Tag Archives: Diocese of Quebec

Diocese of Quebec, R.I.P.

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The Diocese of Quebec is on the verge of extinction not, you may be surprised to learn, because of global warming but because Anglophones are departing Quebec and those that are left in the churches are ageing. The diocese enjoys focussing on things like greening your parish’s liturgy, so the positive way of looking at this is that, very soon, there will be grass growing where the churches used to be: the ultimate in parish greening.

From here:

Anglophone migration out of Francophone Canada has decimated the Anglican Church with the number of members of the Diocese of Quebec falling almost in half over the past two years, a document released on the diocesan website reports.

“A Thumbnail Sketch of the Diocese” published on 14 Sept 2015 in preparation for the election of the 13th Bishop of Quebec reported: “There are 69 congregations, serving an overall Anglican population of approximately 1800 souls.” Statistics published in a report released in early 2014 by the Task Force on Mission Ministry and Management reported the diocese had 3000 members in 52 parishes with 87 congregations.

[….]

Diocesan leaders have warned Anglicanism was facing extinction in Quebec. An essay posted last year on the diocesan webpage stated 64 per cent of congregations would close or be amalgamated with other parishes in the next five years. The 2014 Task Force on Mission Ministry and Management paper stated “42% of congregations have fewer than 10 regular services a year and 76% have fewer than 25 participants at services. In 31% of the congregations the age range begins at 50 and in 13% at 70.” The report further reported that a “staggering 83%” reported minimal or no activity outside of worship.

Diocese of Quebec’s strategy to attract new members

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According to its bishop, Dennis Drainville, the Diocese of Quebec is on the verge of extinction. In 2009, he lamented that he could be “the last bishop of Quebec”. There is nothing that upsets an Anglican bishop quite so much as the withering away of bishops.

But now the Diocesan newspaper is fighting back to attract new members! In a bold seeker friendly gesture, the paper has published this image to illustrate the atoning death of God’s Son on the cross. Or daughter – or something:

Crucified Woman

Diocese of Quebec facing extinction

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According to a Quebec priest, if the diocese does not change it will die; he doesn’t elaborate on whether this will be a good or a bad thing, relying, presumably, on the affable temperament of his readers to lead them to think the latter. I am not affable.

His solutions are to become more ecumenical, bilingual and accepting of all the gay people longing to attend Anglican churches. Rev. Yves Samson is himself gay and seems at a loss to explain why he is already not attracting more sexually like-minded individuals. Surely it can’t be because gay men and women have no more interest in an ecumenical Anglican eco-cult than heterosexuals.

From here:

As Rev. Yves Samson speaks to his congregation in the Quebec town of Trois-Rivières, two things stand out: the bilingualism of the sermon and the dearth of parishioners.

Samson holds nothing back when he says that, without radical change, the Anglican Diocese of Quebec could soon be extinct.

“If we want to keep going on (the old) track we will all die,” Samson says in an interview after his French and English sermon to a room full of near-empty pews in the St. James Anglican Church.

The numbers are interesting:

Some numbers about the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, which serves a large part of the province, including Quebec City, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières:

  • Priests: 25.

  • Parishes: 52, with 45 per cent running a deficit in 2012.

  • Congregations: 87, with 64 per cent saying they would close or be amalgamated by 2019.

  • Annual income: Below $20,000 for roughly 70 per cent of congregations.

  • Regular services: Forty-two per cent of congregations have fewer than 10 a year.

Bishop Dennis Drainville has an ingenious scheme to resuscitate the Diocese of Quebec

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According to Bishop Dennis Drainville his diocese, the Diocese of Quebec, is dying:

The Rt. Rev. Dennis Drainville said his diocese was “teetering on the verge of extinction” according to an account given by the church’s official newspaper.

Of the diocese’s 82 congregations, 50 were childless and 35 congregations had an average age of 75. These graying congregations often had no more than 10 people in church on Sundays, he said. “The critical mass isn’t there, there’s no money anymore,” he said.

In a flash of brilliance rarely seen illuminating the dimly sputtering synapses of a Canadian Anglican bishop, Drainville has decided that the answer to replenishing his childless congregations is to start blessing homosexual couples. Because their couplings produce so many offspring.

Same-sex couples in the diocese of Quebec will soon be able to receive a blessing of their civil union, according to the Anglican diocese’s newspaper, the Gazette.

[….]

In his charge to synod, Drainville expressed his intention to provide a rite of blessing and pastoral support for persons living in “committed, same-gender relationships.” This blessing is not a marriage, he emphasized, but rather “the blessing of civil union that has already taken place.”

Anglican Church of Canada’s Sexuality Discernment Statement now available in French

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Just what we’ve all been waiting for:

Sexuality discernment statement released in French.
General Synod’s statement on sexuality discernment is now available in French. At the General Synod 2010 meeting, members met several times in small groups to discuss human sexuality. This statement is a report from these conversations and acknowledges the differing viewpoints on human sexuality within the church as well as members’ desire to stay in conversation.

This translation will mainly be of interest to Anglicans in the Diocese of Quebec – well, and Montreal, although Montreal is largely bilingual. The average age of a Diocese of Quebec Anglican is 75 and, as you can imagine, they’ve all been champing at the bit to talk about gay sex: now they can really get down to what interests them before shuffling off this mortal coil:

The Diocese of Quebec is all but dead, its bishop told the Canadian House of Bishop at their fall meeting in Niagara Falls, the Anglican Journal of Canada reports.

The Rt. Rev. Dennis Drainville said his diocese was “teetering on the verge of extinction” according to an account given by the church’s official newspaper.

Of the diocese’s 82 congregations, 50 were childless and 35 congregations had an average age of 75. These graying congregations often had no more than 10 people in church on Sundays, he said. “The critical mass isn’t there, there’s no money anymore,” he said.