The fact remains that Frank Lombard, partnered homosexual at a gay-friendly church, stands accused of committing some of the most heinous acts of sexual perversion on a child you'll ever read about when he was on the vestry. He was not simply someone who wandered in one day and plopped himself in a pew. Bishop Curry's attempt to hide that rather significant fact is despicable.

There is a Frank Lombard, with a Duke email address, on the vestry of the Episcopal Church of the Advocate in nearby Carrboro, North Carolina (listed here as a "gay friendly" church)... who is involved in anti-racism efforts.

UPDATE: Episcopal Church of the Advocate pulls Lombard's name from vestry page, PDF from server.

UPDATE: Photo of Lombard in church newsletter?

UPDATE: Church alters newsletter with Lombard photo.

12 Provinces accounted for -- only 26 more to go.

Ultimately, the responsibility of what to do about this falls on Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. He has the most questions to answer of anyone. He has staked the future of the communion on "keeping everyone at the table" through this "Continuing Indaba" process. And as it stands now, he has as an overseer of the organization that secured funding for it, an ordained minister who believes that Jesus approved of grown men having sex with boys.

We're looking for 8 sponsors, one for each night's webcast, to donate $1,000 each, but to do so in the service of promoting a charity, ministry, or other worthy Christian organization.

UPDATE: All slots taken! But if you still want to chip in, read the update about the "Email Blast"...

The Episcopal Caucus for Heterosexual Expansive Love (ECHEL) welcomes Fr. Cutie's reception into the Episcopal Church and commends Bishop Leo Frade and his clergy for their courageous stand in the face of two thousand years of systematic hatred and intolerance toward those men who experience natural desires to express love with many different women...

"...this is a crucial issue. Once you remove the Lordship of Christ from the Gospel, you have no longer a Christian Gospel, and pretty soon Christ’s presence is dispensable too. That is why the secularist columnists have been weighing in constantly to this debate in the national press. Their argument is, basically, ‘we love and cherish the liberal accommodating tradition of the Church of Scotland; don’t let it be captured by the Christian Taleban’. And the reason is that they know that pretty soon such a liberalised establishment will be indistinguishable from the secularism they espouse, but that they can benefit from the veneer of ‘spirituality’ that religion brings. But a truly Christian church will always be a thorn in the flesh of secular society and government.

That’s what we are up against. It is the survival of the Gospel and the survival of the Church of Scotland as any kind of potent force for Christ in our nation."

If The Rev. Piper and others who claim it is not the business of bishops and standing committees to deny consent where a diocese has followed proper electoral procedure are correct, then there is simply no need for a consent process at all; 815 could eliminate huge expense (and headaches) by establishing and maintaining a panel with a few folks who examine the processes of each election and certify that they are valid, and off goes the winner to the House of Bishops. The fact that that isn't the case should make The Rev. Piper and those who share his opinion of what the consents process is, wonder why we have such a process at all. They might begin by explaining why, if what they say is true, Mark Lawrence didn't deserve the same vigorous defense they're now giving Kevin Forrester.

So let's recap. Bishop Lee originally appointed to a very traditional -- but poverty-stricken -- Province of the Anglican Communion as their "missioner" someone who can only be described as a radical progressive activist... How wonderful that Bishop Lee was so respectful of a Province's traditional Christian faith -- and of course, so respectful of that province's need and poverty, as well. That is, I suppose, the way of "the Center Aisle" for us all.

I've had a number of conversations with Christians who are deeply committed to defending the doctrine of marriage within the church but who are hesitant to take a similar stands when it comes to secular legislation. The reasons cited for this hesitancy range from worry about the social cost which inevitably results from such a stand—identification with the “religious right” and political conservatism—to fear that outspokenness about “gay marriage” legislation might make gay “seekers” less eager to “seek”. One of the most common and curious reasons I've heard expressed centers on the perceived separation between church and state...

We "stayers" occasionally get criticism from some "leavers," and from time to time it's helpful to explain why we stayers stay. It begins with the simple fact that things are different from diocese to diocese. Louisiana is not Pittsburgh. Alabama is not Fort Worth. Lay people in one diocese are not as informed and engaged as those in another. Bishops and their ability to lead and communicate vary widely from diocese to diocese. Cultures and collective temperaments are different. The theological makeup of lay and clergy orders varies. The balance of parishes that are orthodox vs. revisionist varies. But while the things that make one diocese ready, willing and able to depart and another diocese not are numerous and complex, it's a very simple matter that some are, and some aren't.

It's that simple. Sin leads to death. But the Christian claim is that sin is defeated. But how do we know? Well, because Christ came back from the dead and will also bring us back! The Resurrection shows that the Cross was effective since in the Resurrection we see that Christ has overcome death and if He overcame death it shows that He has overcome sin.

Which is, of course, exactly what Anselm is arguing in 2.III - that the removal of the penalty means that Resurrection will occur. Rather than ignoring Resurrection, Anselm puts it in exactly the same place in his flow of thinking as the Apostle Paul. It functions more as an end outcome and proof than the means of atonement.

As more 'no' votes trickle in on the consent Buddhist Bishop-Elect Kevin Thew Forrester's election, we've received numerous inquiries about something that's emerging as a key objection for several bishops: Forrester's rewriting of the Baptism liturgy. Here it is.

Last year Todd Bentley revealed that he'd been involved in a long-term "emotional" relationship with a woman in his employ. Subsequently, it has been revealed that Bentley was in fact physically intimate with his employee while he was married. Bentley's physical relationship with the woman, it was explained, began only after it became clear that his first marriage could not be saved. He resigned his position as pastor and immediately entered the public process of restoration linked above. The process has been rather unique.

In the face of overwhelming evidence that the more "inclusive" the Episcopal Church gets, the smaller it becomes, Bishop Sauls proposes doubling down on the exact agenda that has made the Episcopal Church the laughingstock of organized Christianity, and brought his diocese to the edge of financial ruin.

Because we live with Jesus, we may get used to having Him with us all the time. We may not understand what it would mean if we did not have Him. It's when things fall apart, and when we remember that we have Jesus, that we are filled with gratitude for the bedrock that He is to our entire lives. Our going to bed, our getting up, our eating, our time with friends, our work, our being outside, our catastrophes, and our joys.

Those who fulfil Allah’s pact,
and break not the covenant;
And those who join what Allah
has commanded to be joined,
and fear their Lord,
and dread the evil reckoning;

Up to now we've focused mainly on Forrester's association with and practice of Zen Buddhism, and no reasonable survey of his history, writings or statements can support the conclusion that he is not, in fact, a Zen Buddhist. But there has been some discussion among Episcopal "progressives" to the effect that, while Forrester may indeed "walk the path of Zen Buddhism," that fact in and of itself is not reason enough to deny him consent as the next bishop of Northern Michigan. The "reasoning" goes that so long as Forrester is "sufficiently" Christian, that is enough. So now we turn to that question.