt with input from canon lawyer Allan Haley, titled The Great Episcopal Church Robbery: 6,400 Congregation Properties Heisted by Radical Clergy is out, and I am offering it to readers for a tax-deductible donation of $30.00 or more. This book follows my earlier book THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The Great Episcopal Church Robbery tells the story of the purposeful take-over and co-opting of the Episcopal Church by radical clergy. As active participants of this 45-year-old Episcopal church dispute, the co-authors witnessed Dioceses, parishes, and congregations struggle to maintain Biblical orthodoxy and keep their church property in the face of an aggressive Episcopate hell-bent on making the Episcopal church over in their own image by:
Ordaining women and homosexuals in violation of scripture.
Forcing churches to bless same sex marriages.

As the voice for Anglican orthodoxy - the Gospel is unequivocally central. We make no apologies for our views.

You can make a tax-deductible donation for the book and to keep the news coming to you. You can donate here by check, credit card or PAYPAL.

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David