Category Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada participates in Truth and Reconciliation

Posted on by
7

From here:

From March 27 to 30, several thousand Indigenous and non-Indigenous people will gather in Edmonton, Alberta for the seventh and final national Truth and Reconciliation Commission event.

The Anglican delegation will include Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald, the Venerable Michael Thompson, General Secretary, and Archbishop Terry Finlay, Primate’s Envoy on Residential Schools.

Bishops, clergy, and parishioners from the dioceses of Edmonton, Athabasca, and Calgary will also be present for TRC events including the lighting of the sacred fire, statement giving by residential school survivors, church listening circles, and a public Anglican expression of reconciliation.

The purpose of the Sacred Fire is:

The Lighting of the Sacred Fire happens before we begin each National Event to ensure that the Spirits and the Teachings guide and protect us while the Commission does its work.

And:

The fire is generally started during the first part of opening ceremony after sacred space has been set. The Fire Keeper quietly calls in the powers of the directions as well as the fire powers when the Sacred Fire is first lit.

The most curious thing that strikes me about the Church’s attempts to atone for thrusting Western religion and cultural values on Indigenous North Americans is its eagerness to now do the opposite: displace Christianity with Indigenous Animist practices. The Church seems to be saying: “we were wrong all along and to prove it we will adopt your religious beliefs in favour of our own.”

I have a suspicion that this would not be happening if the church did not secretly think that any belief system is just about as good as any other. If Anglican Church of Canada clergy truly wanted to provide compensation for those their predecessors abused, they could sell their church buildings – many of which are almost empty – and donate the proceeds to the ex-inmates of the much loathed Residential Schools. A lot more practical than a “full-colour historical timeline of evolving relations between Indigenous peoples and the Anglican Church of Canada.”

The highlight of another Anglican year: Justice Camp

Posted on by
4

This year Justice Camp is in Edmonton and it is exploring such rivetingly interesting topics as “faith and the tar sands”.  If only I could be absolutely certain that none of the jet fuel of the plane I would have to fly on would come from the demon tar sands, the temptation to attend would be irresistible.

From here:

Participants will choose from seven immersion experiences on topics ranging from the relationship between faith and the tar sands, urban responses to systemic poverty, and interreligious perspectives on land and human life. These are complemented by time for biblical reflection, worship, and relationship building. All of which will foster leadership for social justice skills in participants.

Anglican Church of Canada repudiates the Doctrine of Discovery – some more

Posted on by
6

In its ceaseless quest for relevance, the Anglican Church of Canada has repudiated something developed in the 15th Century to justify colonising the New World.

The ACoC will undoubtedly beat its collective breast over the sins of its ancestors; after all, it’s so  much easier to confess the sins of one’s forebears than to repent of one’s own sin.

What will probably be overlooked in all this is the ACoC’s current version of naked imperialism: taking parish buildings to which they are morally not entitled from congregations who voted to align themselves with another Anglican Province.

From here:

This spring the 17 members of the Primate’s Commission will start considering how to translate General Synod’s 2010 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery into tangible action. The commission also has mandates to address the practicalities of reconciliation and the persistent injustices in Canada’s indigenous communities.

Its first meeting will likely be in Toronto, possibly in time to report to Council of General Synod in May. “The commission will make recommendations to General Synod in 2016 perhaps in the form of resolutions,” said Ginny Doctor, co-ordinator of indigenous ministries and staff support for the commission. Doctor said the commissioners seem eager and optimistic. “We didn’t have anyone say no. That means there’s a spirit.”

Anglican Church of Canada’s Africa relations co-ordinator claims GAFCON is engaged in a campaign of misinformation

Posted on by
1

IsaacMukasaRev. Canon Kawuki Mukasa is the ACoC’s new “Africa relations co-ordinator” and he is about to perform a similar function for TEC. It would appear that he has been given the rather ambitious task of rebuilding the reputation of the Anglican Church of Canada in Africa. The diminishing of the ACoC’s standing in Africa has, according to Mukasa, nothing at all to do with the blessing of same sex marriages, the ordination of openly active homosexual clergy, the numerous lawsuits launched to acquire buildings that others paid for or the diminishing of the centrality of Christ.

No! It is all GAFCON’s fault for launching a “campaign of misinformation”. Mukasa isn’t entirely clear what the heinous calumnies GAFCON has ingeniously concocted are that could possibly appear worse than the things the ACoC has actually done.

From here (page 4, my emphasis):

In a letter read out by Bishop Barry Clarke at the January meeting of the Montreal Diocesan Council, Rev. Canon Kawuki Mukasa, global relations officer for Africa, says the Anglican Church of Canada would like to build on the good will that Montreal has helped to sustain in relations with Africa. He invites the diocese to work collaboratively with other Canadian dioceses that have companion links with African dioceses “to explore ways of reclaiming the reputation that Canada used to enjoy in African Provinces” before a “campaign of misinformation” by an international group called the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

Anglican Church of Canada does Christian unity

Posted on by
5

From here:

Canadians prepared the resources for this year’s liturgy and daily reflections. They chose as a theme Paul’s rhetorical question in addressing divisions in the church in Corinth, “Has Christ been divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). The question calls us to confess the scandal of disunity and it’s marring effect on the witness of the church catholic. This week always has about it a spirit of repentance and renewal.

[…..]

In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity let us be mindful of the great “Don de Dieu” the great gift of God’s peace and unity in Christ for us and for the world. And let us pray that as church leaders, church councils, and neighbours in faith we may embrace and embody that gift with passion and perseverance for the glory of Christ and the good of the world.

How should one respond to the Anglican Church of Canada, unrepentant fomenter of strife, litigation, worldwide schism and cosmic mayhem, celebrating Christian unity?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6FEfmyVj0

Fred Hiltz in a Four-Way

Posted on by
7

With three clerical ladies. I don’t know who in Anglican PR land came up with this pithy epithet but, whoever you are, please stop. You are making my job much harder.

The heads of North American Anglican and Lutheran churches are combining their efforts when issuing things like pastoral letters in cases of continental calamities.

The issuing of natural disaster pastoral letters is of such import that their combining will undoubtedly send transcendent ripples of well-being wafting through the entire eco-system. Future generations will declare that this was moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. Really.

From here:

Hiltz-LadiesThe heads of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have agreed to co-ordinate their responses to “events that transcend” their borders, such as natural disasters.

They could, for instance, issue a joint pastoral letter in response to a natural calamity

[….]

Leaders of the four churches reached this agreement when they met for a day and a half of informal talks last December in Winnipeg. Since 2010, the heads of these four churches have met for informal talks, “becoming colloquially known as the Four-Way“, said Myers.

Anglican Church of Canada marriage canon commission formed

Posted on by
19

Fred Hiltz has assembled the commission that will seek “broad consultation” for introducing a synod motion to change the marriage canon to include same-sex marriage. They will pay particular attention to:

a) the Solemn Declaration in relation to this matter;

b) the immunity under the civil law and the Human Rights Codes of the various Provinces and Territories within Canada of those bishops, dioceses and priests who refuse to participate in or authorize the marriage of same-sex couples on the basis of conscience; and

c) a biblical and theological rationale for this change in teaching on the nature of Christian marriage.

Notice in particular point c): it does not ask whether there is a “biblical and theological rationale for this change in teaching”, that is taken for granted. The commission is expect to come up with a rationale whether it is there or not. The members of the commission are:

Canon Robert Falby (Chair)
Dr. Patricia Bays
The Very Rev. Kevin Dixon
The Rev. Dr. Paul Friesen
The Rev. Canon Paul Jennings
Dr. Stephen Martin
The Rt. Rev. Linda Nicholls
The Most Rev. John Privett

I don’t see any conservatives in evidence. It seems fairly clear that after a couple of years of nugatory “broad consultation” by the regular morosophs, there will be a motion before Synod 2016 to change the marriage canon.

Canada’s part in Christian Unity Week

Posted on by
Reply

From here:

Each year, churches in a different country are invited to prepare materials for worship, reflection and prayer during the week, including information about their country’s context. This is the third time in the 100-year history of the Week of Prayer that Canada has been selected as the country in focus. An ecumenical Canadian team prepared the 2014 materials that were reviewed by the World Council of Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity; the materials have now been distributed to national church councils around the world. The theme they chose was “Has Christ Been Divided?” from 1 Corinthians.

A touching article. The only problem with it is the photo that should have been used to illustrate the real state of Christian unity in Canada is this one: The Demolishing of St. Hilda’s. Before anyone rashly jumps to the wrong conclusion, I should point out that the Diocese of Niagara does have a heart: it thoughtfully ejected the congregation before knocking down their building.

Anglican Church of Canada plans to attract more people by lowering the entry requirements

Posted on by
17

From here:

What should church hospitality look like? Is “hospitality” enough?

The church has wrestled with these questions for some time, and recently in response to “open table”—the practice of welcoming unbaptised people to participate in the Eucharist.

At the spring 2012 meeting of the House of Bishops, the bishops opted for a broader conversation, moving from discussing open table exclusively to a conversation on hospitality and how it connects to discipleship.

The bishops asked the Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, to set up a task force to examine the issue. The Primate defined the task with two questions: Are there any limits to the church’s hospitality to the unbaptised? How can the church’s hospitality to the unbaptised be part of making disciples?

The fallacy in this is that it presupposes eager hordes whose longing to participate in the Eucharist is thwarted only by the fact that they have not managed to get around to being baptised. All we have to do is tell them they needn’t bother with baptism and churches will be filled to overflowing. It doesn’t seem to occur to anyone that if a person doesn’t want to be baptised, he is unlikely to want to be part of the  Eucharist.

The church has been trying for some time to attract people by telling them it doesn’t matter what they believe or how they behave – a strategy which has reinforced the conviction that the church can’t have much to offer if it is so easy to be a part of.

Offering the Eucharist to the unbaptised in the hope that they will accept the invitation is the lunacy of repeating the same thing while expecting a different result.

An Anglican panegyric to Nelson Mandela

Posted on by
29

From Fred Hiltz:

Today the world mourns the passing of one of the greatest men of our times.  Nelson Mandela’s life is the story of the prisoner who became the president of his beloved country.  He is the icon of South African’s long road to freedom from apartheid.  He is “the father of our nation”, writes Desmond Tutu, “the pride of our people.”

[….]

Mandela is destined to be remembered in the calendar of holy men and women through the ages.   To give ourselves to the work of “transforming unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind, and to pursue peace and reconciliation among all people,” (the Fourth Mark of Mission) will be to truly honour his life and his labours.

During the 1950s, Mandela was appointed commander in chief of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) – Spear of the Nation. This organisation was responsible for blowing apart men, woman and children in places like shopping centres, cinemas and government buildings. Torture and executions were routine at ANC detention camps, a favourite of Mandela’s wife, Winnie, being to put a gasoline filled tire around someone’s neck and set fire to it.

It’s all part of “transforming unjust structures of society”.