Category Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada demographics

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The Anglican Journal conducted a survey to find out who is reading the paper. The age of those who read the Journal and who are, therefore, interested in the Anglican Church of Canada’s version of Christianity is revealing. You can view all the results here. These are the age groupings:

 

Let’s make the not unreasonable assumption that the age demographics of those who read the Journal are an accurate reflection of the age of church attendees. If we do, it means that unless things change and the church manages to attract younger people, in around 20 years, there will be 42% fewer Anglicans, in 30 years 72% fewer and in 40 years 94% fewer. That’s assuming the 6% currently between ages 18 to 49 don’t leave in the meantime.

The average Sunday attendance in the Anglican Church of Canada is around 320,000. If the above figures are any indication, in 40 years the average attendance will be 19,200.

Dancing with the bishops

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Anglican Primate Fred Hiltz and Lutheran Bishop Susan Johnson attest that the Anglican Church of Canada and the  Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada are simpatico  by giving a demonstration of ballroom dancing during the Eucharist.

I don’t know about you, but I find this Anglican-Lutheran mating ritual very moving – although, if Fred must clap, I do wish he’d learn to clap off the beat..

Whence comes the church’s hope?

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As the psalmist said:

And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you. Ps 39:7

A number of recent articles in secular papers have chronicled the decline of liberal Christianity. In Canada, the Globe and Mail, hardly a bastion of theological conservatism, explains that the United Church and Anglican Church have largely replaced God with the NDP; the resulting avalanche of fleeing members betokens their imminent demise. Church liberals, ever reluctant to connect cause with effect, are obstinately staying the course: they are convulsed in an orgy of post-theistic openness, inclusiveness, egalitarianism and progressivism.

For example: the Anglican Church of Canada has placed its hope in the advice of Phyllis Strupp, a brain fitness coach. She, in turn, has placed her hope in a better tomorrow with regard to the environmental crisis, a tomorrow where no brain will be left unmolested by Strupp callisthenics; every brain will be a fit brain. Fit for what, I wonder: fit for little other than conformity.

So is there any hope for liberal Christianity? Evidently not.

“Thirty years ago, I thought that with enough good science we would be able to solve the environmental crisis. I was wrong. I used to think that the greatest problems threatening the planet were pollution, bio-diversity loss and climate change. I was wrong there too. I now believe that the greatest problems are pride, apathy and greed. Because that’s what’s keeping us from solving the environmental problem. For that, I now see that we need a cultural and spiritual transformation. And we in the scientific community don’t know how to do that. But you [in the faith community] do. We need your help.”

Is the Episcopal Church nurturing seeds of hope for better tomorrow with regard to the environmental crisis and secular venues where hopelessness persists? Are church-going Christians more hopeful than the fast-growing “spiritual but not religious” crowd? Hope is contagious. Hope is the best yardstick to use for benchmarking the church’s performance and prospects. Hope opens our minds to the things of God—no matter what the current numbers say. All things are possible with God.

The Anglican Church of Canada wants to know what the Marks of Mission look like

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From here:

Calling all Anglican photographers! Pull out your cameras, your fancy lenses, or your smartphones for our new photo contest. Capture an image that depicts one or all of the Marks of Mission and send it in to the General Synod office by January 1, 2013.

Here is my submission:

The Marx of Mission

The Anglican Church of Canada and pacifism

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As a callow youth I was an avid reader of Leo Tolstoy and became convinced that he was on to something in his impassioned support of pacifism.

Time passed and it occurred to me that to be a comfortable pacifist in a society whose order is maintained by the application of force is, at the very least, hypocritical. The Anglican Church of Canada is no stranger to hypocrisy, of course, so it is no surprise that some of its reverend gentlemen support pacifism.

The Rev. R. G. Cross has made his case for pacifism here.

Sadly, he does leave out one of the more interesting comments made by a 19-20C pacifist, Lytton Strachey. His remark is uncanny in its prescient applicability to today’s Anglican clergy. Strachey was a homosexual and when asked, “If a German soldier tried to rape your sister, what would you do”” slyly replied; “I would try to interpose my own body.”

Many would argue that non-violence is not a practical subject to be explored in the church’s life. Since the days of Constantine, the church has supported empire, the concept of the just war and the right of citizens to defend themselves against aggressors.
 Violence appears to be an integral part of the universe, and personal violence necessary, in some instances, to affirm self esteem in the face of continuing injustice and oppression.

[……]

What is the non-violent answer? The rejection of the use of force to achieve social and political goals. It involves refusal to harm another being.

Anglican Church of Canada CoGS is out of ideas

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From here:

Emerging from daylong discussions on May 25 about the future of the Anglican Church of Canada, members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) appeared to lack ideas about what the next steps should be.

In fact, members expressed feeling “overwhelmed” by the question of how to renew church structures.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that instead of hearing new ideas, he heard a lot of familiar ones following reports coming out of small group discussion. Further, he said he wasn’t convinced that members were grasping the urgency of our situation.

I have a new idea for the Anglican Church of Canada: give Christianity a try.

What won’t work is more of the same nonsense as typified by the questions CoGS was asked to ponder:

* How might God be using the current financial situation of General Synod to tell us about our future in carrying out Vision 2019?

* What might the Holy Spirit be telling us about ourselves as we grapple with the complexities of our current governance and structural challenges?

* How might Jesus be leading us on a journey of spiritual renewal through the presence of indigenous peoples among us, and their witness in the Mississauga Declaration.

Some bright spark thought the church should “clearly and proactively articulate its unique mission and ministry”. Leaving aside the obvious thought that anyone who uses the word “proactive” is mentally constipated, it goes without saying that a church that has no “unique mission and ministry”  is wasting its time trying to find ways to articulate it.

It all ended in a sacred circle in which the obstinately blinkered Colin Johnson declared that the church “is not any more broken than it ever was”. He said much the same in 2008 when parishes started leaving the ACoC; then there were 19 ANiC parishes, now there are 47. The ACoC is running out of money. No-one knows what to do. CoGS is “overwhelmed”. The situation, according the primate, Fred Hiltz, is “urgent”. Crisis? What crisis?

Stations of the Cross done as social justice

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From here:

A provocative art piece on display outside a London church is raising eyebrows for depicting a distressed pregnant girl strapped to a bed.

The larger-than-life piece is one of 14 works of The Way, an art installation on the lawn at Bishop Cronyn Memorial Anglican Church in the weeks leading up to Easter.

Collectively, the panels are meant to be a contemporary social commentary about the death and suffering of Jesus based on the stations of the cross — translated into injustice, poverty and alienation seen on the streets of London.

But one piece, facing Queens Ave., startled at least two London women, one of whom interpreted it as depicting a child in bondage.

The painting on wood is intended to illustrate the crucifixion of Christ. It shows a wild-eyed blond girl or young woman, evidently pregnant, strapped to a bed while an unseen person holds her blood-spattered wrist.

“It just made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t like it.” said the woman, who said it appears to sanction violence against children.

Given news stories about child abuse, she said the painting doesn’t make social sense, even if it’s a commentary.

Rev. Raemond Fletcher, who co-curated the show, said London artist Erin Ivy intends to show that young women who become mothers often suffer discrimination, rejection and judgment.

I have no idea where Rev. Fletcher gets the idea that mothers “often suffer discrimination, rejection and judgment”. Does he mean unmarried mothers? These days? Is his message really one that is promoting the evil notion that abortion is to be preferred to motherhood?

I do hope not – but he is a rector in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Rev Fletcher wrote a paper called Theological Dimensions of Human Sexuality. Yes, of course the paper is mostly about homosexuality because that is what really interests Anglican clergy; and there are no messy babies involved. In it, he argues for the blessing of same-sex marriages on the basis that the word “bless” is far more complicated than we think and that, even if homosexuality is a result of the Fall, in a “salutational blessing[:] we are greeting God’s presence visible to us in the relationship, wishing the relationship well, and committing ourselves, as a Christian community, to support it.” If that seems like sophistic claptrap it’s because it is.

Rev. Fletcher is also a part of the Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change , he signed a petition in favour of same-sex marriage, muddles the roles of church and state and held a Widening Circle conference .

In short, he represents almost everything that is loathsome about the Anglican Church of Canada.

The next step for Anglicans: drag queen blessings

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Anglican Church of Canada archdeacon, the Venerable M. Edward Simonton, has been in India and, in his peripatetic meandering, bumped into a number of transvestites: Hijra, some of whom, in their enthusiasm to embrace their inner woman, have had their penis, testicles and scrotum removed. Coming, as he does, from the Diocese of Montreal, the worthy archdeacon understandably felt quite at home in this milieu.

Would we not have “a different church” if we hired transvestites “to give blessings on a Sunday” he muses? Not that much different, surely.

From here:

Anyway, it just goes to show how different the world can be. A transvestite in Western culture would never be treated with religious awe let alone respect. I need not mention the history of persecution by western religions. I will also not get into Jungian concepts of the Sacred Hermaphrodite in pagan and classical religion but simple point out that the concept of a third gender is common to most cultures. Just not ours.

Still wouldn’t it be a different church if instead of persecuting transvestites we hired them to give blessings on a Sunday? And, hey, no jokes about men already dressing up in coloured ‘dresses’ every week to do just this! I know that transvestites are not the same as drag queens (the later are entertainers) but my mind immediately jumps to finale of Pricilla Queen of the Desert (the depictions are of indigenous Australian animals and the Sydney opera house). There are few church services I have been to that could not have benefitted immensely from a drag queen blessing thrown in at some point.