Category Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Church of Canada membership falling at 10% per year

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In 2019, the church’s statistics and research officer, Canon Neil Elliot, predicted that the Anglican Church of Canada would cease to exist to exist in 2040. The prediction was based on a yearly attrition of 2.5%. Members are now leaving at the rate of 10% per year, making the church’s demise in 2040 look optimistic.

The reasons we are given for the accelerated decline are COVID – of course – and an overall de-Christianising of Canada. These are both legitimate points.

Notably absent from the diagnosis of the malaise is any hint of self-refection on the possibility that the Anglican church may have taken a wrong turn at some point. That its attempts at being more worldly than the world, gayer than Peter Tatchell, more trans than Caitlyn Jenner and altogether queerer than TNT Men cavorting at the Toronto Pride Parade, just isn’t working.

The whole thing is worth a read at The Journal:

The Anglican Church of Canada is shrinking faster than it was in the years before a much-discussed 2019 report, recently collected data suggest.

According to the church’s statistics and research officer, Canon Neil Elliot, metrics of church size including electoral rolls and distinct identifiable donation sources show membership dropping by about 10 per cent nationwide during 2020, and prelimary data suggest a similar decrease in 2021.

The findings follow Elliot’s 2019 extrapolation, presented to the Council of General Synod (CoGS) that year, which projected that if the church’s rate of membership loss continued there would be no one left by the year 2040. But the rate of decline during the pandemic years is considerably higher than the membership loss of around 2.5 per cent per year the church experienced in the years leading up to COVID-19, Elliot says. The precise reasons for this accelerated decline are unclear, he adds.

Some church leaders, however, say there’s more to the church than the number of its members—and numeric decline is no reason for despair.

“The church absolutely will be smaller, we absolutely know that … I think it’s too simplistic to simply say we’re dying. I think we’re going through an age of transformation,” says Peter Misiaszek, director of stewardship for the diocese of Toronto. “And that age of transformation will mean fewer parishes, but hopefully healthier parishes.”

Elliot adds that it’s important not to blame the shrinking of the church on anything its clergy or parishioners are doing—or failing to do. Rather, he describes the phenomenon as part of a “spiritual climate change,” which is affecting not just the Anglican church, but religious communities across North America and Europe, too.

Canadian Primate claims Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda have separated from the Anglican Communion

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Archbishop Linda Nicholls stated in an email to the Anglican Journal that provinces that did not attend the latest Lambeth conference have “separated from the Anglican Communion”.

Does she mean by this that Anglicans in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda are fake Anglicans, pale imitations of the genuine article?

When Canadian Anglicans left the Anglican Church of Canada for the Southern Cone and later formed ANiC, this was the claim explicitly made by ACoC clergy, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that Nicholls it is implying this. The fact that the provinces that did not attend Lambeth have full, vibrant churches while liberal western Anglicanism is little more than a twitching corpse whose nervous system is still functioning but has disconnected from any resemblance of sentience does not bother the archbishop. One almost gets the impression she is glad to see the back of these troublesome conservative provinces.

The other interpretation is that liberal western Anglicanism “separated from the Anglican Communion” some years ago by abandoning orthodox Christianity. Not only is it an Anglican fake, but a Christian fake.

From here:

The Anglican churches in Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda have effectively separated from the Anglican Communion by refusing to participate in the Lambeth Conference, says Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Like many other Canadian bishops, however, Nicholls also says she left this summer’s meeting in Lambeth, U.K. with a prevailing sense of hope for the future of the Communion.

About 650 bishops attended this summer’s Lambeth Conference, a gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world which last met in 2008. Much media coverage of the conference focused on disagreement over same-sex marriage, particularly after primates of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda refused to attend in protest at the invitation of bishops in same-sex unions. The same three provinces had already boycotted the 2008 gathering—attending a meeting of conservative bishops, the Global Anglican Futures Conference, in Jerusalem instead—as well as the meeting of Anglican Communion primates in March 2022.

Reached via email, Nicholls said the Lambeth boycott is a sign those provinces have left the global grouping of Anglican churches.

“Some have already indicated by their non-participation that they have separated from the Anglican Communion,” she said, confirming she meant the provinces of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. “Others continue to participate despite disagreement and I see that continuing into the future.”

Anglicans in heat

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What happens when a church ceases to believe in the transcendent, in heaven, in hell, when its god shrinks to manageable dimensions, when the hereafter is less important than the here-and-now?

It becomes obsessed – in those rare moments when it isn’t exploring the nether regions of homoerotic fantasies – with climate change.

Saving souls from overheating now is more important than in eternity.

As the headline trumpets: “Climate change tops agenda at WCC Assembly, say Canadian delegates”.

From the Journal:

Climate change tops agenda at WCC Assembly, say Canadian delegates

The top concern of this year’s World Council of Churches (WCC) Assembly was unquestionably climate change, says Canon Scott Sharman, the Anglican Church of Canada’s animator for ecumenical and interfaith relations.

The assembly also released statements on issues of reconciliation and unity, the war between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Palestine. But Sharman says the amount of discussion on climate change; the way it cropped up throughout plenary sessions on other topics, like racism and Indigenous issues; and even a march for environmental justice organized by delegates to the assembly all served to stress one central theme. In the words of a statement the WCC delegates released on the meeting’s last day, “We are running out of time. This Assembly is the last chance we have to act together to prevent the planet from becoming uninhabitable. In particular, no further delay is possible if we are to have any chance of staying within the safer limit of +1.5°C global warming and of avoiding vastly more catastrophic climate change.”

With the WCC only meeting every eight years, says Sharman, he and other attendees felt a sense of urgency to come together on an effective response.

Anglican Church of Canada does not oppose euthanasia

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It is legal for a doctor to euthanise a person in Canada. Not just someone whose death is imminent, but also a person with a mental disorder who has decided – or been persuaded – that is it better to die than live. The ACoC is going along with this because it is not interested in “opposing the law”. In the Anglican Church of Canada, we call this being prophetic.

And, after all, abortion up to and during birth, prostitution and smoking marijuana are also all legal and the Anglican Church of Canada doesn’t oppose them either. So at least its consistent. Consistently cowardly, spiritually bankrupt and in thrall to the zeitgeist.

From here:

The Anglican Church of Canada should continue to focus on providing pastoral care to people who are considering medical assistance in dying (MAID), not on opposing the law, says Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Bill C-7, passed in March 2021, opened up the option for patients whose deaths are not imminent—and, as of next March, those suffering only from mental disorders—to seek MAID, attracting some controversy. As the Journal reported in the first part of this series, some advocates for the rights of people with disabilities have criticized it on the grounds that it offers death as a replacement for adequate care. (See “Justice and the new assisted death”) And at least two authors of In Sure and Certain Hope, a 2016 document offered as a resource for discussions around MAID, believe the bill raises questions which may require a new response from the church.

But any new response by the church is unlikely to involve taking a public stance on the law, Nicholls says.

“It’s been clear for some time that the mood in Canada [is] not … to consider what churches have to say about this,” she says. “It’s been seen as imposing Christian values—which I think is a little unfair, as I don’t think all of the arguments have been based on a faith perspective.” Meanwhile, the shrinking staff of the church’s national office has limited capacity to take on a question of this size, she adds, especially as the law, in her view, is a “fait accompli.”

Canadian Primate, Linda Nicholls, instructs Pope on how to do synods

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I was unaware that the Roman Catholic church has a death wish, but it has. The Pope is seeking advice from the leader of the denomination that, by its own admission, will cease to exist by 2040.

In fairness to the Pope, he only wants advice on how to run synods – and that’s really easy if you do it the Anglican way: he could have asked me. Take the last Anglican Church of Canada General synod, for example. The same-sex marriage motion failed to pass. Within a few days, most of the dioceses represented at the synod announced their defiance and declare they would perform them anyway.

So what could be easier? Assemble a list of motions, discuss them, vote on them and – ignore the result. The beauty of this is that it doesn’t matter what the motions are because no one has to pay any attention to the outcome: they are all meaningless. In fact, the whole thing is meaningless. Best not to hold a synod at all. Think of the money it will save.

Read more about it here:

Anglicans have an indispensable role to play as Roman Catholics start a two-year conversation on how to become a more “synodal” church, Pope Francis said at his first meeting with Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Nicholls met the pope at the latest meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), which took place in May at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace in Rome. Due to the absence of Philip Freier, archbishop of Melbourne and Anglican co-chair of ARCIC who was attending the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, the primate spoke on behalf of the Anglican side of the dialogue. Nicholls presented a formal statement on ARCIC from the Anglican perspective. ARCIC’s other co-chair, Bernard Longley, Archbishop of Birmingham, England, spoke on behalf of Roman Catholics.

Anglican Church of Canada: sexual misconduct and a breach of trust

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As I mentioned here, in 2019 the Anglican Journal abandoned all pretence at editorial independence.

I am not convinced it would have made much of a difference to the muddle the ACoC hierarchy has made of dealing with charges of sexual misconduct made against ACoC clergy, but there remains no doubt at this point that the Journal, its policies and its articles are in the firm grip of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The names of the complainants were extracted under protest by the ACoC from Journal staff who were made aware of them on the understanding that they would remain confidential. The promise of confidentiality was broken by Alan Perry, general secretary of General Synod.

To his credit, the Journal editor resigned over this breach of trust. Alan Perry did not, even though some are urging him to do so.

As in so many of these grubby affairs, hand-wringing and wordy (how these priests like to prattle) apologies abound but the only real consequences are those suffered by the innocent parties: the victims, the Journal editor (Matthew Townsend) and a staff writer (Joelle Kidd).

If this were a secular organisation – sorry, I misspoke, it is, of course – heads would roll. Heads close to or at the top.

There is more in this article from the Journal and a great deal of detailed information on the ACCToo website:

In a footnote to their open letter posted this February, #ACCtoo organizers Michael Buttrey and Carolyn Mackie blame the Anglican Journal governance policy General Synod adopted in 2019 for enabling the alleged breach of confidentiality and privacy for which the letter calls the church to account.

“We believe this abuse of power was enabled by a motion adopted at the 2019 General Synod meeting in Vancouver that changed the mandate, oversight, and reporting structure of the AJ,” the footnote reads.

The subject of their open letter is the sharing in spring 2021, by senior church management, of a draft article intended for Anglican Journal sister publication Epiphanies containing allegations by anonymous sources of sexual misconduct in the church, with four institutions related to these allegations. By the time this article was being written, #ACCtoo’s open letter, which calls for the Anglican Church of Canada to apologize, make amends with the survivors and require the resignation of Archdeacon Alan Perry, general secretary of General Synod, had attracted the attention of several news outlets. But very little of the media coverage had dealt with the governance issues the letter raised—the policies that govern the Anglican Journal.

Anglican Church of Canada has 2 year budget surplus of $8M

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This, we are told, is not so much a reversal of a general financial downward trend but a saving on travel expenses during the pandemic and shrewd investments in the capitalist system the church is otherwise bent on destroying.

Read all about it here:

The Anglican Church of Canada’s national office recorded two consecutive multi-million-dollar yearly surpluses in 2020 and 2021, for a combined total of just over $8 million, the church’s treasurer and chief financial officer has confirmed.

As reported to the Council of General Synod (CoGS) in March, General Synod netted an excess of revenue over expense of $3.6 million. But the corresponding figure for the previous year was also in the millions—just over $4.5 million, treasurer Amal Attia says.

The two figures added together approach the national office’s total spending in 2021, which was $8.5 million.

A 2020 financial statement was presented to CoGS in May 2021, but was not reported on by the Anglican Journal at the time. The CoGS session took place on the weekend immediately after then-acting editor Tali Folkins departed for a sabbatical leave, and immediately before then-editor Matthew Townsend returned from a two-month parental leave—and shortly before the sudden departure of both Townsend and staff writer Joelle Kidd over the sharing by church management of a draft article on sexual misconduct. (See “Off on the wrong track?” on p. 8 of this issue.)

The church should plan to carefully steward the combined $8 million in revenue surplus and savings it accrued across 2020 and 2021, say two of its financial leaders. General Secretary Archdeacon Alan Perry and Attia caution that the pandemic years have offered a windfall that will not likely be repeated.

There’s no recent precedent for this, says Perry, noting that over the past couple of decades, the revenue for the church has been trending downward as congregations shrink. “Having a surplus of any kind is quite extraordinary. And especially of this size,” he says.

The surplus should not be taken as a reversal of that downward trend, Perry says. Rather, it represents a couple of key factors that set the pandemic years apart. The first is a substantial savings on money the church normally sets aside for travel expenses as clergy and lay leaders travel for ministry and church governance. When the pandemic postponed some of those meetings and moved others online, the church saved money.

The other major component is that the past few years have been unusually successful for the church’s investments, which increased in value by about $6 million over the course of their eight-year maturation period, says Attia. Some of that comes to the church in the form of capital gains, she says, but the majority of it doesn’t come back in cash until and unless the church decides to sell those investments. As a result, much of that $6 million is in the value of the stocks the church holds, not money it has at its disposal.

 

Bishop Mark MacDonald resigns after sexual misconduct allegations

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Mark MacDonald, the National Indigenous Archbishop, has resigned after being accused of and acknowledging sexual misconduct.

The Anglican Church of Canada announced this today here, along with a pastoral letter from the Primate, Linda Nicholls.

All evidence of MacDonald’s clerical existence has been expunged from the ACoC’s website, which until a short time ago said this:

The Most Rev. Mark MacDonald became the Anglican Church of Canada’s first National Indigenous Anglican Bishop in 2007,  after serving as bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Diocese of Alaska for 10 years. In 2019 now Bishop MacDonald was elevated to Archbishop.

This was a home-coming of sorts for Archbishop MacDonald, who had attended Wycliffe College in Toronto and served as a priest in Mississauga, Ont.

As Nicholls notes in her pastoral letter:

This is devastating news. The sense of betrayal is deep and profound when leaders fail to live up to the standards we expect and the boundaries we set.

[….]

The ripple effects of this misconduct will be felt throughout the Church both in Canada and internationally, but most especially within the Sacred Circle and Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples.

Adam’s gender is ‘more poetic than clear cut’

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Thus blazes an Anglican Journal headline for an article about the Anglican Church of Canada’s new trial liturgies for gender transition.

Apparently, the mistake we’ve been making for the last 6,000 years or so is to fall into the trap of thinking that men and women actually exist. They don’t. There is only humanity. Now we’ve finally realised that we have taken “an amazing step forward into full inclusion.” Or, depending on your perspective, confirmed Sophocles’ warning: “those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad”.

Read all about it here:

“Although [Christianity] has followed cultural norms about gender wherever it’s been lived and expressed, there is in its theology and its foundation documents in the New Testament a considerable focus on our humanity and not on our gender,” Beardsley said. This focus on humanity rather than gender find reflection in one of the liturgies CoGS commended for trial use, “A Blessing Over the Process of Gender Transition”. This blessing states that according to Scripture, the “first human’s gender is more poetic than clear cut—this first human embodiment included maleness, femaleness, and more than these—all of this was affirmed as very good.” The Rev. Theo Robinson, a transgender priest at Interlake Regional Shared Ministry and consultative body member, called approval of the liturgies for trial use “an amazing step forward into full inclusion.”

Mammon ambivalence in the Anglican Church of Canada

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The Anglican Church of Canada is more of a crypto-Marxism cabal than it is a Christian denomination, so it isn’t surprising to find a bishop writing this in the Anglican Journal:

The intimate connection of individual lifestyle and global economic and political practices has been revealed in forceful detail. Yes, there are big actors that enflame this crisis—governments and corporations—but it is very clear that the tolerance that lets such deadly misbehaviour continue arises from our personal captivity to comfort, luxury, and wealth. And this tolerance is not just for what is overwhelming our planet. We have also accepted, with no major protest that I can see, the hideous damage that our present greed-related practices have inflicted on the poor, Indigenous peoples, and on the creatures that share Creation with us.

[…….]

Jesus showed us how to make this world and its relations sacred through the ceremony he gave us. This ceremony looks and acts towards his coming again, a time when God “will be all in all.” (1 Cor 15:28) What humanity has done through the global culture of money is the opposite, with the poor bearing the consequence. To make no choice in regard to these realities is an act of violent moral consequences. We must engage in a spiritual revolution, based in Eucharistic discipleship, and move in concert with and activate public policies and practices that will change these things. We must, in a hallowing of the Name of God, choose life.

A few pages further on in the paper we learn that clergy are rejoicing in how much profit (sorry, budget surplus) the church raked in in 2021:

Archdeacon Alan Perry, general secretary of General Synod, said the church was running a surplus for the year, to date, of more than $600,000. “That’s really extraordinarily good news,”

This is peanuts in the overall picture, though: The Anglican Church of Canada has around $1.2 billion invested in church pension funds, diocesan investments and trust funds. Shameless Capitalism.

Presumably, these considerable sums are somehow cleansed of the global culture of money and greed-related practices by virtue of Eucharistic discipleship. Whatever that is. To put it more simply, the ACoC is a major player in ecclesiastical money laundering.

Further on in the paper, we find the new ACoC treasure intoning these words that were clearly inspired by Squealer’s speech in Animal Farm:

“We don’t look at the work we do [as] bringing money for profit,” she says.
“We’re bringing money to help others. This is not the organization’s money, to be honest with you. We look at it as God’s money, and God gave it to us so we can utilize it to the best interests of everyone and to the benefit of everybody.”