Fred Hiltz preaches healing and reconciliation at St. John’s, Shaughnessy

From here (page 3):

Archbishop Hiltz started his address by thanking us for giving him the opportunity to worship together and by stating that the SJS community had been very much in his thoughts and prayers over the past few years as we addressed the tensions within the diocese. “We are all in need of healing and reconciliation and I want to acknowledge with deep gratitude your steadfastness to the Anglican Church of Canada, its worldwide mission and loyalty to the work of the Diocese of New Westminster.”

What Hiltz failed to mention is that a number of ANiC trustees are still being sued personally by the Diocese of New Westminster.

The church that brought us the generous pastoral response, holy listening and experiential discernment, is now striving for the apogee of absurdity with healing lawsuits.

St. John’s Shaughnessy is only attracting 40 people to its main Sunday service

The church building will hold over 800 people and before the Diocese of New Westminster acquired ownership of it, over 800 people attended the church.

Now, under the liberal regime of Bishop Michael Ingham, around 40 people are attending. Rev. Michael Fuller announced the number in his November 4th sermon:

Attendance at St. John’s Shaughnessy is dropping

In spite of an influx of cash , a new rector and a “Bishop’s Missioner”, according to one observer, attendance has dropped:

In a building that will hold 1000, September 2011 attracted between 80 to 70 people to the 10:00 a.m. service; now around 30 people attend – presumably distant relatives of the rector and “Bishop’s Missioner”. At the 8:00 a.m. service there are 2 or 3 people.

Smatterings of news

The Church of England Newspaper has an article on the property settlement in the Diocese of Niagara here.

The Diocese of New Westminster seems to be suffering a degree of financial embarrassment and is selling rectories, including the one belonging to St. John’s Shaughnessy (which is on “a nice lot”).

Peter Elliot, the diocese’s actively homosexual Dean, has been appointed as part-time “Bishop’s Missioner” to assist with the “planting of new congregations” in the empty buildings which once housed thriving ANiC congregations. I’m sure that will work.

And I am off to Dubrovnik.

St. George's Anglican Church, Montreal to receive government hand-out

From here:

Media Advisory: Government of Canada to Announce Support to St. George’s Anglican Church National Historic Site

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, Feb 21, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — On behalf of the Honourable Peter Kent, Canada’s Environment Minister and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, the Honourable Judith Seidman, Senator, will make an infrastructure announcement regarding the conservation and presentation of the St. George’s Anglican Church National Historic Site.

St. George’s, is an historic site and will be a recipient of government largesse; to put it another way, taxpayers will pay for its upkeep.

I’m not averse to paying for the upkeep of an historically or aesthetically significant building, but there is a degree of irony in a church degenerating to this status: the activity for which it was built – housing worshipping Christians – can no longer attract enough people to pay for its upkeep. Or, more correctly, the Anglican Church of Canada’s confused, sub-Christian concoction of neo-paganism and eco-cultism is not attracting enough people.

The irony is reinforced by that fact that the Anglican Church of Canada has recently spent a great deal of money on lawsuits to wrest the ownership of buildings for which it has no use and can’t afford to maintain from those who could both use and maintain them.

How long before Bishop Michael Ingham declares St. John’s Shaughnessy an historic site worthy of taxpayer support? It’s running a deficit of $20,000 per month at the moment.

An editorial error at the Anglican Journal

The Journal calls ANiC parishioners Anglicans. It has to be a typo.

A group of Anglicans from St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver, the largest of four dissident parishes in the diocese of New Westminster, will begin Sunday services at Oakridge Adventist Church beginning  Sept. 25.

The ACoC returns to St. John's Shaughnessy

More accurately a rota of clergy returns. But will this effort in Keeping up Appearances actually convince anyone that anything other than an elaborate sham is taking place?

From here:

ACoC Worship Returns to St. John’s Shaughnessy SEPTEMBER 25th, 2011

The Venerable John Stephens, Archdeacon of Vancouver has arranged a rota of clergy to conduct Sunday services and musicians to lead the music in worship beginning Sunday, September 25th at 11am with a Celebration of Holy Communion.

The Venerable Andrew Pike a former curate of St. John’s will lead the worship, September 25th, October 2nd and October 9th.