He received an honorary DD from Laud Hall during the 2002 Synod of the United Anglican Church in Hudson, Florida.Wikipedia does not have a separate entry for the United Anglican Church, but in its entry on continuing Anglicanism, it lists the UAC with an estimated number of parishes at six. However, the totals listed there for other denominations that I'm familiar with seem high, so I suspect six is stretching the truth.
According to Laud Hall's website,
Following the union of the Traditional Episcopal Church with the Anglo-Catholic Church in the Americas, the Seminary came under the jurisdiction of the United Anglican Church in 2001.Not only is this honorary "DD" a worthless lagniappe from a laughable institution, it also says something of Virtue's own standards of integrity. It's worth repeating that Virtue identifies himself on his website as a journalist. The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics says, in part:
Journalists should:By receiving an honorary "DD" from a "continuing Anglican" seminary, it seems to me that Virtue has a conflict of interest, since it involves a gift, favor, or special treatment from the seminary and the "continuing Anglican" denomination he's covering. It's been remarked that the source of his "DD" has been a hard item to track down, and I think there are two reasons for this: first, as an honorary degree from a diploma mill, it's a joke. Nevertheless, Virtue thinks it's important to have a "DD" after his name. (But why even bother to jump through this tiny hoop? Why not just claim a PhD out of thin air, like Fr Tony Morello?) But he also won't disclose the source of his "DD", since it compromises his journalistic "integrity".
- Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
- Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
- Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
- Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
- Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
What this says, I think, is that Virtue shares a lot with the disreputable crew he covers favorably on his blog. They all have phony credentials. They all congratulate each other for their phony MDivs, phony DDs, phony The Rt Revs, phony parishes, phony denominations, and they all kiss Virtue's butt. Virtue loves it.
This is a case study in the banality of evil.
