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1a) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jan/05012807.html Friday January 28, 2005 As Marriage Battle Heats Up, MPs Being Swayed by Massive Public Outcry
OTTAWA, January 28, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - While Prime Minister Paul Martin, who fancies himself a devout Catholic, may be often repeating that he is "very confident" that his legislation to force homosexual 'marriage' on Canada will pass the House of Commons, a growing public outcry has just begun and is already shaking the resolve of some MPs.
Martin met with his caucus Wednesday to sell his plan to alter marriage, still insisting that under pain of punishment, the 40 cabinet members and justice parliamentary secretary must vote in favor of the law despite any and all objections. However, even for cabinet ministers who stand to lose major pay and prestige with being booted from cabinet, the decision is weighing heavily.
Minister of state for the federal economic development initiative for Northern Ontario, Joe Comuzzi, is struggling with the decision since his Catholic faith tells him to vote it down. Moreover, all MPs, cabinet members included, are being flooded with emails, letters, phone calls, petitions and now even rallies outside their offices demanding traditional marriage be protected.
According to a story in the Globe and Mail today Comuzzi has even been asked by two of his three daughters to vote against the legislation. Comuzzi had to recommence smoking to cope with the stress of the decision. He will hear his constituents on the issue on Friday in Thunder Bay at a series of town hall meetings(...)
1b) http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Ted_Byfield/2005/01/30/914389.html COLUMNIST Sun, January 30, 2005 Pettigrew puts boots to religious Canadians By Ted Byfield -- Calgary Sun
If any Canadian cabinet minister were to announce that all citizens who believe in God should be forbidden to vote, not only would he be out of the cabinet, he might be put into an insane asylum.
Such a thing is, in other words, unthinkable.
Yet a senior Canadian cabinet minister said something last week that amounted to exactly this, and nobody (nobody in the cabinet anyway) said anything.
His view was, in short, implicitly endorsed.
The politician involved is Pierre Pettigrew, minister of foreign affairs(...) Therefore, when Pettigrew says that religion must not be allowed to influence public policy, he disqualifies from participation in government all those whose moral basis lies in religion. Since our religion is ultimately the only reason we can give for favouring, or opposing, any law, he has in reality called for the disenfranchisement of just about every Canadian. And nobody in cabinet bats an eyelash. Welcome to the New Canada. 1c) http://www.anglican.tk/docs/AbpRoussin.pdf- A CLEAR WORD on marriage: a copy of the pastoral letter, read .. (30 Jan) at all masses in the Archdiocese of Vancouver, from Archbishop Raymond Roussin (.pdf format) ... (Via E-mail)
2a) http://www.anglican.tk/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=714 Parish alarm bells tolling First Anglican church in Calgary stripped of status Joe Woodard, Calgary Herald Saturday, January 29, 2005 A battle is brewing in the Anglican Diocese of Calgary over the fate of the historic sandstone Cathedral Church of the Redeemer. Before Christmas, Bishop Barry Hollowell announced he is removing the "cathedral" designation from the struggling inner-city church, now celebrating its 100th birthday. This, church members assume, is a prelude to eventually closing it. In episcopal (bishop-led) churches, the "cathedral" is the bishop's head church. The first Anglican church in Calgary was built in 1884 on the site where the cathedral now sits. The present sandstone building was consecrated in July 1905. "This was a very stupid mistake, an insult to a parish that has never received any support from the diocese," said Rev. David Carter, former cathedral rector and dean of the diocese (1969-79), MLA and Speaker of the Alberta Legislature (1979-93). Carter has written an open letter to Hollowell, condemning what he calls an "unprovoked attack" on a historic church, whose congregation once funded most of the Anglican churches in southern Alberta. "This was the second building in all of Alberta designated a provincial historical site," Carter said. "If they try to tear it down, I'll take them to court." Hollowell confirmed his decision to have his cathedral elsewhere. "A decision's been made to undesignate the Church of the Redeemer, but a final date has not been determined," said Hollowell. Hollowell denied suggestions he was delaying the "undesignation" for the sake of the church's centennial celebrations. And he refused to say whether he has chosen another church to designate as his cathedral. Carter said Hollowell will have a problem getting another church to accept a "second-hand" designation. And Cathedral vestry (council) member Dick Morton said the congregation of another, wealthier parish is splitting on the issue of becoming the cathedral. "Some of them think it's the wrong thing to do," he said. In replying to Carter's letter, Hollowell said the cathedral designation is being removed "with the intent of freeing (Church of the Redeemer's) congregation to discover anew what its mission and ministry might be in the heart of the city today." However, the bishop added, "the present reality is that the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer fails to meet the basic requirements of being designated a parish, let alone a cathedral." Morton said the real issue is money. Hollowell sunk the diocese's $600,000 capital fund into the new megachurch, Holy Trinity in Hidden Valley, as the beginning of a general move from neighbourhood parishes to "big-box" suburban churches. But Holy Trinity's growth has been slow, Morton said, and the diocese still carries half of the original $2.4 million debt. Meanwhile, the downtown cathedral church itself has "air rights" (city permission to build upward), potentially transferable and saleable to high-rise developers and worth perhaps $2 million. So former rector Carter believes the motive is obvious. "As a historic property, (the diocese) might not be able to sell it, because developers can't tear it down," Carter said, "but if they can close it, they'll get the proceeds from the air rights." City historic properties officer Daryl Cariou could not be reached. Morton admits the congregation is struggling. With roughly 150 Sunday attendees, the cathedral church had an income of $210,000 last year. These figures fall within diocesan guidelines for a viable "program parish" of 140 members and $120,000 yearly income. But those guidelines also require that 65 per cent of parishioners be under age 60, a bar the cathedral can't clear. "It doesn't help, trying to attract new families, that the bishop refuses to give us a new rector," said former treasurer Morton. The bishop has appointed no priest to the church since Rev. Don Axford retired in mid-2003. More seriously, Morton continued, the 100-year-old building needs a lot of upkeep and renovations. And because of its big operating and maintenance costs, the parish has not been able to meet its "apportionment," its annual dues to the diocese. "Last year, the diocese set our apportionment at $43,000, and we paid $25,000. We've paid over $20,000 every year, but it's not enough," he said. "The diocese is hurting for money. Over two years, the bishop's capital campaign brought in only $1.2 million, and half of that was from the sale of property. It's clear the Anglican population isn't buying into his program, so he's selling off their property." In October, Hollowell announced the disestablishment of three Calgary parishes: All Saints in Renfrew, St. Gabriel's in Mount Pleasant, and St. Edmund's in Bowness. They were all to close Jan. 1. St. Edmund's 40 members, however, are "carrying on until the locks are changed," said warden Trevor Bennett. "We're still holding services, and our monthly clothing sale is Saturday -- that supports our food bank, which is feeding 300 people weekly." St. Edmund's sits on three lots, so its people can't afford the rumoured $600,000 the diocese expects for it; meanwhile, the diocese continues monthly withdrawals from the parish bank account, toward the church's $5,000 apportionment, Bennett said. All Saints in Renfrew is keeping its doors open, with a retired priest presiding on Sundays. Vestry member Mark Pollard, 55, remembers his father signing a $22,000 mortgage in 1956 to build it. The church can support a pastor but lately has been able to carry only half of its $6,000 apportionment. The diocese assessed All Saints at $300,000, but the congregation of 60 hopes to buy it back for something less than that, then join another denomination. St. Gabriel's locks its doors for the last time this Sunday. The property on 4th Street N.W. will be sold. Anglican archdeacon (diocesan chief operating officer) Barry Foster could not be reached for comment. Long-standing Cathedral members Michael Prior and Morton say their church is in the privileged position of holding its own title (like St. John's in Inglewood). So, if necessary, they said, their church will split from the diocese. "With the air rights and foundation money we can put together, we can make a go of it," said Prior. "We have a mission downtown and we're going to fulfil it." jwoodard@theherald.canwest.com © The Calgary Herald 2005
2b) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavut/50128_03.html January 28, 2005 Arctic Anglicans seek conservative staffers only Synod could make "essential beliefs" a condition of employment SARA MINOGUE
Anglican ministers should read up on traditional values if they want to work in Nunavut - especially if church leaders agree to a motion that would require future employees affirm those values before signing on with the Diocese of the Arctic.
At a meeting last September, executive committee members of the diocese agreed to officially adopt the Montreal Declaration, a conservative tract that highlights traditional church values and opposes same-sex unions.
That decision will be put to a vote by the membership at its 2005 synod in Iqaluit this May.
Lay people, priests and bishops at the meeting will also be asked to decide whether to make affirmation of the Montreal Declaration mandatory for future employees.
The Montreal Declaration - written by conservative church members who met in Montreal in 1994 - was designed to affirm the "essential beliefs" of the Anglican Church.
Those beliefs include the notion that "adultery, fornication and homosexual unions are intimacies contrary to God's design."
The Anglican Journal reported Capt. Ron McLean, the acting dean of St. Jude's Cathedral in Iqaluit, saying that adopting the Montreal Declaration "reflects where we are coming from in the North."(...)
3a) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ Rwandan bishop's visit here underscores division By Tim Townsend of the Post-Dispatch 01/29/2005 The Anglican Church of the Resurrection here split off last year from the Episcopal church, in the wake of the consecration of a gay bishop.
The Right Rev. Josias Sendegeya, Anglican bishop of Kibungo, Rwanda, and his wife, Dorothee, were in neighboring Burundi during the genocide that took place in their country 10 years ago. Dorothee's mother and father, brother, sister and eight nephews and nieces were all murdered by Hutu extremists.
Sendegeya draws a parallel between the atrocities committed in Rwanda in 1994 and what happened to the Episcopal Church USA in 2003, when American bishops consecrated an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire. The move was seen as a repudiation to more conservative elements of the global Anglican church who oppose the consecration of homosexuals, and it especially offended Anglican bishops in Africa.
"The Rwandan people know what it is to suffer," said Sendegeya, speaking in French through a translator on a recent trip to St. Louis. "We experienced genocide and the horror that no one in the world came to help us. What has happened in the Episcopal church feels like a genocide, too. But it is spiritual rather than physical."
Sendegeya believes that the Anglican diocese of Rwanda has come to the rescue of some conservative Episcopal communities in the United States through one of its arms, called The Anglican Mission in America. In 2000 the Rwandan church began establishing footholds in the United States through its mission by usurping the authority of the local American bishop who was typically considered unsatisfactorily liberal by some conservative congregations in his diocese.
Sendegeya is the provincial secretary of the Rwandan church and was in the U.S. for an Anglican Mission in America conference in South Carolina. He then traveled to Memphis and St. Louis to visit individual churches that are based in the United States but are under the authority of his country's church.
One such church is the group that was ordered by a judge in October to leave Church of the Good Shepherd in Town and Country. The 200-strong congregation, now called Anglican Church of the Resurrection, recently held its services at a Marriott hotel and is now housed at the Lodge at Des Peres in west St. Louis County. The Rev. Paul R. Walter, their rector, who is a former Episcopal priest and who is now licensed as a priest in the Rwandan province, hosted Sendegeya on his visit.
The Episcopal Church USA's 2.4 million members make up about 3 percent of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, a global network of parishes affiliated with the church of Canterbury in England. The American and Rwandan churches are two of 38 provinces that make up the Communion.
As of one year ago, there were about 14,000 members of the Episcopal Church in the Episcopal diocese of Missouri. By comparison, there are 555,000 Catholics in the St. Louis archdiocese, and 40,000 members of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in St. Louis County.
The Anglican Mission in America claims to be part of the Anglican Communion through the Rwandan church, with about 70 parishes across the United States and about 15,000 members. Sixty percent of those churches have been started since the mission's inception in 2000, according to its officials.
Walter has already planted a daughter church to his Anglican Church of the Resurrection. Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Webster Groves attracts 35 people each Sunday. He said he would start another Anglican church in St. Charles County soon, and had "14 men in my church who either have become clergy or are in the process of becoming clergy." His goal, he said, is to plant six churches in three years. Sendegeya visited both the Church of the Resurrection and Holy Trinity while he was in St. Louis and also gave a lecture about Rwanda one evening.
Of Rwanda's roughly 8 million people, about a million are Anglicans who worship in one of nine dioceses. Sendegeya said about 100,000 people attend 200 churches in 30 parishes in his diocese. Laypeople account for much of the individual church leadership, he said, since his 35 priests can visit only so many churches on their bicycles each Sunday.
Walter said The Anglican Mission in American recently agreed to spend $80,000 to supply every priest in Rwanda with a bicycle. The members of the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in St. Louis have offered to buy five motorcycles so that Sendegeya's archdeacons can make their way from parish to parish without having to hitch rides on pickups, he said.
Asked if the Rwandan bishop would visit the Episcopal bishop of Missouri, George Wayne Smith, Walter said, "Noooooooo." A spokesman for Smith said the bishop was not contacted by Sendegeya.
Margaret Larom, director of Anglican and Global Relations for the Episcopal Church USA, said it was "considered proper protocol" for bishops to at least inform a host bishop of his presence in the diocese. "With current politics the way they are, a bishop's authority is sometimes deliberately ignored," she said. "It's remarkable to me how that courtesy is being tossed by the wayside."
Walter said the slight was not Sendegeya's decision, but rather an order from Rwanda's archbishop, Emmanuel Musaba Kolini, bishop of Rwanda's capital, Kigali. "Not only did he not (meet with Smith), but the archbishop of Rwanda won't even allow his bishops to be in the same room as bishops of the Episcopal Church USA," said Walter.
In October, an Anglican commission issued the Windsor Report, which detailed the problems caused by V. Gene Robinson's consecration in the wider Anglican community. The American bishops were rebuked for defying the wishes of their brother bishops in more conservative provinces. But African bishops also were rebuked for encroaching on the turf of more liberal bishops. The Anglican Mission in America was singled out in the report.
Sendegeya's failure to contact Smith may be an indication of the level of geniality that can be expected at a meeting in Northern Ireland next month where Anglican bishops from around the world will discuss the Windsor Report.
"It should be interesting - will they sit at the same table together? Will they take Communion together?" said Walter. "They are not being polite to each other anymore. Most provinces aren't taking the Episcopal church seriously anymore."(...) Reporter Tim Townsend E-mail: ttownsend@post-dispatch.com Phone: 314-340-8221
3b) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2000 Posted by dvirtue on 2005/1/31 13:12:00 FOUR ORTHODOX RECTORS INHIBITED BY LEXINGTON BISHOP By David W. Virtue
LEXINGTON, KY--(1/31/2005)--The Bishop of Lexington Stacy Sauls has inhibited four clergy in his diocese and has sent inhibition letters to each telling them that they will be deposed unless they stop ministering without his approval. A fifth priest faces possible restrictions on his ministry.
"It appears he wants to stifle orthodoxy in Lexington," said the Rev. David Brannen the former candidate for rector of St. John's in Versailles, now rector of St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Versailles.
Sauls has inhibited the Rev. Martin Gornik at Apostles Anglican Church and his deacon the 80-year-old Rev. Anna Gulick. Both are no longer resident in the Diocese of Lexington but with an overseas province. He has also inhibited the Rev. Alice Linsley at St. Andrews Anglican Church in Versailles but she remains canonically resident in Lexington. She has been inhibited under Title IV, Canon 10. The two (Gornik and Gulick) have left the Episcopal Church and are no longer canonically resident in the diocese. He has also sent inhibition papers to Fr. David Brannen even though he is no longer a priest in the diocese but is under a bishop in Uganda. A fifth priest, who asked not to be named at this time, also faces the possibility of inhibition.
Sauls response to charges that he is going after the orthodox in his diocese is that he is pledged to preserve churches in the diocese and not approve someone who would, because of conscience, be compelled to leave the ECUSA.
"Sauls likes to talk about inclusivity and that there is a place for everybody at the table. We are not looking to be accommodated or made a place for at the table. We desire truth and grace and order be restored at the table. Until then we are confidant that God can set a table for us in the wilderness," said Gornik to VirtueOnline.
At a recent clergy meeting Sauls explained why he had to inhibit Brennan saying that the priest fell under a different Canon, Title IV, Canon VII. Brannen was licensed with The Diocese of Pittsburgh. He is now under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of the Province of Uganda.
Sauls maintains that since he is the only recognized Anglican presence in the Diocese of Lexington, a priest from outside the Diocese cannot exercise ministry within the Diocese without the permission of the Bishop.
Brannen said Bishop Sauls' has authority over Episcopal churches in his geographic area but he does not have any authority over churches of other denominations in this area. "He has no authority over me. If I were the rector of an Episcopal church in Versailles, Sauls would be in authority over me. This would have been the case had I become rector of St. John's Episcopal Church. As rector of St. Andrew's Anglican Church, however, I am in no way connected to Bishop Sauls. He has no more authority over me than he has over the pastor of a Baptist or Methodist church," he told VirtueOnline.
"I work for Bishop Nathan Kyamanywa from the Diocese of Bunyoro-Kitara, Uganda. I am in effect a missionary to the United States from Uganda. Only my bishop and our archbishop, Henri Luke Orombi, have the ecclesiastical authority to direct my ministry at St. Andrew's."
The Province of Uganda is in broken communion with the Episcopal Church U.S.A. over major theological differences regarding the faith and sexual morality, specifically the consecration of a homosexual bishop to the episcopacy.
"Bishop Sauls knows this. He is a lawyer and a student of Episcopal Church law. This raises the rather obvious question: Why is Bishop Sauls threatening me with an ecclesiastical trial?"
Brannen said Sauls had overstepped his authority in even suggesting such a thing. "It appears he is trying to harass and discredit me and my parish. I'm at a loss as to what other possible motivations he might have."
Should Sauls proceed with a "trial," it would be a very odd event, said Brannen. "I would not be required to be present. The court's findings would not be binding on me. I would be free to ignore them. I think Bishop Sauls views such a trial as 'making a statement' about my legitimacy. I think, however, he simply looks vindictive."
Bishop Sauls often says that he is a proponent of inclusivity, said Brannen. "He says he is bending over backwards to find ways for all of us to get along. But there is a glaring inconsistency between his words and his actions.
Brannen said that since leaving the diocese and the ECUSA - one year ago - St. Andrew's Anglican Church now had a combined service of 200 people up from 120-130 when they were at St. John's Episcopal in Versailles. "We meet in a school, but we have signed a contract on a piece of land."
Brannen told VirtueOnline that the actual charges against "The Lexington 5" are pathetic. "I have been charged with "preaching and leading worship". The Rev. Alice Linsley has been charged with the crime of teaching adult education at St. Andrews Anglican. The Rev. Martin Gornik has been inhibited as his deacon Anna Gulick on similar charges. There is a systematic pattern of abuse by Sauls. He is a bad leader."
Other sources say the finances of the diocese are in a shambles; a third of the churches are in arrears with their assessments and under considerable financial pressure, so why is he chasing me and the others down. The problems of the diocese are about money, abuse of power, bad theology and much more.
Another source said that many in the diocese have become disgusted by the way Sauls is running the diocese and have tried to restrict their giving to the Cathedral Domain a retreat center for the diocese located near Irvine Kentucky. Many in the churches are at odds with the diocese's gay agenda, he said.
"The truth is the money always ends up in the same pot. This is a ridiculous strategy."
Brannen said that apart from the five priests under direct attack of many more live in fear of the bishop if they step out of line. "He is creating a hostile environment while the diocese is going to hell in a hand basket. He is not fit to lead locally. His bad theology makes it worse."
Brannen cited as a case in point a color brochure he received of a special weekend called "Equipping the Saints" being offered by the local Integrity (ECUSA pansexual) chapter. Sauls is listed as giving the keynote address: "Love Precedes Truth: A Pastoral Theology of Grace." This is bad theology right in the title of the address, he said. The conference is being held at the Cathedral Domain.
"Relationships have grown more tense over the years between the orthodox and the bishop with the situation worsening after Sauls voted to support V. Gene Robinson's ordination and consecration. I see no sign of it letting up; the future of all orthodox believers in the diocese is at stake and it will become the issue now and in the foreseeable future."
There are now three Anglican churches in Lexington, One is AMIA; one is under the archbishop of Uganda and a third which is yet to be announced. "We are partners in the gospel. A new Biblical Anglicanism is being formed in Kentucky and we are going to plant churches and reach lost people," said Brannen.
3c) http://gs2004.classicalanglican.com/modules/news/ http://www.charismanews.com/a.php?ArticleID=10522 February 1, 2005 edition, Charisma Magazine People & Lifestyle
Conservative Anglicans Steadily Leaving Dioceses Over 'Gay Agenda' The top leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion are to meet this month in Ireland, where conservative leaders within the church hope strong disciplinary action will be taken against the Canadian and U.S. churches for their support of homosexuality.
Congregations in North America have been steadily leaving the 70 million-member communion since 2003, when the diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, B.C., sanctioned the blessing of same-sex unions and the head of the Episcopal Church USA consecrated V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire.
John Guernsey, dean of the mid-Atlantic conference of the Anglican Communion Network, a fellowship of conservative churches that have stayed in the Episcopal Church, said he hopes the primates, as the top leaders are known, will draw a clear line in the sand during their meeting Feb. 20-26.
"If strong and decisive action were to take place, it might open the door for biblically faithful Episcopalians to be acknowledged and given some structural way to remain," Guernsey told "Charisma" magazine in the February issue, out now. The full report on the worldwide Anglican Communion can be found in the magazine.
"While we earnestly hope and pray for that we also realize the actions of the primates may fall far short of that, even to the point of the communion coming apart," he added.
Last summer, three prominent Episcopal congregations in Los Angeles left the U.S. church to join the Anglican diocese in Uganda, and two in the Washington, D.C., area connected with the diocese in Recife, Brazil. Other congregations are gaining oversight from the bishop of Nigeria.
As they await the primates' meeting next month, Anglicans in the United States and Canada are unsure whether church unity can be salvaged. "I don't see the liberal revisionists backing off on their agenda of promoting the gay lifestyle," said the Rev. Canon David Anderson, president of the American Anglican Council. "And hundreds of thousands of solid, orthodox Christians in the Episcopal Church cannot stomach that, so they're going to be looking for places to go."
3d) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2003 Posted by dvirtue on 2005/1/31 20:04:00 SIX CONNECTICUT CLERGY FACE SHOWDOWN WITH THEIR BISHOP By David W. Virtue HARTFORD, CT (1/31/2005)--The "Connecticut Six", a group of orthodox rectors at odds with their bishop over faith and morals and the national Episcopal Church's decision to consecrate an openly homoerotic bishop to the episcopacy, faced their bishop Andrew Smith this week over succession issues and got stonewalled.
The Rev. Mark Hansen of St. John's, Bristol, one of the six, along with his wardens and attorney met with Bishop Drew Smith to deal with the crisis that could lead to reduction of their parish status to "mission" level and possibly face inhibition and deposition if they do not fall into line with the bishop's understanding of diocesan policies, canons and constitutions.
The bishop had issued an edict to the "Connecticut Six" and a deadline of February 15 to comply with his demands to accept his understanding of DEPO, pay their fair share to the diocese or face the music(...)
"The Primates, meeting in Ireland, are the only hope we have left," said Hansen to VirtueOnline.
At their Annual Meeting where the congregation did the Anglican Communion Network survey, a straw poll on where individual parishioners stood, it was an overwhelming vote to leave ECUSA if no miraculous changes were forthcoming from the Primates, said Hansen. The Parish agreed to meet again on March 6th to consider making the hard decisions.
The "Connecticut 6" have agreed to remain together as one at least until the Primates have concluded their meeting in Ireland, said Hansen. "We are totally committed to unity for as long as we can."(...)
4) http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2002 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/30/wgerm30.xml Posted by rturner on 2005/1/31 17:51:47 A 25-year-old waitress who turned down a job providing "sexual services" at a brothel in Berlin faces possible cuts to her unemployment benefit under laws introduced this year(...)
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