The congregation of St. David and St. Patrick in Guelph will be worshipping in a Lutheran Church starting in June. The Anglican Church of Canada and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada have been combining their office space and holding joint synods for some time now, so it’s not surprising to see consolidation at the parish level; this is almost certainly the first of many. The ACoC and ELCIC, for all their spiritual posturing, are behaving in much the same way as secular businesses. Unlike secular businesses, though, while paying no tax themselves, the ACoC and ELCIC lobby the government to redistribute other people’s wealth by increasing their taxes; this is called prophetic social justice making.
After the public relations debacle with the closing of St. Matthias in Guelph, the diocese is understandably leery about yet another church closure and probable sale of the property to developers. It seems that the parishioners are not “allowed to talk about the issue”. What would happen to them if they do, I wonder? Shipped off to Justice Camp for re-education, I expect.
From here:
GUELPH—As the debate around the sale of the St. Matthias Anglican church heats up, the future of another Anglican place of worship in the Royal City is left uncertain.
The Anglican Diocese of Niagara says the congregation at St. David and St. Patrick, at 520 Speedvale Ave. E., will move to worship at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church this June.
Reverend Bill Mous, director of justice, community and global ministries at the diocese, wrote in an email to the Mercury the Anglican parish has entered into a two-year “partnership agreement” with the nearby Lutheran church.
That leaves the future of the Anglican church building unclear.
[….]
A person who answered the phone at the Anglican church said no one there was allowed to talk about the issue.
Is there any reason given for vacating their building?
Sorry: vacating the building owned by the diocese, which the diocese kindly allowed them to raise money to buy the land for, to build, and maintain, in return for giving the diocese title and regular donations to the diocese. Must get the legal position correct, hum.
Not that I know of but I think it’s reasonable to assume the reason was financial.
Many decades ago my Grandparents Worshipped at Saint Patrick’s. It was a very sad day for them when Saint Patrick’s merged with Saint David’s. But the membership had dwindled and it was simply no longer viable.
So now the same thing is happing again, but this time to the merged Parish. Another sad day.
As long as the ACoC backs the apostates within its ranks it can hardly be expected to grow. So-called bishops like Michael Bird and Fred Hiltz are nothing but apostates and have no concern for proclaiming or upholding the Gospel. The end result will be a diocese, or might I say dioceses with large bank accounts but nothing in the bank for orthodoxy.
I never thought for one minute that the Diocese of Huron was the only one taking on more water than the Edmund Fitzgerald. I have heard recently of on going talks between the two adjacent Diocese of Huron and Niagara. Nothing like combining two sinking ships all into one .
“Not allowed to talk about it.” What century do these bishops think we’re living in? What’s next? Inquisitions? Burnings at the stake?
Lawsuits?