Category Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Will the Anglican Church of Canada get out of the marriage business?

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The Anglican Church of Canada has been considering getting out of the marriage business and, instead, just “blessing” the state version of marriage.

An obvious reason for this is that the state has altered the meaning of marriage from the union of one man and one woman to the joining in a sexual, but otherwise indeterminate fashion, of men with men and women with women. The Anglican Church of Canada, applying its typical reverse-prophetic sycophancy, wants to go along with this, but has to overcome one minor hurdle: the Bible.

The answer to the problem is simple: stop marrying people altogether, just “bless” what has already been done.

From here:

A small group of bishops will lay the groundwork for a discussion of marriage within the life of the church at the November House of Bishops meeting in Niagara Falls.

The impetus for this discussion is a General Synod request to the faith, worship and ministry committee to consider the implications of having Anglican clergy cease to solemnize marriages.

It all makes perfect sense: by devaluing the idea of marriage, the church has rendered it meaningless, so why keep on doing it?

What’s more, there is a efficient replacement:

When Miguel Hanson and Diana Wesley get married today, they won’t stand before a gray haired minister holding a Bible.

Instead, they’ll be looking at a 30-inch monitor.

On one half of the screen, they’ll see a virtual minister with an animated, square face with blue eyes and thin, oval glasses.

His voice will be heard over a sound system while the text of what he’s saying will show up on the other half of the screen.

And the sermon would be shorter and make more sense.

Anglican inclusion results in exclusion

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An acquaintance of my wife was talking to her about her church, a prominent Anglican parish in Oakville, and about how unhappy she was that it was watering down the Gospel: it is promoting Chrislam, among other things.

She isn’t the type of person to make a fuss, complain or confront the church’s leaders; at some point she will just quietly leave.

And that’s how Anglican inclusion works. Anyone who actually believes that Christianity is true – is a Christian, in other words – is made to feel so uncomfortable at the onslaught of syncretic babble that flows so effortlessly from the pulpit, that their distress compels them to depart.

What is left is an exclusive club of likeminded zealots with little left to celebrate other than the self-congratulatory myopia so characteristic of those who pride themselves on their tolerance.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada votes to bless same-sex marriage and is cheered on by the Anglican Church of Canada

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From here:

The Anglican Church of Canada, full communion partner of the ELCIC, supported the meeting. The Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, addressed convention and presided at closing worship. General Synod staff supported online communications.

Human sexuality was one of the most highly anticipated and vigorously debated subjects at National Convention. Delegates first approved a social statement on human sexuality, the result of a four-year consultation and drafting process. The statement analyzes the current social situation, provides theological and ethical foundations, and applies insights from the first two sections to the contemporary situation.

Delegates then passed three motions related to the statement: an Affirmation Concerning the Unity of the Church; a policy statement allowing ministers to preside at or bless legal marriages, including those between same-sex couples, according to the laws of the province; and a policy paving the way for the ordination and installation of gay and lesbian pastors.

The ACoC and ELCiC have been in bed together – or, to use the euphemism currently in vogue, in full communion – since 2001. The two denominations share the same disbeliefs, their members are fleeing at a similar rate and both are impecunious to the extent that neither can afford to hold an independent synod.

On one front, the ECLiC is ahead of the ACoC: they have voted to bless same-sex marriages. At its last synod, the ACoC didn’t vote on this at all, preferring instead to issue a Sexuality Discernment Statement, a document of soporific insignificance that, with a nudge and a wink, tacitly gave dioceses the all clear to do whatever they want, while attempting to protect the national organisation from culpability in the resulting mayhem.

This permitted Fred Hiltz to stay out of trouble with Rowan Williams by claiming that he exercised gracious restraint – the only concept I know that is more meaningless than those contained in the Sexuality Discernment Statement – while giving him the luxury of applauding the ELCIC as it throws itself off the cliff of gender political correctness.

We can only hope that Fred and his ex-church follow suit before the shrieks of the ELCIC waft up when it meets its doom at the bottom.

A collector’s item for those of impeccable taste

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I imagine it’s a common experience for those of my generation, but when I was a small child my grandmother always used to give me socks and underpants for Christmas. My cynicism began early, so I quickly concluded that her perverse indifference to my desire for a remote controlled motor boat was a result of her desire to curry favour with my mother who always seemed to approve of such “sensible” gifts. In defence of my mother, I learned later that she thought they were just as daft as I did.

Over the years I have come to realise that the giving of a White Elephant is an art form –  not that my grandmother indulged in such frivolity, she just loved socks and underpants. So I am considering a bid on these, in anticipation that I will, at some point, find someone with a sufficiently well developed lack of taste to truly appreciate their splendour.

 

The Anglican Church of Canada’s Buzz video wins an award

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From here:

An Anglican Video production, “Vision 2019: catch the buzz,” was awarded the Bronze Remi award in  the religion, ethics, and spirituality category at Worldfest 2011, Houston, Texas. WorldFest received more than 3,200 entries from 33 countries.

When I watched the video, I found it cringingly embarrassing in its desperation to appear trendy: a fatal mistake, since technological trendiness only lasts a few hours. Everyone who is really trendy knows that Facebook is now passé and Google+ is where the action is. You even need an invitation to gain access.

The rest is all Gandhi, spiritual not religious, quixotic utopianism, unjust structures, Gaia – the usual stuff. When Jesus is mention, it’s because he created a buzz and went viral, banalities that are already beginning to sound dated.

Here it is:

Rev. Brent Hawkes awarded honorary degree by Trinity College, University of Toronto

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From here:

Hawkes, one of Canada’s leading gay rights activists and a Toronto pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church, was awarded an honorary degree in recognition of his advocacy for marginalized groups and championing for equality.

Trinity College in the University of Toronto is an Anglican theological school. I bet that surprises everyone.

The Anglican Church of Canada's continuing mission

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From here:

The building — formerly St. Matthew’s Anglican Church — is being moved to Avondale to become part of the new Avondale Sky Winery, owned by Stewart Creaser and his wife, Lorraine Vassalo.

“We needed a building to make our wine in and to sell our wine in. We’ve moved an old barn to our property to make the wine in and this building will be used to sell our wine,” Creaser told CBC News on Wednesday.

St. Matthew’s Anglican Church was built in 1844 and deconsecrated in 2008. Creaser and Vassalo bought the building for $1.67 — the same price the congregation paid for the church in 1844.

At least this latest outreach of the ACoC is something I can wholeheartedly endorse.

The Anglican Church of Canada mining justice

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Clerics from the Anglican Church of Canada met in Toronto and started digging for justice. I’m expecting to see giant drills and back-hoes roll past my door any minute.

From here:

As churches, we recognize our internal contradictions and complicity with respect to resource extraction, and the urgent need to practice responsible consumption and citizenship.  Therefore as people of faith who are members of local church congregations, we need to further develop our theological understandings of the issue, address our individual and collective lifestyles, develop an alternative economic model, and challenge the political and economic powers that drive the resource extraction industry. This conference may be a step toward a clear church expression of the need for change.

Oh, I get it, they are not excavating for justice at all: they just don’t like mining. Or consumption; or doing anything that violates the rights of the Earth; or capitalism.

I expect all the attendees, copies of Walden in hand, walked to the conference and shacked up in cardboard boxes under the Gardiner Expressway.

Anglican Journal reports “sombre reactions to Bin Laden's death from religious leaders”

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A lot more here:

Christian leaders cautioned against applauding a death while acknowledging bin Laden’s role in killing others. “Nobody should wish to rejoice at the death of a man, but the world w ill rejoice if recent events prove to be a vehicle to reduce the level of violence and hatred in the world,” a Vatican Council of Bishops official who asked to remain anonymous told ENInews. “We pray for the soul of Osama bin Laden and for the souls of all those killed in violence, and ask God for the blessing of peace.”

It’s odd that the Anglican Church of Canada is obsessed with “doing justice”, yet it doesn’t seem to be too keen on rejoicing at this particular spot of well-deserved justice.

Surely the august organ of the Anglican Church of Canada is not biased in favour of its own parochial, culturally blinkered version of justice?

Anglicans and Lutherans join forces

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From here:

Inter-church communion the norm in future, predicts primate.

Holding aloft a spade with a bright green pointed blade, Archbishop Fred Hiltz delivered a stirring May Day sermon at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Buffalo, N.Y. The service was one of two Canada-U.S. border services, the other in Fort Erie, Ont., celebrating a decade of full communion between Anglicans and Lutherans…..

In Canada, full communion is already manifest in a number of ways. “The National Bishop [Susan Johnson] and I speak with one another every month,” said Archbishop Hiltz. “We share joint messages for Christmas and Easter and release joint statements on many issues, most recently on poverty and homelessness in Canada.”

The two churches held the first joint meeting of their respective governing councils in April and are developing a theme for the joint meeting of the National Convention and General Synod in July 2013 in Ottawa.

While interdenominational cooperation between Christian churches is a commendable endeavour, this particular excursion into ecumenical harmony has more the flavour of two waning liberal-to the-point-of no-longer-being-Christian-churches pooling their diminishing resources in an effort to stay afloat in the face of plummeting attendance and income.

Good for them: may they sink together.