Anglicans among the ruins

The Anglican Church of Canada can’t afford to maintain its buildings: they are crumbling around the clergy and bishops are collecting plaster dust in their rainbow mitres.

Ottawa’s cathedral has buttress woes:

One of the most critical areas are buttresses located on the west wall of the cloister garden, also known as the Garth, where mortar is crumbling and cracks are appearing.

“Not far in the future, the gaps and cracking could cause individual stones to fall, leading to the collapse of the walls,” says Blair Seaborn, who is chair of Restoration 120, a fundraising campaign to raise $120,000 for repairs.

“We’ve been told over and over by engineers that they’re not decorative,” said Seaborn. “The buttresses are rather critical in holding up the roof and walls.”

Even though Huron’s St. Paul’s cathedral is raising money by inviting the Pride Men’s Chorus to sing, it still can’t seem to find the cash to fix the roof and the rot in the cathedral trusses is exceeded only by the rot in the diocesan theology.

Owen Sound is closing churches,  Niagara is closing churches, or “celebrating mergers” to quote the preferred euphemism, as is Peterborough and Brantford, while the Diocese of Niagara continues to endear itself to the residents of Guelph by pressing ahead with the sale of St. Matthias in spite of vigorous opposition. The list goes on.

VOL has more here:

By any measurable standard, the Anglican Church of Canada is in serious decline with little hope that the numbers can or will be reversed in the foreseeable future.

In one diocese after another the third largest denomination in Canada is declining, its demise now almost certain as it focuses on a host of social justice issues to the neglect of evangelism, discipleship and church planting.

The Anglican Church of Canada which is squeamishly shy about publicizing how many people attend its churches, has published no complete statistics for membership and average Sunday attendance since 2001, although the ACoC did claim a membership of 545,957 in 2007.

Today, by all measurable standards the average Sunday attendance in the Anglican Church of Canada is around 320,000. If this is correct, in 40 years the average attendance will be 19,200 or less. As there is no wave of Millennials aching to fill Anglican pews this figure is probably exaggerated.

Ironically, the vitriolic battles that the Anglican Church of Canada launched against ANiC churches in 2008 was over the ownership of buildings. The ACoC won the battle in 2008 only to lose it in 2017: it doesn’t have the income for the upkeep of the buildings it claimed were so essential to its ministry.

3 thoughts on “Anglicans among the ruins

  1. I shall never forget sitting in lawyers offices, sitting in court, and finally in mediation sessions with the ACoC -Niagara. I watched the sale, and then demolition of our lovely St. Hilda’s building. The property remains barren to this day. The family of St. Hilda’s, -ANIC remains alive and well, continuing on with the teachings of Jesus here in Oakville.

  2. They lied when they made those claims in 2008. Everyone knew it, including the corrupt courts. But God is not impotent, and those who steal find the stolen goods run through their hands; and those who lie find that their dishonesty is broadcast unmistakably. Had they been honest, in their own terms, they might have held out longer. But instead every misfortune is upon them.

  3. We in the Diocese of New Westminster also experienced both the apostasy of the so-called bishop Michael Ingham and the legally stealing of our properties. The only reason the ACoC went to the civil courts is that they were and are well aware that the civil courts have no respect for the Gospel. Until the ACoC dismisses ALL apostate clergy including Fred Hiltz there is no hope for it. You cannot continue to spit in God’s face and believe in the gods of political expediency or political correctness and expect the blessings from our God and Father and His son Jesus Christ.

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