Communist Pig Update

Hugo Chavez and his sycophants in his congress have lurched Venezuela still further down the road to Communist dictatorship. That congress has given Huge Ego the power to rule by decree.

Oh, I’m sure that will be temporary.

The Expectation and Necessity of Real Action at the Primates Meeting

Matt Kennedy has posted an article at Stand Firm about expectations for the Primates Meeting. He notes recent attempts to lower expectations for it, but insists that people are right to expect real action and discipline from the Primates Meeting. And he’s right.

First, there are the past statements of the Primates themselves, which he goes though. Second is the necessity for action.

General Convention ’06 was a disaster. And the Episcopal Church had been told any number of times that an adequate response to Windsor/Dromantine was needed from that convention. And the Presiding Bishop that convention elected has been far more assertive in heresy and in persecuting the faithful than any of her predessessors.

If GC06 and its sorry aftermath doesn’t convince the Primates that discipline is necessary, what the heck will? If the --Schori sponsored persecution of orthodox priests and parishes and the difficulty in getting consents for the election of a strong orthodox Bishop of South Carolina doesn’t convince the Primates that “a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion in the USA” called for at Kigali is necessary, what will?

If the Primates Meeting fails to take strong action in these two areas, then many orthodox will rightly conclude that a church that doesn’t care enough about truth to discipline doesn’t care enough about truth. And that a church that doesn’t care enough about the faithful to act to provide a safe place for them doesn’t care enough about the faithful. And they will see the Anglican Communion as such a church and leave.

As Matt Kennedy puts it:

If the leaders of the Anglican communion fail to discipline the Episcopal Church not only for “breaking the bonds of affection” but, more importantly, for defying the Word of the living God, then you will see Windsor and Network dioceses begin to crumble as many of the strongest parishes realize that the Communion is toothless and that the Windsor “process” is just that…an endless process leading nowhere…and depart.

For the new Covenant to mean anything at all; for the Anglican Communion as it is currently bound together to retain any integrity, the primates at Tanzania must act in accordance with their words and in accordance with the processes they themselves have established and recognize that the Episcopal Church has chosen to walk away and, at the very least, take concrete steps to establish/recognize/legitimize some form of separate structure.

Otherwise, words, promises, and exhortations to patience will, rightly, be recognized as groundless, baseless and untrustworthy.

Now I am actually cautiously optimistic about the upcoming meeting for a number of reasons I may go into in a later post.

But this is it. Pushing matters to the next meeting won’t do.

Windsor/Dromantine gave the Episcopal Church three years to respond. And the Episcopal Church has made quite clear where it stands – against the minimal requests made by Windsor/Dromantine, against the faithful and, yes, by the election of a heretic as Presiding Bishop, against the faith.

What reason is there to see more before acting? The only reason for further delay is an unwillingness to do what is right, catholic, and biblical. The time for discipline and forming a replacement province is NOW.

St. Charles, King and Martyr

Today is the Feast of St. Charles, King and Martyr.

I’ve found an appropriate hymn for this day here. And here’s the place if you wish to rightly commemorate this august day.

“Woe to those who call evil good . . .”

With my jaded cynical attitude toward Episcolibs, you’d think I’d be beyond outrage by now. But. they. keep. provoking. me.

The latest outrage is this from the Diocese of Virginia:

Many of the 1,000 delegates and visitors present gave a standing ovation when the Rt. Rev. Peter Lee announced that both the standing committee and the executive board of the diocese voted unanimously to take legal action over property ownership in the departing parishes [of Truro, Falls Churches et al].

It’s one thing to possess such fallen logic as to think trying to kick those faithful congregations out of their buildings is what Bishop Lee should do. But to give it a standing ovation?

Here we have the spectacle of a church convention giving a standing ovation to a nasty church fight, really to the persecution of the faithful. Do these people have no shame?

I’ve calmed down a bit since I first read of this. So I no longer feel like pronouncing woes on these people. But it would be redundant anyway. For God already has.

Woe to those who call evil good . . .
Isaiah 5:20

I discover Betty Butterfield.

This weekend I’ve discovered Betty Butterfield. And I’m still laughing. “Her” short videos about churches are hilarious . . . and perceptive as well, for the most part.

“She” does have an agenda I and probably most of you don’t share. But the videos are so brilliant, I chose to overlook that.

Enjoy.

Christ Church Plano Joins AMiA

Christ Church Plano, which you may remember had a significant influence in my journey to Anglicanism, has joined the Anglican Mission in the Americas.

Here’s the news, complete with videos and links from Christ Church’s site.

A “Very Difficult Meeting” Noted

A leaked e-mail from Secretary General Kenneth Kearon of the Anglican Communion Office to TEC uberliberal Louis Crewe is revealing a glimpse of Archbishop Rowan’s direction. And that glimpse is encouraging.

Kearon, who has a well-earned reputation of undercutting the orthodox, the Primates, and at times maybe even the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, shares that he is unhappy with ++Rowan’s relationship with the Episcopal Church, echoing pointed recent comments by Bishop Paul Marshall.

Kearon said he met with ++Rowan on this subject. And it was “a very difficult meeting.”

He ends his email with “Advisers (and sadly I’m not one of them) are at the heart of this.”

When a high up revisionist with this sort of access to the Archbishop feels his influence with ++Rowan is that weak and is that displeased with the Archbishop’s direction concerning the Episcopal Church, that’s good news.

And it bodes well for the Primates Meeting next month.