Category Archives: Diocese of Niagara

Anglican priest wants to keep Christ out of Christmas

Posted on by
7

Brian Pearson, a retired Anglican priest from the Diocese of Niagara – where else – has chosen this Christmas to expose the fundamental tenets of Christianity for the myths they really are.

Forget the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, angels from the realms of glory, Magi and a miraculous star. All much too literal: Jungian mythical thinking is what we need.

Keep Jung in Christmas!

From here:

Consider this. The Christmas story is not just about Jesus. Yes, it’s a theological construct designed to bolster the Christian claim that Jesus is the Son of God. But it’s also a mythic tale that has something to say about all of us. Or why would we still be telling it, lo, these many years later? It’s not supposed to be just about him!

The hardest sermons I had to preach in my 38 years of ministry as a parish priest were at Christmas and Easter. People wanted to hear the old, old stories, and they didn’t want you messing around with them. It was hard because, as literal stories, they not only beggar our ability to believe, they have almost nothing to say to us. Jesus was born of a virgin. Okay, interesting! Jesus rose from the grave. Well, how nice for him!

These stories only speak to us if we see them as the myths that they truly are, that is, as stories that may not be literally true, but that tell a certain kind of universal truth. Or, as a First Nations saying goes, “It may not have happened just like that, but every word of it is true.”

As to Christmas, what could a virgin birth, an angelic visitation, and a guiding star possibly have to do with us? Unless, that birth is viewed mythically — as hope in a dark world, as each new birth is; as attended to by the angels, as all births are; as changing the world, as every birth does.

Then the story shifts to become a lens through which we see our own miraculous arrival, both literally, as babies, and spiritually, as we become the people God made us to be. I was a sign of hope, when I was born; the angels watched over me, and celebrated; my presence has changed the world, forever. Now that’s something to chew on over Christmas dinner.

The Jungian writer James Hillman says literal thinking is the enemy of mythical thinking. You make a story literal — like, insisting that the virgin birth was historical fact — and you squeeze all the life out of it. But mythical thinking — well, there we are, right in the middle of that story, right down to our soul.

Brian Pearson is a retired Anglican priest (formerly from Niagara).

Diocese of Niagara parish holds Islamic interfaith service

Posted on by
6

Rev. Joan Dunn of All Saints Anglican Church in Erin invited two imams and 30 Muslim worshippers to a Eucharist for joint Christian/Muslim prayers and a question time with the imams.

I’m at a loss to understand why a question time was necessary. Is Dunn unaware of that most marvellous invention, the Internet? With little effort she could have discovered that Islam teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross, did not atone for our sins, was not resurrected, and was not God incarnate. Must be a perfect fit with diocesan theology.

From here:

A behind the scenes look into the Erin Islamic Cultural Centre
On Sept. 29 the mosque held an interfaith service with Rev. Joan Dunn at the All Saints Anglican Church just up the street.

“We all have the same faith, the same prophets,” said Celik, explaining that the community is curious about the new mosque and had questions about the Islamic faith.

The Erin Islamic Cultural Centre is inside a former Christian church. The group purchased the historical building and converted it into a mosque, trading wooden pews for soft carpet.

Celik said the shift was quite simple, as the site was already zoned as a place of worship. The building has a separate prayer area for women, as well.

To make the imams feel comfortable, did Rev. Joan Dunn sit in a separate prayer area for women?

Note that the Erin Islamic Cultural Centre is inside a former Christian church. So is All Saints Anglican Church.

Diocese of Niagara ordains Michael Coren

Posted on by
7

October 20th was the date of one of the strangest ordinations ever to have taken place in the Diocese of Niagara.

When St. Hilda’s left the diocese to join ANiC, Michael Coren was very supportive. Here are a few snippets from his emails at the time:

“You’re doing great work and I know that you’ll be okay in the end.”

“Glory!!!!!!!!!” (after we won our first court case)

“Unbelievable! They are such self-caricatures. I’ll use it on TV and perhaps radio.” (referring to some of the antics of the Diocese of Niagara)

“All four of us on TV tonight supported you – including Sid Ryan and another former NDP candidate. LeDrew too – former Liberal president. We’re getting somewhere. Again, let me know what I can ever do.” (after St. Hilda’s was sued by the Diocese of Niagara)

“I was in Aylseford two weeks ago and met with some liberal Anglicans. My golly they’re a stupid, nasty lot.”

All that was from 2008. Now, in 2019 he is standing grinning in the midst of a bunch of liberal Anglicans, having just been ordained by the bishop of a diocese full of clerics who are “self-caricatures”.

What is the explanation? Has Coren embarked on a fifth column mission designed to bring down the diocese from the inside? Has he completely lost his marbles? Has the  the real Coren been taken over by an alien pod?

Perhaps he just has a thing for plump female bishops.

Bishop Susan Bell is doing more to respond to climate crisis

Posted on by
3

That means she is throwing away her iPhone which is made in China, the most profusive polluter on the planet.

Just joking, that would be going too far.

From here:

Although the climate crisis is not news, nor our lack of a speedy and effective response, the rising voices of our young people demanding that we take action on the most pressing issue of our time is striking.  I cannot help but respond to the urgency that is being expressed in the climate strikes, inspired by Greta Thunberg, happening around the world this week, including here in our own diocese.

[…]

The Anglican Church of Canada recognizes that there is a climate emergency and we are called to do more to live up to our responsibility as the protectors and of God’s earth.

Anglicans describing their own reality

Posted on by
10

Popular culture would have it that Truth is relative and subjective: you have your Truth, I have mine and we can all get along.

Now Reality itself has suffered the same fate in the Anglican Church of Canada. According to Bishop Susan Bell, there is no objective Reality. Each diocese “describes its own reality”.

From here:

The bishop of Diocese of Niagara says she isn’t surprised the Anglican Church of Canada voted against recognizing same-sex marriage.

[….]

“I really lament the pain for our LGBTQ2S+ community,” says Bell,  “and for everybody who desired this change.”

But she says that, “We went into the vote with something in our back pockets.”

She’s talking about a document that was drafted before the vote, that allows each diocese to decide individually if it wants to recognize same-sex marriage.

The Niagara diocese already recognized same-sex marriage, before the vote, but Bell says she understands that there are some dioceses and bishops that have not gone ahead with that.

She says the document allows each diocese to describe their own reality.

Diocese of Niagara will ignore Marriage Canon vote

Posted on by
3

Bishop Susan Bell has announced that, in spite of the fact that the synod motion to amend the Marriage Canon was defeated, she will continue to marry same-sex couples.

If bishops are free to do this, why bother with a vote? Why bother with a synod?

More here:

A Message from the Bishop of Niagara
The Right Reverend Susan Bell

My heart aches with lament and my soul is filled with anguish knowing all the pain and hurt caused by the General Synod’s failure to ratify a change to the national marriage canon that would have explicitly expanded the meaning of marriage to include same-sex couples.

To the members of the LGBTQ2S community especially, I want to say that I stand with you and I share in your tears. I deeply value the person God beautifully created and called you to be and your contributions to the life of our Church.  Your faithful witness has been long, difficult, prophetic, and sacrificial, and I give thanks to God for it.

While I am deeply disappointed, the General Synod did also overwhelmingly vote to affirm the prayerful integrity of the diverse understandings and teachings about marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada. This includes the inclusive understanding of marriage affirmed by the Report on the Marriage Commission, This Holy Estate, that we hold in Niagara.

As a result, nothing about this decision will change our practice in Niagara; I remain steadfast in exercising my episcopal prerogative to authorize the marriage of all persons who are duly qualified by civil law to be married, thereby responding to the pastoral needs present within our diocese. Two rites of The Episcopal Church, The Witnessing and Blessing of a Marriage and The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage 2 continue to be authorized for use in our diocese, in accordance with our established episcopal guidelines.

There will be more to say in the coming days but for now I ask your prayers and solidarity for and with the LGBTQ2S community, globally and locally, in the wake of this decision and in the face of persistent discrimination, oppression, and violence. Pray also for the members of General Synod that in the days to come the Holy Spirit will help us discern a way forward that upholds the dignity of every human being and boldly proclaims God’s Way of radically inclusive love.

Diocese of Niagara’s Dean Peter Wall declares opposing abortion to be un-Christian

Posted on by
20

The Cathedral Dean of the Diocese of Niagara thinks those who oppose abortion cannot be Christians:

Here he is reacting to the recently signed Alabama law making aborting unborn babies a felony:

As a Christian myself, it is a shameful embarrassment to see the word Christian attached to those who would support Alabama’s outrageous law. What is Christian about being anti-abortion or maliciously ‘pro-life’?

Here is the tweet:

I am just as much at a loss to understand how being pro-life could be “malicious” as I am to reconcile dismembering babies in the womb with being a follower of the Giver of life. If anything is a “shameful embarrassment”, it is the Dean’s repulsive tweet.

The Canaanites who sacrificed their children to the god Moloch look almost benign in comparison to the contemporary equivalent. At least they thought they were appeasing their god; we sacrifice to appease our sense of convenience.

I agree with Wall about one thing: his Christianity is not mine.

Diocese of Niagara, bow down to your god:

No Resurrection in the Diocese of Niagara

Posted on by
11

Rev. Wayne Fraser thinks the resurrection of Jesus never happened.

Apparently, if we disbelieve in the central tenet of Christianity, “our eyes are opened to see so much more”. We can see that Christianity is essentially political, we can recite tired cliché’s such as speaking truth to power, instead of confronting and repenting of our own sin we can do something much easier: “confront injustice where we find it”, we can stop believing in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, and we can tell each other things we don’t actually believe like “Alleluia! Christ is Risen”.

And people wonder why we fled the Diocese of Niagara.

From here (page 6):

When I became an adult, I realized the Sunday School teacher had been right. A physical resuscitation of a human body is impossible. The heart will not accept what the brain rejects. What do we celebrate on Easter morning? Without insistence on physical resuscitation, our eyes are opened to see so much more. Understanding the political and religious contexts of the execution of Jesus by Rome, we see the injustice of the state and the courage of the Anointed One to speak Truth to Power. “What is Truth?” Pilate asked, unable or unwilling to see it plainly standing before him. Freed from a literal reading of the gospel accounts of a physical Resurrection, we see the growing enlightenment of the disciples and experience the deep symbolism of the Easter story. We become Resurrection people, enabled to confront injustice where we find it, to love our neighbours as ourselves, to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and befriend the stranger. No longer having to believe the Crucifixion as a propitiation for the sins of the whole world, we can rejoice in the Original Blessings of this life and the At-one-ment of the Indwelling Spirit. Love over and around us lies and we can tap into that source of strength as Jesus did to forgive seventy times seven, to begin anew when we err and to nourish abundant life for all creation. On Easter we can sing together, “Praise with elation, praise every morning, God’s recreation of the new day.” And we can greet one another, “Alleluia! Christ is Risen

The Reverend Dr. Wayne Fraser is Interim Pastor at St.Paul’s (you remember, St. Paul the fellow who said “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” That puts Reverend Dr. Wayne Fraser’s preaching into perspective, at least) Dunnville and can be reached at fr*********@***il.com.

Come to the Diocese of Niagara to have the deep-seated need of who you are confirmed

Posted on by
4

Confirming the “deep-seated need” of who I am has, of course, nothing whatsoever to do with the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is much more interested mere peccadilloes such as saving us from eternal damnation and reconciling us with the Creator of the universe. We are very blessed, then, to have Bishop Susan Bell to set us…… straight.

As it happens, for a while I’ve felt a deep-seated need coming on to be recognised as the Pacific Ocean. Tomorrow I plan to self-identify as such and visit my local diocesan parish to have it affirmed.

It will be a huge source of joy and I will finally be equal with my whole family who unanimously self identify as asexual anthozoan coral reefs except for uncle George who, though a process of conversation, prayer, relationship, deep study of the scriptures and theological scholarship has moved through various stages of understanding and grappling to arrive at a place of conviction that he is a jellyfish. Personally, I think he has been seeing too much of Bishop Susan Bell.

This should help you to be more authentically who you are:

The Syncretistic Diocese of Niagara

Posted on by
3

The Diocese of Niagara is promoting a book by Bishop Carlton Pearson called “God Is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu … God Dwells With Us, in Us, around Us, as Us”.

Pearson was declared a heretic by his church in 2004 and  now espouses a treacly new-age universalism laced with generous helpings of meaningless gibberish such as “Self Actualization” and “Expanded Consciousness”:

Stand with our Movement to inspire Self-Actualization of Soul and Self and Expanded Consciousness. Support us in our stand for global freedom from extreme religious tyranny, unreasonable dogma, and fear-based theologies. Help us reclaim, recover and inspire radically inclusive love on this planet to activate and inspire the best and most accurate spirituality!

The Diocese of Niagara is attracted to this sort of thing like a moth to a flame:

God Is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu … God Dwells With Us, in Us, around Us, as Us

by Carlton Pearson (Atria Paperback, 2010)

Rob Roi

In the preface the author writes, “Christian, Jewish, and Islamic theologies teach us that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. If this is even close to the truth, then to believe in God is to believe in yourself — in your own soul.”

Bishop Carlton Pearson dares to ask questions we Christians don’t ask, or even think about: What is God? Where is God? Who is the true God? Questions about the divinity of Jesus, and the real political motives of the church. He claims that living in Christ consciously has nothing to do with rules, rites or rituals, and even less to do with what has become to be known as Christianity.

Bishop Pearson respects the bible, pointing out that it is a book of history and allegory — a book of myth, magic, and miracles that sheds light on our interpretations of God and the actual, unfiltered wisdom of Jesus.

The Bishop ends his book with, ”No, God is not a Christian, nor a Jew, Muslim, or Hindu, but you can be one, or anything else you’re inclined to be, as long as you don’t let whatever that is obscure the magnificent, mystical, and transcendent spirit you are and will always be!”

The Reverend Rob Roi is a parish deacon at St. James’ Dundas.

No sane person thinks God is a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Hindu: that would be a category error, confusing creator with creature and founder with disciple. What Pearson is getting at is that he thinks there is no difference between Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Hinduism, an idea that makes nonsense of them all.

At the bottom of all this rubbish is the age-old temptation that was Satan’s downfall: I will be my own god; I will be like the Most High.

We seek to help teach and remind people of their personal and powerful and often forgotten Divinity…Jesus said, “Ye are gods.”

[….]

I believe in my own Self and Soul, my own Spirit, my own destiny, and my power to create, co-create and re-create it.

It appears to be the Reverend Rob Roi’s downfall, too.