April 05 2005 By virtueonline Straight Talk to a Troubled Laity - by Bill Boniface
The next part of the response has to do with the word "similar." While today's dispute over Scriptural authority and the role secular culture should play in the Church's responsibility as moral standard bearer has been skillfully characterized by many as similar to those of recent decades, the current crisis is profoundly different.
April 05 2005 By virtueonline CONNECTICUT SIX: Attorney writes open letter to Rowan Williams
15. In order to protect the integrity and legitimate needs of groups in serious theological dispute with their diocesan bishop, or dioceses in dispute with their Provinces, we recommend that the Archbishop of Canterbury appoint, as a matter of urgency, a panel of reference to supervise the adequacy of pastoral provisions made by any churches for such members in line with the recommendation in the Primates' Statement of October 2003 (xii).
April 03 2005 By virtueonline Divorce Episcopal Style - by Alice Linsley
I try to understand how this came to pass. I think back and begin to see the little signs that we were growing apart. I thought we were speaking the same language. Now I realize that familiar old words in your mouth took on unfamiliar meanings.
I listened while you told me of your dreams and plans and gradually it dawned on me that I wasn't included. And when I pointed this out to you, your response was to make me doubt myself, as if there were something seriously wrong with me.
April 01 2005 By virtueonline BISHOP FRADE ON TERRY SCHIAVO: "Family should make ultimate decision"
By now we have all heard how this young woman sustained severe brain damage from lack of oxygen after collapsing at home in 1990 with heart failure, due to a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. We know that the many doctors who have examined and treated her have determined that she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery.
April 01 2005 By virtueonline FORT WORTH BISHOP: "Covenant is a bitter disappointment"
The Statement speaks of "deep regret" and offers "our sincerest apology and repentance" - but for what?
March 27 2005 By virtueonline Re-Alignment And The Episcopal Church - by Dr. Paul F.M. Zahl
Then it happened. "What I had feared has come upon me." (Job 3:25)
On August 5, 2003, the long march of the Episcopal Church's apparent cultural captivity reached its mark. A practicing gay bishop was elected and approved, then consecrated and installed. At that point, a storm did indeed break out, a world-wide storm. We can now, sadly, compare it to a tsunami.
March 25 2005 By virtueonline Abusing the Fathers - by William J. Tighe
The ensuing "Windsor Report," released on October 18, 2004, called for moratoria on the ordination of all non-celibate homosexuals and on the approval of rites for blessing same-sex "partnerships," as well as for an end to the intervention of traditionalist bishops (usually from Africa or Asia) in the dioceses of "revisionist" bishops.
March 25 2005 By virtueonline The Wrong Thing for the Right Reasons - by Peter C. Moore
The opposite is also true. Frequently, people do the wrong thing for the right reasons. An impoverished man may steal food in order to provide for a destitute mother. We've all heard of deeply confused teen-agers who commit suicide because they can't imagine going through life as a burden to their parents. Then there is the more complex case of the person who commits perjury to spare a loved one from the consequences of their actions. Stealing, suicide, and perjury are all wrong.
March 24 2005 By virtueonline It's time to stop the shouting and finger pointing - by Todd Wetzel
"The nearly two years since General Convention 2003 should have taught us that a political "win" does not guarantee any kind of victory for our church. ECUSA's own statistics show giving for the first full year since the consecration of an overtly gay bishop to be off by 12% and membership down by 36,000 people.
March 23 2005 By virtueonline Bishop Griswold Should Resign - by Diane Knippers
By all accounts, he is a decent man, kind and thoughtful. They say he isn't much of a manager or administrator. He has a scholarly bent. He is obviously drawn to the mystical elements of faith. I could see him a chaplain at a school for boys or a theological college.