As I rolled into the parish parking lot, I saw this incredible line of volunteers and tables, trucks with supplies parked on the lawn. Running around directing traffic was my great friend, Pastor Fred, a Baptist minister (our old house mate in Africa) who helped organise a convoy of church relief from Alabama. They were an incredible God-send.

By stating that people are free to argue for a change in the current teaching of the Church they are encouraging error (which they have sworn to drive out) and demonstrating that they do not truly believe what they claim to uphold. It is clear to everyone, including Anglicans in other parts of the world, that in this statement the House of Bishops has finally come clean.

We welcome:

* Its restatement of Christian teaching on marriage

* Its reaffirmation of Anglican teaching on sexual relationships that "sexual intercourse, as an expression of faithful intimacy, properly belongs within marriage exclusively"

* Its upholding of the 1987 General Synod motion, Issues in Human Sexuality and 1998 Lambeth I.10

Velasquez ruled that efforts by the national church to retain the property of the seceding St. James congregation was an attempt to tread upon the congregation's freedom of speech.

Praveen Bunyan, pastor of St. James, said the awarding of legal fees is another affirmation that the St. James Church was right from the beginning.

"This is a reiteration saying that the lawsuit was wrongfully brought against us," Bunyan said.