Category Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

The Anglican Church of Canada hopes to become an abuse-free church

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Does that mean “welcome back ANiC, you can stay in your buildings”? Probably not.

From here:

In June, the second international conference of the Anglican Communion Safe Church Consultation will ask some hard questions about social and religious structures that perpetuate abuse. Partnering for Prevention: Addressing Abuse in Our Communion & in Our Communities, scheduled to take place at the University of Victoria, June 24 to 26, will explore the legacy of church abuse and how to prevent it and foster healing.

“Abuse happens in the church because we perpetuate structures of clericalism that place clergy in unrealistic positions of power and adulation among the faithful,” said Rev. Mary Louise Meadow, past canon pastor of the diocese of British Columbia and a conference co-coordinator.

I must admit, I am well past the stage of adulating clergy. Come to think of it, for most ACoC clergy, I seem to have passed rapidly from indifference to contempt with no intervening period of adulation.



How does the Anglican Church of Canada plan on attracting people?

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By lowering the standards for membership. Of course, by doing so, everyone will catch on to the obvious fact that by requiring little from its followers, the church has little of value to offer: the lower the cost, the lower the value, the less the desirability of the merchandise, the fewer people interested.

In its ceaseless striving to become worthless, the Anglican Church of Canada is considering offering Communion to those who don’t believe in it. From here:

Should we invite persons who are not baptized to receive Holy Communion? The church is discussing this question today. Anglicans traditionally have believed that the eucharist is a family meal, reserved for members of the church through baptism. Those who are not baptized are not members of the church; therefore, they cannot participate in the family meal.

This exclusive view of the eucharist has a long history. St. Paul warns against eating and drinking in an “unworthy manner” (I Cor. 11:27), though he seems to leave the decision whether to partake in the meal to each person’s conscience (I Cor. 11:28). Closed communion is standard practice in some Christian churches, including the Roman Catholic and Orthodox. However, many Anglican churches throughout the world now practice open communion. There are good reasons, both missional and theological, for doing so.

 

The Fall was really a rejection of stewardship

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According to the Anglican Church of Canada:

The first crisis of human stewardship came with our first ancestors’ decision to test the sovereignty of God by consuming the only fruit in the garden reserved exclusively to the Creator. Rejecting stewardship and embracing the illusory promise of sovereign possession of the garden, they initiate a continuing pattern of exploitation, entitlement, violence and destruction that plagues human participation in the life of the earth. There is only one essential stewardship question: Will we make use of resources entrusted to us to serve God’s mission, or for purposes that we ourselves devise or that are thrust upon us by an economy that depends absolutely on growing consumption to sustain it?

The ACoC must be really desperate for money if it has resorted to a more literal interpretation of Adam and the apple than the most fervent fundamentalist.

The usual interpretation of the unhappy events in the Garden of Eden is that Adam rebelled against God by disobeying the one thing God asked him not to do: eat the apple from the tree of life. Adam ate because he wanted to become like God and when he did, sin entered the universe, polluting it and us until the end of time.

Not so for the Anglican Church of Canada: for them it’s all about the apple. It’s God’s apple, you see – he really likes apples – and we pinched it from him: thus began the evil of capitalism.

All this reminds me of what my dog must be thinking when he licks yellow snow and I pull him away: “master wants to lick it himself”.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Martin Brokenleg does some more David Kato handwringing

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From here:

It is not Anglican requiem tradition to eulogize the deceased, although it would be easy to do so in the case of David Kato. He was Anglican, openly gay and worked for human rights for sexual minorities.  Born in Uganda, he lived for some time in South Africa, a safe place for gay and lesbian people.  Then in 1998, the same year that Matthew Shepard, also Anglican, was beaten to death in the United States, David returned to Uganda to work for justice for gay and lesbian people. He founded Sexual Minorities Uganda and was known internationally for his work.

At around 2 pm on Jan. 26, 2011, David was beaten to death with a hammer. He was in his own home in Uganda. No ordained Anglican clergyperson came to bury him. Instead, a lay reader was sent to lead the funeral.  When the lay reader denounced gay persons, some in the crowed cheered. Then a young lesbian named Kasha seized the microphone and spoke about David’s work. Eventually, an Anglican bishop not recognized by the Church of Uganda because of his support for gay folk, spoke a comforting word.

What Brokenleg doesn’t bother to mention is the real reason David Kato was murdered. It wasn’t because someone who hates homosexuals decided to take it out on Kato. Nor was it because Kato was a Christian or a gay Anglican: it was because Kato had promised to pay a criminal to have sex with him and after the deed was done, didn’t pay up.

I can’t help wondering whether the Rev. Canon Dr. Martin Brokenleg has as much sympathy for the thousands of Christians who are being martyred, tortured, arrested and turned out of their homes – usually in Islamic nations – or whether they hold little interest for him since they are being persecuted for their faith not their sexual proclivities. We never hear “requiems” for them, so, presumably not.

The Anglican Church of Canada continues to claim that it isn’t obsessed with deviant sex. Who believes them? Not me.

Anglican Church of Canada: Vision 2019

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It seems to be disappearing more rapidly than I anticipated. The main page, which on December 15th yielded:

Now shows:

One can only assume that the Anglican Church of Canada has decided to bury the corpse before it begins to stink.

All is not lost, however: the Vision 2019 report lives on – for now.

Among my favourite sections is the timeline appendix where the plan for promoting the Five Marks of Mission can be found. The ambitious scheme suggests that by 2019:

“Most Anglicans know of the Marks, and half can name three.”

Very much like Moses and the 10 commandments. Moses presents his plan to God:

“In 10 years most Israelites will know of the commandments and half of them will be able to name 6”

The Anglican Church of Canada and its $600 million

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From here:

State Street has been appointed by the General Synod Pension Plan of the Anglican Church of Canada to provide custody, securities lending and other services for CAD $600 million in assets.

  • Services include custody, fund accounting, securities lending, foreign exchange
  • CAD $600 million in assets to be serviced

State Street has been chosen by the General Synod Pension Plan of the Anglican Church of Canada to provide custody, fund accounting, securities lending and foreign exchange services for CAD $600 million in assets.

The Plan, registered with the province of Ontario and was started in 1946, provides benefits to clergy and lay employees of the Church and related organisations.

A match not made in heaven, perhaps, since State Street has had legal action taken against it for, among other things, misleading investors over sub-prime investments, highly risky illiquid investments, failures to disclose risks to investors and “unconscionable fraud”.

As this article notes,

Over the past two years the US custodian has lost money and reputation. The search is on for new fee revenue to support the industry colossus that the bank has become.

I expect State Street is gratified to have found a church to bolster its fee revenue – if not its reputation.

In Anglican Church of Canada, the Gospel is part of a Sacred Circle

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From here:

The Gospel in the Centre of our Sacred Circle has become an important and dynamic part of the growing spiritual movement among Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island.

The Gathering Prayer
Creator, we give you thanks for all you are and all you bring to us for our visit within your creation. In Jesus, you place the Gospel in the centre of this Sacred Circle through which all of creation is related. You show us the way to live a generous and compassionate life. Give us your strength to live together with respect and commitment as we grow in your Spirit, for you are God, now and forever. Amen.

Why does the Gospel of Jesus Christ need a “Sacred Circle”? There are a sufficient number of unappetising “Sacred Circles” to make any association – even if just in name, although it appears to be more than that – between them and a church a thing to be assiduously avoided.

Here are some examples: The Wiccan Sacred Circle,  The Shamanic Sacred Circle, the Tarot Sacred Circle and, my favourite, the Canada Goose Sacred Circle (also Shamanic).

The Anglican version appears to be based upon the First Nations Sacred Circle which has nothing at all to do with the Gospel and has probably only been adopted by the ACoC out of a misplaced sense of guilt.

The Anglican Church of Canada sings Silent Night

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From here:

This Sunday, Nov. 28, is the time to act. Everyone is encouraged to sing “Silent Night” and to send in videos to General Synod as part of the Silent Night Project.

Regrettably, Bishop Michael Ingham and half the other bishops in the ACoC  succumbed to choking fits when they sang the line “Round yon Virgin Mother and Child’. Luckily, there were no fatalities since the bishops, having recited the Creeds every Sunday, are well-practised in spouting what they have long ceased to believe.

Anglican Church of Canada to spend $360,000 on fund raising campaign

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From here:

1. That the Philanthropy department be authorized to initiate and facilitate a nation-wide diocesan-centred fundraising initiative to benefit parishes, dioceses and General Synod.

2. That dioceses not involved in a similar campaign be encouraged to engage in this initiative, with the understanding that the “case for support” will include aspects of the case for [support of] General Synod.

3. That a feasibility study for this initiative be conducted in up to 10 dioceses. The results will be shared with the participating dioceses and the CoGS.

4. That the Council of General Synod approve $200,000 to invest in the nationwide fundraising initiative being undertaken by the Philanthropy department.

With CoGS approval of the additional $200,000 for the initiative, its budget for the year is $360,000.

As the article goes on to observe: “there are pools of generosity in the life of our church that have not yet been fully tapped.” I expect the average Anglican parishioner will be excited to be thought of as a pool of generosity ripe for tapping.

In between dinner-time phone calls peddling windows and duct cleaning, brace yourself for a new one from the Anglican Church of Canada trying to raise money to pay for its litigation lawyers.

The Anglican Church of Canada’s Christmas evangelism

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This whole article is worth reading if only to reinforce the suspicion that when the ACoC uses the word “evangelism”, what it means has absolutely nothing to do with saving people from hell through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Instead, it is about market share: how do you entice more people into the church building.

Several years ago, Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente wrote about how much she enjoyed attending Christmas Eve worship. She was raised an Anglican.

She also said she didn’t believe a word of what was said.

What struck me was not that she didn’t believe the Christmas story, but that she still attended church on Christmas Eve. In fact, she even received communion.

As you can see, Margaret Wente doesn’t believe a word of what was said – just like many Anglican priests.