In the News

The passage of the federal gay marriage law in Canadian Senate has Canadian Christian leaders fearing that religious freedom will be compromised. The new law imposes same sex marriage upon four jurisdiction opposed to the practice - Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Canadian evangelicals affirm their commitment to promote marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

This past Sunday worship services at St. John's, Bristol, was largely attended by supporters of the Rev. Susan McCone and Bishop Andrew Smith. Most parishioners stayed away.

The Rev. Peter Moore, former dean of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and chairman of Anglican Relief and Development, has hard words for Archbishop of Brazil Orlando Santos de Olivera. Olivera has been aggressively persecuting the Bishop of the Diocese of Recife Robinson Cavalcanti since he participated in a confirmation service in the revisionist diocese of Ohio with a number of other retired Episcopal and courageous Anglican bishops.

The Rev. Peter Toon, Editor and Vice President of the Prayer Book Society, at the request of the PBS, has prepared “a spirited and yet gentle critique” of To Set Our Hope on Christ. This booklet, Same-Sex Affection, Holiness and Ordination, A Response to Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, has been published on the Internet. To read or download the booklet, go to http://www.stthomashouston.org/samesexaffectionholinessordination.pdf. Dr. Moheb A. Gahli, an Episcopal layman, has also written a response to To Set Our Hope on Christ. His response, To Set our Hope on Christ: A Layman Responds, can be found at http://www.louisiana.standfirminfaith.com/archives/000775.shtml. I recommend both responses to the readers of AnglicansAblaze. I also recommend the Anglican Mainstream document, A True Hearing? to those who have not yet read it. To read or download the document, go to http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/pdf/truehearing.pdf. If you experience difficulty with this link, go to http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/truehear.asp and click “download A True Hearing here.”

Andrew Smith has joined the ranks of those revisionist Episcopal bishops who are willing to resort to repressive measures to suppress opposition to their radical political and social agenda. The Reverend Mark Hansen, the rector of St. John’s, Bristol took a sabbatical to obtain special education services for his son. He made adequate arrangements for the conduct of worship services and the pastoral care of the parish in absence as well as consulted with the assistant bishop of the diocese. Since Hansen had not met with him but his assistant, Smith saw an opportunity to rid himself of an opposition leader and exploited it. His raid on St. John’s Bristol was aimed not only at seizing the property but also anything in the church’s computer files he might use against those opposed to that agenda both in and outside his diocese. In one swift stroke he inhibited Mark Hansen from functioning as an Episcopal priest and replaced Hansen with a woman priest who supports that agenda. His actions reveal much about the flawed ethical and moral character of the Episcopal Church’s radical revisionist bishops, the level of cognitive distortion that affects their thinking and judgment, their unChristian preoccupation with the authority of their office, their animosity and intolerance toward those who do not support their agenda, and the extremes to which they will go to impose that agenda upon their diocese and the Episcopal Church. Instead of accepting responsibility for having caused a serious division in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, same bishops blame those who cannot in good conscience support their agenda, ascribing to them evil motives and conspiratorial designs. By his recent actions, his rejection of the moral teachings of the Bible and the Christian Church, and his failure to ratify the core doctrines of the historic Christian faith Andrew Smith has shown that he is unfit to remain in the office of bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut. Isn’t it time Andrew Smith stepped down?

This week Anglicans learned that ultraliberal former Archbishop of Perth Peter Carnley and chair of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference will have the last word over what recommendations the Panel makes to the Archbishop of Canterbury in regards to matters referred to the Panel. The members of the Panel of Reference have also been bound by an oath of secrecy from making public the Panel’s deliberations and therefore any divisions in the Panel over what the Panel should recommend. If the Panel of Reference is going to gain the trust of mainstream Anglicans, greater transparency will be required as well as a more restricted role for Archbishop Carnley. The present operating rules of the Panel are a formula for failure.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is touring a number of African provinces including Burundi, Kenya, Uganda, and Sudan. Nigeria, however, is not on Archbishop Williams’ itinerary. Williams is promoting the acceptance of ECUSA money by the African provinces. One must wonder how the Africans see William’s actions. In view of Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola’s influence among the African primates why is Nigeria not on William’s itinerary? Considering what Archbishop of Central Africa Bernard Malango told David Virtue at Nottingham, will this be Williams’ last tour of the African provinces?

The Church of the Redeemer, New Hampshire, now St. Michael’s Anglican Church, is regularly meeting for worship and Sunday school despite the loss of its building. The consecration of Gene Robinson and his refusal to provide the Church of Redeemer with adequate alternative episcopal oversight led to the departure of most of the congregation from the Episcopal Church but not the Anglican Communion. St. Michael’s Anglican Church is affiliated with the Anglican Communion Network. Robinson subsequently closed the Church of Redeemer, a church that he had destroyed but for whose closure he accepted no responsibility.

A visit to the Anglican Mission in America’s church locator -http://www.anglicanmissioninamerica.org/index.cfm?id=9DAECE6F-5EDD-49D2-B288A6C6AE449E64 - shows that the AMiA is growing. New churches and fellowships are springing up across the United States. Launched in 2000, this missionary organization seeks to glorify God The Anglican Mission is connected to the Anglican Communion through its sponsors – the Anglican Province of Rwanda and the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of South East Asia. The AMiA has made common cause with the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Province of America, Forward in Faith North America, and the Reformed Episcopal Church. If the Anglican Mission does not have a church or fellowship near you, you may want to start one.