Category Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada warns against Christian nationalism

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I think mixing politics and Christianity creates an unwholesome toxic brew that makes a mockery of the message of the Man/God who insisted his Kingdom is not of this world.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Anglican Church of Canada has been doing for decades. The politics of the ACoC veers consistently leftward. It is obsessed with climate change, gay and transgender propaganda, diverse inclusion, inclusive diversity, aboriginal land rights, a universal basic income – and so on.

It isn’t too interested in the sobering reality that Jesus died for our sins and offers us the free gift of reconciliation with God the Father, the acceptance or rejection of which determines our eternal destination.

Thus, it is a little rich that the ACoC feels called upon to denounce Christian Nationalism, an idea that, at least in part, seems to fuel the odious American MAGA mania.

As usual, the ACoC is tilting at windmills. A recent Pew Research poll determined that only 3% of Canadians are, in its words “religious nationalists”. Even the USA is only at 6%.

Interestingly, around 0.2% of Canadians admit to being transgender and the ACoC is also obsessed with them. All the madness of Don Quixote and none of the charm.

From here:

The Anglican Church of Canada believes that everyone is created in God’s image and that all members of society have an equal right to participate meaningfully in the public square at all levels. We have been enriched, as a church, by our relationships with other Christian denominations, along with the great variety of religious traditions that are found across our communities. Canada’s longstanding commitment to religious pluralism has enabled members of many faith communities and those with no faith commitment to live in civic harmony with one another without sacrificing their respective theological convictions.

A growing threat to this principle of pluralism and inclusion is the ideology of Christian nationalism, which seeks to merge Christian and Canadian identities, conflating them and distorting both Christian faith and Canada’s parliamentary democracy. Christian nationalism demands that Christianity be privileged by the state and implies that to be a good Canadian, one must be Christian. This ideology can provide cover for discrimination against marginalized groups and can increase threats and violence against religious communities at home and abroad. In that light, we denounce Christian nationalism as a distortion of the gospel of Jesus and a threat to Canadian democracy.

In our Baptismal Covenant, we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to love our neighbours as ourselves, to strive for justice and peace among all people, to respect the dignity of every human being, and to strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth. These commitments lead us to call for the full inclusion and welcome of diverse voices engaging constructively in public debate, building connections across differences and celebrating the contributions of many communities to our collective wellbeing.

The Church, the Bible and homosexual practice

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A guest post from Dr. Priscilla Turner:

Our Church is at odds with the Communion as a whole because decades ago she parted company in sex-ethics with the whole Church Catholic spread out in time and space. She hasn’t enjoyed the godly leadership of learned bishops who had eyes in their heads and brains between their ears about human biology, or submitted their minds to the scriptural witness about the Creator’s ordering of the world. She has tried to reopen an absolutely and completely closed question. She has become an enabler, by making her parishes institutionalised happy hunting grounds for sexual predators. Homosex has never been either in accord with natural law or pleasing to the Author of our human sexuality. And the Church Catholic has always known this.

There has been no reading of my esteemed friend and colleague Robert A.J. Gagnon’s big book The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics ISBN-13 ‏‎ 978-0687022793

Or of mine with J.I. Packer, shorter, newer, Anglican, more theological:

Holy Homosex?: This and That (CreateSpace) A set of theological papers, including one by James I. Packer, presented in original chronological order, a thorough technical discussion:
SC 5.5×8.5: ISBN 9781482347869
HC 6×9: ISBN 9798872407768
Ebook: ASIN B07HXV8DFK

Text may be downloaded and read for nothing at: https://www.anglicansamizdat.net/wordpress/dr-priscilla-turner/

When all that is said, we really do not need any texts from any sacred book to know what to think of homosexuality. Hence as a whole no human society or culture in recorded history has ever favoured it.

   

Canadian Primate values institution over truth

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Archbishop Shane Parker has released a statement claiming that, whereas GAFCON has left the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Church of Canada will stay.

Whether that is accurate or not depends on how you define “Anglican Communion”. Here is a brief definition from Britannica:

Anglican Communion, religious body of national, independent, and autonomous churches throughout the world that adheres to the teachings of Anglicanism and that evolved from the Church of England. The Anglican Communion is united by a common loyalty to the archbishop of Canterbury in England as its senior bishop and titular leader and by a general agreement with the doctrines and practices defined since the 16th century in The Book of Common Prayer.

It’s true that Parker is holding to one part – “loyalty to the archbishop of Canterbury” – but not true that he is holding to the rest: “the teachings of Anglicanism” and “a general agreement with the doctrines and practices defined since the 16th century in The Book of Common Prayer.” He, the ACoC, the Church of England and TEC have departed from those practices.

Who, then, has really left the Anglican Communion: the vast majority of Anglicans who value biblical truth or an ever diminishing rump that loves the institution?

From here:

Pastoral statement from the Primate and Metropolitans of the Anglican Church of Canada concerning the Anglican Communion

By Archbishop Shane Parker on October 18, 2025

In recent days, primates of the Global Anglican Future Conference announced their decisions to leave the Anglican Communion. In response to this, we, the Primate and the Metropolitans of the Anglican Church of Canada, reaffirm the Solemn Declaration of 1893 found in the (Canadian) Book of Common Prayer:

We declare this Church to be, and desire that it shall continue, in full communion with the Church of England throughout the world, as an integral portion of the One Body of Christ composed of Churches which, united under the One Divine Head and in the fellowship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, hold the One Faith revealed in Holy Writ, and defined in the Creeds. (BCP 1959/1962, viii)

We reaffirm the four Instruments of Communion: the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates’ Meeting, and the primatial See of Canterbury with its people, clergy, and its Archbishop.

We reaffirm the historic Anglican appeal to Scripture, Reason, and Tradition.

The practical and theological question before us is this: Can communion with the Risen Christ contain conflict, so that conflict and disagreement lose their power to divide? We believe the answer to this question is a resounding “YES” because this has been borne out many times in Anglican experience and intuition from the Reformation to the present time.

The Anglican Church of Canada looks forward to participating in the next gathering of the Primates’ Meeting, the next meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, and the next Lambeth Conference. We rejoice in the appointment of Bishop Sarah Mullally as the next Archbishop of Canterbury and will warmly welcome her to Canada after she is installed in 2026.

With steadfast faith and joyful hope,

The Most Reverend Shane Parker, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
The Most Reverend David Edwards, Metropolitan of Canada
The Most Reverend Anne Germond, Metropolitan of Ontario
The Most Reverend Gregory Kerr-Wilson, Metropolitan of Northern Lights
The Most Reverend John Stephens, Metropolitan of British Columbia and Yukon

Synod approves Queer Interfaith Coalition letter

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Shouldn’t that be Interfaith Queer Coalition? Surely it’s the coalition that’s queer not interfaith.

No matter, the letter admonishes us to uphold the “sacred tenets of intersectional equity”, which I’m sure I’d be happy to do if I knew what it meant.

It also denounces “the damaging heresy that some people are more deserving of equality than others”. Now that I can get behind: I deserve to be equal to someone who is younger, taller, thinner, and better looking than me.

From here:

Queer Interfaith Coalition letter endorsed with amendment recognizing diversity of opinion on marriage canon General Synod passed a resolution June 29 endorsing an open letter to the Canadian government from the Queer Interfaith Coalition, an organization which supports LGBTQ+ acceptance across different religious groups.

The letter says it is “reclaiming the religious voice from those who have sought to weaponize faith.” Signatories commit to building religious communities that reflect a number of “sacred tenets of intersectional equity” including the idea that 2SLGBTQIA+ people are created “in the Divine Image,” and to, among other things, dedicating themselves to promoting the human rights and mental health of LGBTQ+ people and ending gender-based violence.

The motion passed after some debate surrounding a clause denouncing “the damaging heresy that some people are more deserving of equality than others,” and the passing of an amendment intended to address concerns about that clause. Many members of General Synod spoke in favour of the letter, including Bishop Kevin Robertson of the diocese of Toronto. He said there was a need for the church to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights at a time of growing backlash and diminishing support.

The amendment to the resolution states that General Synod will not understand the letter to contradict “A Word to the Church,” and that the word “heresy” “must not be interpreted as a condemnation of those Christians who do not believe Scripture permits Holy Matrimony for same-sex couple[s].” “A Word to the Church” is a document written by church leaders and adopted by General Synod in 2019. It affirms that Anglicans may hold a variety of beliefs about same-sex marriages, must stand together despite their differences and that the church must respect the self determination of Indigenous communities in particular.

Bishop of Ottawa Shane Parker elected primate

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In case anyone is under the impression that things are going to change under the new leader, Parker sets us straight by assuring us that “We need to think differently and behave differently.” Newspeak for thinking and behaving as we’ve done for years.

As a friend used to say when I worked at IBM and the management changed: “Same circus, different clowns”.

From here:

In a follow-up interview with the Journal, Parker added that he planned, as primate, to continue down the route of change set up by the listening process that brought forth the transformational commitments and the primate’s commission’s pathways—the set of recommendations calling for dramatic change in the church.

“A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that it is strategic or operational change when in fact it’s cultural change” that’s needed in the church now, he said. “We need to think differently and behave differently.” The rest of this week’s meeting of General Synod (running June 23-June 29) will determine the shape that change takes, he said.

In case you have any doubt:

Parker has spoken out publicly in support of LGBT people before, including as a signatory to the Global Interfaith Commission on LGBT+ Lives 2020 declaration, Declaring the Sanctity of Life and Dignity of All. In a 2023 letter Parker commended the commission and its work to his diocese amid what he described as an alarming increase in hateful words, actions and political posturing against LGBT people. “Not everyone or every parish in our diocese participates in Pride events, but each of us are called to participate in making a safe, loving space for 2SLGBTQI+ people, and to build meaningful connections with one another,” he said.

Does he even know what 2SLGBTQI+ people actually are? Does anyone?

Bishop Michael Curry preaches at the opening of the ACoC Synod

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He pointed out that the disciples, in spite of their humble origins, “changed the world”.

Quite true.

After his sermon the worship service was “characterized by [a] celebration of the cultural diversity within the Anglican Church of Canada”.

A celebration of how the world has changed the church.

And there’s the problem.

From here:

Curry also spoke about the limitations of Jesus’ disciples, noting that four of them—Peter, Andrew, James and John—were fishermen, yet never catch any fish in the Bible and relied upon Jesus to feed the multitude.

“They were not the A-Team of apostolic disciples,” Curry said. “And look what they did. There are followers of Jesus all over the world because of them … They changed the world.”

“What was true for them in the first century is true for us, the followers of Jesus, in the 21st century,” he added. “What was true in Jerusalem is true in London, Ontario… The power to be who God dreamed and intended us to be in the first place—when we live that, Anglican Church of Canada, it is no secret what God can do. What he did for Moses and Esther, what he did for ‘[not] the A-Team of apostolic disciples,’ he’ll do for you.”

Audience members interjected with shouts of “Amen” throughout Curry’s sermon, which anchored a worship service characterized by celebration of the cultural diversity within the Anglican Church of Canada.

The service began with the Algonquin “Water Song”, as singers beat their drums and faced the four directions of east, north, south and west, followed by the intertribal Indigenous “Strong Women’s Song.” The St. Paul’s choir led delegates in singing the hymn “Christ is Made the Sure Foundation” with an Indigenous smudging ceremony filling the worship space with the smell of sacred herbs.

The collapse of the Anglican Church of Canada

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There is nothing new about this, it has been happening for years. But, like any background noise that we have been hearing for a long time, we cease to pay it any attention. Such has been the faint gurgling sound at General Synod, as the Anglican Church of Canada flushes itself down the toilet.

Now, however, as the article below says, even the church hierarchy have started to pay attention. Their solution is, as ever, institutional reform rather than a return to the Gospel. As such, it will do little to slow the demise.

Before he joined the RC church Malcolm Muggeridge used to say he had no use for organized religion; I am veering towards agreement, although I would state it as institutional religion. The ACoC is a lost cause but even ACNA is starting to exhibit some cracks in the foundation. Women’s ordination continues to be divisive, Calvin Robinson was treated shabbily by Archbishop Steve Wood, trendy clerics are wobbling on the gay problem.

Here is the article:

(ANALYSIS) In the year of our Lord 1967, the Anglican Church of Canada had 1,218,666 members and 272,400 worshippers on a typical Sunday.

In a recent report, the church found 294,382 members on parish rolls and 58,871 people attending Sunday worship services.

“The religious institution many of us have long known and loved does not look now as it did even 20 years ago, and it will not look the same 20 years from now,” noted the report, “Creating Pathways for the Transformational Change of the General Synod.”

Waves of declining statistics will “evoke grief, fear and longing. … This report does not seek to reverse current trends, but to respond to them to empower a much smaller church to thrive as it proclaims the gospel today and in the future.”

Obviously, the “church is changing,” noted the Rev. Neil Elliot of the province of British Columbia in the report. “But that change is not the same as the end of the church. That change may be uncomfortable, but being uncomfortable is not the same as the end of the church.” Elliot’s X profile says he is the “official stats nurd for the Anglican Church of Canada.”

The “Creating Pathways” text noted that, while pew-level statistics have plunged 75%, the denomination, as of 2023, has 1,474 parishes, compared to 1,849 in 1967. Meanwhile, the number of bishops has increased from 36 to 39.

Anglican Church of Canada attendance decline

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In 2023, Christmas and Easter attendance was down 20 and 26 percent respectively compared to 2017, and up 50 and 41 percent from the 2020 and 2021 COVID panic years.

Average Sunday attendance fell by 9 percent in 2023.

You can read more in this article which attempts to grope for strands of optimism amid the gathering gloom.

The odd thing is that the ACoC is more preoccupied with attendance numbers than it is the number of people who, though its ministry, have become Christians.

Could it have something to do with money, salary and pensions?

According to data available as this issue was being prepared, attendance at Anglican Church of Canada Easter and Christmas services rose by 41 and 50 per cent respectively in 2023, even while average Sunday attendance fell by nine per cent over the same period—substantially faster than the decline of about 2.5 per cent per year before the pandemic, says the church’s statistics officer, Canon Neil Elliot.

Attendance statistics for 2023 are the most recent available as it typically takes dioceses some time to gather, consolidate and report data from all of their parishes. Even so, only 26 of 30 dioceses had reported their 2023 attendance numbers as of early January. Where data were not available, Elliot used 2022 numbers to complete the picture, meaning the numbers may be different in the final tally.

The figures for Christmas and Easter, Elliot says, are still 20 and 26 per cent below 2017 levels, suggesting the bounce-back has not reversed the overall trend of decline. Still, they represent more of a recovery than he had expected from the pandemic-era low points of 2020 and 2021. When he released the 2022 statistics, Elliot said he thought it was unlikely the church would see much more of an increase in attendance, as it seemed safe to assume that people who wanted to return to church after COVID-19 shutdowns had done so. But the surprising increase in holy day attendance in 2023, he says, is evidence the church remains in an unpredictable time.

Anglican Church of Canada statement on the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury

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Here it is:

We have seen the news that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has resigned, having acknowledged personal and institutional responsibility in relation to “the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth” that had been exposed by the Makin Review. Our hearts break for the children and young people who were abused by Smyth and further victimized by the lack of meaningful action on the part of the church.

In 2022, the Archbishop of Canterbury visited Canada to listen to residential school survivors and to issue apologies for the church’s role in the abuses at residential schools. We mourn that today’s news will add to the pain of survivors, and we hold them in our prayers.

The Anglican Church of Canada is committed to continuing the work needed to make the church a safe place for all, in keeping with our baptismal covenant to respect the dignity of every human being. We pray for the humility, courage and wisdom needed for this all-important work.

It’s difficult to miss the irony that Welby “visited Canada to listen to residential school survivors”, an alleged scandal that he was not tangled up in, yet failed to meet with victims of a scandal he was.

Note this tweet from the Anglican Survivors Group. Note in particular the word “lie”:

Anglican and Lutheran leaders call for Israel to stop fighting

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Again.

Happily, no one cares what Anglican leaders think about wars being fought in the Middle East. The only thing that stirs less interest in the general populace is what Anglican leaders think about religion.

I can’t bring myself to use the word ceasefire, since a ceasefire is not what Germond and Johnson want. They want Israel to stop fighting, at which point Hamas, Hezbollah and the IDF will join hands around the campfire and sing All You Need is Love.

From here:

Dear Prime Minister:

It has now been more than a year since the horrifying Hamas attack on Israel. Violence has continued with the decimation of Gaza by Israeli bombing and increasing settler attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. In recent days, open hostilities in the region have expanded to include Lebanon, Yemen and Iran. Our hearts break at the horrific suffering and rising death toll caused by these armed conflicts.

We continue our call for a full and sustained ceasefire, for the release of all captives, for the immediate flow of life-saving food, water, aid, fuel and humanitarian assistance for the millions of Gazans suffering at this time, for an end to all arms transfers to Israel, and the end of occupation. We continue our call on leaders to lay down weapons and to work for a just and lasting regional peace.

We express our disappointment that Canada abstained from the September 18, 2024 United Nations motion calling on Israel to end its “unlawful presence” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. We believe it is only through an end to the occupation and a just, comprehensive and lasting peace settlement that the security of both Palestinians and Israelis can be assured.

We call on the Government of Canada to diligently support all provisions of international law and a rules-based world order. Failure to consistently support international law allows the powerful to act with impunity, causing great suffering to the most vulnerable, marginalized and powerless people globally.

We continue to pray for an end to suffering—remembering in our prayers all who have died on all sides of the conflict, hostages and their families, those maimed and injured, all who have lost their homes and those who have not been able to move to safety—and for the opening of a humanitarian corridor into Gaza and a peaceful solution to this war.

Sincerely,

Rev. Susan Johnson
National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Most Rev. Anne Germond
Acting Primate, Anglican Church of Canada