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I thought about offering a set of inserted comments, and have now mostly thought better of it. I cannot believe this guy truly thinks he is communicating. He is certainly broadcasting, but is anyone receiving? Really? It is a mish-mash of code, cliche, jargon and gobbledy-gook. Someone please tell me what he really meant by this - "Our ability to move through our meeting and adjust to the various moments of invitation as they presented themselves without a great deal of unsettlement spoke well of the life we share and an increasing level of trust among us." Was that...

Attempts have been made to save our marriage, but pleading, reasoning, counseling, rebuking, threatening, tantrums, time outs, interventions and fervent prayer have not mended what was once a lovely and meaningful relationship. One partner wants to stay in the orthodox house and the other has moved out.Having gone through divorce I recognize the painful slugging through another day, wondering when will this finally be over? I know from experience that recovery is long and never fully realized since there are reminders that prick the heart and make you long for what has been lost. We won’t sit in the same...

Colin Coward of ‘Changing Attitude’ – a British-based organisation campaigning for lesbian and gay rights in the Anglican Church – has this take on the Anglican crisis. Coward believes that secular legislation through the European Union, and the recent passage of the Civil Partnerships Bill spells a new era of ‘inclusion’ for the Church of England. This, he argues, will eventually result in the Archbishop of Canterbury nailing his true colours to the mast and being brought back to the fold. Here are a few key passages: General Synod has developed a new confidence in the historic character of the...

An Open Letter to Bishop John Chane From the American Anglican Council of Washington, Inc. 13001 Brandywine Road, Brandywine MD 20613 March 31, 2005 The Right Reverend John B. Chane Bishop of Washington Mount St. Alban Washington, DC 20016 Dear Bishop Chane, We write to you regarding your February 25th statement on the recent Primates' Meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland. In our considered opinion, you addressed the outcome of that historic gathering and the decisions arising from it in a way that failed to communicate the true seriousness of the matter for the Episcopal Church. The fact that for the...

Any of us can present a plausible conspiracy theory. And in the Mel Gibson film of the same name, the hero obsesses all day and night over power and corruption at the very highest level – the government, the FBI, the CIA and so on. In his case, of course, the conspiracy turns out in part to be alarmingly and life-threateningly true.And that is why conspiracy theories are so popular, because by arranging a pattern of partial truths you can create a most convincing and alarming picture.So it is with the current obsession about the religious right. On the threshold...

David McCarthy has been quoted as saying: “We see ourselves as being in the long-standing tradition of Scottish Episcopalianism…” Today’s Glasgow Herald has this letter to the editor hidden away (see next page link at the bottom, go to page 3): The congregation of St Silas Church, Glasgow, are in dispute with their Scottish Episcopal Bishops. It would appear history repeats itself. St Silas was opened in November, 1864, by a group of dissenters: Mr George Burns, Mr William Frederick Burnley and Sir Archibald Campbell – ”all being men of peace, though prepared, at considerable self-sacrifice, to contend for the...

Don't be fooled for a minute that the Covenant Statement from the recent House of Bishops meeting in Texas is any kind of sincere attempt to comply with the terms of the Windsor Report or the February 2005 Primates Communique. All one has to do is look at those who were on the working group that drafted it. Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council, sees the statement for what it really is, defiance couched as compliance. But lest you accuse Stand Firm Alabama of stifling viewpoints, Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA, sees it quite clearly...

The March edition of Cathedral Notes, the parish magazine of the Cathedral of St Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne, leads off with an article by the Very Rev’d Mr Christopher Dalliston, Dean of the Cathedral. (If, as time passes, you are unable to access the article at the Cathedral’s website, the entire text is also posted at Titusonenine.) I should be clear from the outset that, though I will offer a critique of certain points in Dean Dalliston’s article, I must nevertheless recognize the truth of what Dean Dalliston asserts when he writes, “Truth might be the first casualty of war;...

A comment posted below brought up an interesting point. Are continuing Anglican churches ecclesiaistical dictatorships, with each province being headed up by a egomaniac (my words)? Not really, and here's why. Every reputable continuing church that I know of has canons that state that the parish owns its property. So the bishop cannot lord it over a parish like, say, an episcopal or catholic bishop can. He can say what he wants to say, and pronounce anathemas out the yin-yang, but at the end of the day he can't do too much to a parish. This creates a different problem,...

ECUSA's Committee on Science, Technology and Faith has published something it calls "A Catechism of Creation: An Episcopal Understanding."  It's a long document but the following selections should give some idea of its contents:Theologians throughout the history of the Church have explained these concepts this way: God inspired the ancient writers to describe the world in concepts and language they and their audiences could understand, not in our concepts and language. The ancient world-picture—a “three-storied” creation of the heavens above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth (Ex. 20:4)—though meaningful in its own time, was replaced by succeeding models...

​ ​​​​The letter usually goes like this. "Dear members of the Diocesan Community, we are writing to you at this time to express our concern about an issue that could have long term negative implications for the future of the diocese. We currently have approximately $170,000 of apportionment receivables from our parishes on our financial statements from 2003 ($22,000) and 2004 ($148,000). There are many reasons for these amounts, including changes in demographics and changes in clergy leadership. Some congregations have had major negative events occur that were beyond their control. However, a parish's apportionment payment is not discretionary; it...

The important thing to remember about the Resurrection of Jesus is that it took place after his death. Jesus was first put to death before God raised him up. This is important because what I want to say this morning is very straightforward, but only if you remember the sequence of events. First death, then resurrection. Or to put it another way: no death, no resurrection. The new life Jesus was given by God came only after he had surrendered the life he knew. Easter, as I’m sure you realize, is not simply about an event in the past. A...

VANCOUVER, BC (3/27/2005)--The end came swiftly during Holy Week. The die had been cast seven years earlier, and the legal wrangling and assaults had taken their toll on the people. The parishioners and their rectors had had enough. Michael Ingham, the revisionist bishop of New Westminster had nailed notices to the church doors setting an April 1 deadline to vacate their properties or face being dragged into court. For the Rev. Ed Hird, 50, of St. Simon's in North Vancouver and the Rev. Barclay Mayo, 55, Christ the Redeemer Church in Pender Harbour, it was the end of the legal...

A group of evangelical churches has been accused of running scared after it called on the Scottish Episcopal Church to retract a statement on gay priests. The church's College of Bishops said that being a practising homosexual was not a bar to ordained ministry. The Scottish Anglican Network warned it will consider breaking away unless the church changes its stance. Changing Attitude Scotland accused the evangelical group of being "frightened" of a discussion on the issue. Changing Attitude Scotland is a network working for the "full affirmation" of lesbian and gay people in the church. Different views It said there...

(SPECIAL TO VIRTUEONLINE) INTRODUCTION "It was a dark and stormy night." And so it is these days, for traditional and orthodox Episcopalians in North America, and in many other places, for that matter. A few years ago, I quoted from the you've-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it first scene of the 1968 English kitsch classic The Lost Continent, in which the captain on deck asks himself, "How did we get here? How did this happen to us?" We were all trying to understand, before Gene Robinson was elected bishop of New Hampshire, how our Church had arrived at this "pretty mess, this howdy-do" (Gilbert and...

In a way, bishops aren't really the problem in the Episcopal Church.  Worrying about Anglican bishops is rather like painting the walls and doing nothing whatsoever about the mold that is eating away at them.  The Few, the Apostate didn't emerge in a vacuum; ECUSA pulpits all over the country are filled with practical atheists who would quit their jobs and sleep in on Sunday mornings if they were honest.One of these is Harry Cook, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Clawson, Michigan near Detroit.  The Detroit News gives Harry column space every so often(I've had at him here...

While the Episcopal Church’s General Convention has not specifically addressed the situation of Terri Schiavo -- the Florida woman who suffered severe brain damage in 1990 and has relied on a feeding tube to keep her alive since -- several resolutions have been passed regarding end-of-life issues. These include a 1991 resolution regarding prolongation of life.

Dr. William Tighe, who I regard highly as one of the best church historians of our day, has written an important article, Abusing the Fathers, in Touchstone. He addresses the claim of the Windsor Report that the Canons of the Council of Nicea forbid the crossing of diocesan boundaries--even those of heterodox bishops--by other bishops. I think Dr. Tighe rebuts this soundly in his article, and I think we owe him a debt of gratitude--because if we accepted this particular claim of the Windsor Report, we would in essence be forbidding a modern-day Athanasius from taking action against heretical bishops....