Tag Archives: Rev. Logan McMenamie

Katharine Jefferts Schori to speak at Diocese of BC Cathedral

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Katharine Jefferts Schori spent much of her time as Presiding Bishop of TEC embroiled in lawsuits against ACNA parishes and dioceses who were trying to hang on to their buildings. I met her in 2010 at the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada and asked how a Christian denomination could justify launching so many lawsuits. Her response was that she had a “fiduciary responsibility towards TEC”. The implication that, in her view, it was her most important responsibility, was not lost on me.

Having so much experience in promoting harmony and good-will must have been what prompted the Bishop of BC, Logan McMenamie to invite Jefferts Schori to the Diocese to impart her timeless wisdom – distilled over many years of acrimonious litigation – about Truth and Reconciliation.

I’m not sure if Logan is paying her or not, but I can only assume she is not neglecting her fiduciary responsibility to herself.

From here:

Truth and reconciliation is a response to colonialism but for individuals it’s a chance to enlarge our viewpoints by hearing experiences of others, a pioneering clergywoman says.

Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S., the first woman to be elected a primate in the worldwide Anglican Church, said truth and reconciliation at its most basic, is about listening and respect.

“It’s really an anti-colonialism response,” said Jefferts Schori in a telephone interview from her home in Nevada.

“It encourages people to hear each other’s stories and perspectives and to respect their differences rather than imposing your own view.”

Jefferts Schori is speaking Thursday at the University of Victoria and will be at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria for a forum on Sunday.

Jefferts Schori was American Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop from 2006 to 2015. She has served as Bishop of Nevada and is currently a visiting professor at Church Divinity of the Pacific.

She has degrees in biology and a PhD in oceanography, serves on the Earth and Life Studies board of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and was a member the Council on Neighborhood and Faith-Based Partnerships when Barack Obama was president.

Bishop Logan McMenamie, of the Diocese of British Columbia, said Jefferts Schori has demonstrated incredible leadership in the church and community.

“It wasn’t easy for her with some of the other primates throughout the world,” McMenamie said.

“But she has always demonstrated amazing leadership, and stood tall during some very difficult times in the life of the [Anglican] communion.”

Jefferts Schori said: “A founding principle of Anglicanism is the Gospel, the faith, is supposed to grow and develop in unique ways in different contexts.

But Anglicans haven’t always thought so, she said. In particular, those working as colonial missionaries thought only their views and contexts were correct.

“But it’s core to what it means to be an Anglican today,” she said.

“[Faith] takes different shapes in different contexts.”

For example, she said the U.S. Anglican community has experienced a new creative experience listening to how the Christian Gospels have found new contexts in indigenous societies.

“You begin to develop a more creative community as a result,” Jefferts Schori said.

“There is an ability to see truth in different contexts and find a larger picture than any one individual can find on their own.”

Creeping Congregationalism in the Diocese of BC

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In an interview, the new bishop of the Diocese of BC, Logan McMenamie, mentions that the diocese is suffering from negativity and creeping congregationalism. Although the latter sounds a little like a skin disease, it is actually an understandable response to the diocese taking parish buildings from congregations that paid for and maintained them and selling them for its own gain.

Logan McMenamieFrom here (page 5):

We will continue to have some challenges to face but I feel they can be addressed. Some of the things the clergy talked about were lone ranger parishes, creeping congregationalism and negativity. I believe we can turn this around in a positive way and see these as opportunities for growth.

Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral to begin same-sex blessings

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From here:

The congregation at Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral voted overwhelmingly last week to allow same-sex blessings in the church, more than a decade after Vancouver-area Anglican churches did the same.

“The Anglican church has been talking about this for more than 30 years,” Rev. Logan McMenamie says.

[….]

McMenamie laments the parish members he has lost because of the slow changes, but said more progress will be made at upcoming diocese gatherings.

Don’t worry about the members you have lost, Rev. Logan McMenamie. Now you are offering same-sex blessings, rejoice in the prospect of the hitherto reluctant hordes that will soon queue outside your doors every Sunday, eager to worship before the altar of your equality deities.

Then again, it may work out more like those who have gone before you in pioneering compulsive inclusion – like the Dioceses of New Westminster and Niagara: you could find yourself scrambling to close dozens of empty churches every year.

Rev. Logan McMenamie: saving the salmon

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There was a time – I’m almost old enough to remember it – when the pulpit of the Anglican church was used to preach on the salvation of souls; progress marches ever on, so now the message is the salvation of salmon.

Rev. Logan McMenamie thinks the Northern Gateway pipeline is a bad idea because it doesn’t respect the “interconnectedness of living things”, the “sanctity of the earth” – and it would disturb spawning salmon.

I will make the bold assumption that the worthy Reverend has not taken to heart Henry David Thoreau’s advice found in Walden: he doesn’t travel everywhere on foot. In which case he must fill his automobile with petroleum distillate – from Saudi Arabia, presumably, since he has no use for Canadian oil. Saudi Arabia, home of “interconnectedness of living things” pipelines, not to mention oppression of women, homosexuals and anyone who doesn’t like Islam – but then, who cares about them, they are people not salmon.

All of which makes Rev. Logan McMenamie, Dean of Columbia and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral – yes, you’ve guessed it – a hypocrite.

From here:

Churches take pipeline views into the pulpit

Rev. Logan McMenamie is speaking out against the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, saying it doesn’t respect the interconnectedness of living things.

McMenamie, of Christ Church Cathedral on Burdett Avenue, is one of many religious leaders across Canada focusing on the pipeline – something McMenamie says concerns “the sanctity of the Earth.”

“What I preached on was my own perspective,” he said of his Sunday sermon, adding that he doesn’t speak on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada. “I think [the sermon] resonated with many in the congregation.”

He’s not alone in bringing the debate to a religious forum. On Tuesday, the United Church of Canada decided to publicly oppose the project.

The pipeline proposed by Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. would do severe environmental damage, traversing waterways where salmon spawn, said Ray Jones, the chair of the church’s aboriginal ministries council. And the potential for an oil spill in the port of Kitimat is very real, he said.