Category Archives: Diocese of Rupert’s Land

Bishop William Cliff’s inhibition lifted

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Cliff was inhibited after an allegation of misconduct surfaced shortly after he was elected.

An investigation into the allegation tells us that it was “thoroughly and professionally investigated by members of the Safe Church Resource Team (SCRT) of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario” “with a definitive finding that the allegation against Bishop Cliff is not supported by the evidence.” “The findings were clear and unambiguous.”

You can read the two letters from bishops Anne Germon and Michael Oulton here (my bold).

The allegations against Bishop Cliff have been thoroughly and professionally investigated by members of the Safe Church Resource Team (SCRT) of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario over the last three months. The members of the SCRT in Ontario were trained and resourced to conduct the investigation which was undertaken in a manner which is consistent with best practices and with the principles of Natural Justice. The investigation was overseen by the Chancellor of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. There was no other involvement by leadership.
The investigators concluded that the evidence did not support the allegation.

In a Journal article Archbishop Anne Germond said, “The report of the investigators is confidential and will not be released”.

In summary, William Cliff has been exonerated but we don’t know what the allegation was, we don’t know who made it, we don’t know the details of the investigation and we are being asked to take on trust that the findings of Safe Church Resource Team (SCRT) of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario were independent and unbiased.

That sounds transparent.

Anglican Trans-Porting to Uganda

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Rev. Theo Robinson, a transgender priest in the Diocese of Rupert’s Land, is one of the people responsible for producing the newly adopted liturgies for gender transition and affirmation.

Robinson is delighted that it reaffirms we are an inclusive church.

The bishop of Rupert’s Land, Geoff Woodcroft, is also excited by the prospect of using the liturgy for what, undoubtedly, will be a flood of candidates eager to fill his church’s deserted pews to partake of the new offering.

Woodcroft is so enamoured of his progressive openminded omnierudite pieties (poop™ for short), he is bent on exporting them to those whom he regards as less enlightened than himself, specifically Ugandans.

From here:

At the same time Woodcroft commended the new liturgy for use by churches in the Diocese, he sent a letter to Stephen Kaziimba, Primate of Uganda, condemning his recent decision to champion that government’s new law criminalizing homosexuality.

“We are outraged that a member church of the Anglican communion could recklessly betray Christ’s teaching to love, and blatantly violate The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Woodcroft wrote in the letter, which was also sent to Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury and head of the worldwide Anglican Church.

“We are deeply saddened and disturbed to know that Ugandan LGBTTQ+ people, their families and allies must live in prisons of isolation formed by fear,” he said, adding “the disciples of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land hear God’s call to care for God’s children in every time and place.”

Queer Evensong at Holy Trinity Anglican Church Winnipeg

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The Queer Evensong is being organised by Pastor Theo Robinson, who is transgender and Rev Andrew Rampton, a homosexual.

During the COVID panic we were introduced to a new expression – which I rapidly came to loath – The New Normal. The New Normal for ACoC parishes is a Queer Evensong run by a transgender and a homosexual.

From here:

Creating a safe place to worship for LGBTTQ+ people is the goal of a service Sunday in downtown Winnipeg.

The service — possibly the first of its kind in the province — is being organized by Theo Robinson, a transgender male and regional pastor for the Interlake Shared Ministry, and Andrew Rampton, rector at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

Queer Evensong starts at 5 p.m. at Holy Trinity (256 Smith St.).

Robinson serves churches in Selkirk, Teulon, Arborg, Lundar and Riverton through the ministry, which is operated jointly by the Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land and the Manitoba and Northwest Ontario Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. He came up with the idea because queer people often “don’t feel safe” in a church context.

For those of you whose wokeness remains unsated by a Queer Evensong, Holy Trinity is also offering “From the Religion of Whiteness to Religion Otherwise”, a balm to sooth the nerves of all who wallow in guilty whiteness. In case you didn’t know, whiteness is a religion:

This Newcombe Lecture (presented by the department of Religion and Culture at the University of Winnipeg) engages cultural theorist W.E.B. Du Bois’ idea that Whiteness (another word for which is “settlerism”) is a religion–indeed, that it is apocalyptic cosmology. Du Bois’ creative writing will be considered for the understanding it advances of Blackness as postapocalyptic poetic living–an alternate, even fugitive way of being with the earth that hosts new relationalities, new socialities after Whiteness, or religion otherwise.

Why, I wonder, is the Anglican Church of Canada headed for extinction by 2040? It’s a mystery.

Diocese of Rupert’s Land will ignore Marriage Canon vote

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Bishop Geoffrey Woodcroft has written to members of his diocese to say he intends to make use of the Local Option – also known as the Loophole Option – and proceed with same-sex marriages:

The Chancellor of the Anglican Church of Canada, Mr David Jones,has stated that the marriage canon does not preclude that marriage is between awoman and a man:The Anglican Church of Canada affirms, according to our Lord’s teaching as found in Holy Scripture and expressed in the Form of Solemnization of Matrimony in the Book of Common Prayer, that marriage is a lifelong union in faithful love, and that marriage vows are a commitment to this union, for better or for worse, tothe exclusion of all others on either side. This union is established by God’s grace when two duly qualified persons enter into a covenant of marriage in which they declare their intention of fulfilling its purposes and exchange vows to be faithful to oneanother until they are separated by death. The purposes of marriage are mutual fellowship, support, and comfort, and the procreation (if it may be) and nurture of children, and the creation of a relationship in which sexuality may serve personal fulfilment in a community of faithful love. This covenant is made in the sight of God and in the presence of witnesses and of an authorized minister.

At the 116th Session of the Synod of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land, held in October 2018,the group facilitating our discussions concerning the proposed change to the Marriage Canon reported that of all things discussed, our #1 priority was to nurture respectful relationships. Given that outcome, I am exercising my authority to continue the Rupert’s Land conversation that will leadto an Opt-Inpractice of Local Option in the matter of same-sex couples seeking marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada through the Diocese of Rupert’s Land, by January 1, 2020.

Diocese of Rupert’s Land ordains first transgender deacon

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From here:

As the first openly ordained transgender deacon in the Anglican Diocese of Rupert’s Land, Theo Robinson feels called by God to help heal the rift between LGBTTQ*people and the church.

“I want to show people who are afraid to go to church (because of their sexuality) they are welcome,” said Robinson, 40.

“I want to help heal the wounds of those who have been rejected.”

Robinson, who works in spiritual care at Misericordia Place, was ordained May 1 to serve as a transitional deacon — someone on the path to priesthood.

Theo Robinson was born Theresa Jennifer Robinson but now describes herself as a man in spite of the fact that she possesses no Y chromosome.

I don’t doubt her sincerity or wish her anything but God’s blessings. Nevertheless, I find myself wondering why an Anglican Diocese whose task it is to encourage parishioners to find their true identities in Christ, should choose someone so confused about her own identity to help them do it.

Geoff Woodcroft elected bishop in Diocese of Rupert’s Land

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Geoff Woodcroft was elected coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Rupert’s at an electoral synod Saturday, June 16.

If you hack your way through the dense undergrowth of clichés sprouting lushly in the article below you will discover that Woodcroft supports same-sex marriage. It appears that this is now a requirement for being a bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Woodcroft, 57, says he is “overwhelmed by the generous expression of the diocese” and surprised by the numbers of votes he received. He was elected on the fifth ballot, after receiving 48 votes from clergy and 75 from the laity. “It’s an absolute thrill,” he says.

Woodcroft says he is passionate about moving the church away from seeing itself through the lens of scarcity. “I see us as being abundantly blessed,” he says. He is looking forward to shifting the way the church is evaluated from “old metrics” like numbers on Sunday, to stories of “how disciples carry Christ into the world,” he adds.

“What are the volunteer things we’re doing? How many volunteer hours? What are the things that we’re doing—in narrative rather than numerical form—that really show the goodness of God working through the church? I think that those are the things that are actually going to be the excitement that helps us build the church yet again.”

Bishop-elect Geoff Woodcroft (middle) with Diocese of Rupert’s Land Bishop Don Philipps and Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, metropolitan of Rupert’s Land, shortly after his election

Woodcroft says his first goals as bishop will be to get to know clergy and their families, to reach out to rural areas and to promote reconciliation. “What permeates everything we do is the spirit and drive towards reconciliation.”

Woodcroft is an associate of Rupert’s Land Indigenous Council and was an Anglican representative at the Independent Assessment Process hearings as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, listening to the stories of settlement claimants and offering, if invited, statements of apology.

He says he has learned a lot from Indigenous elders. “I think I am a better person because I know that I have to be on a path of reconciliation.”

His church, St. Paul’s, also worked with Cree ministry Wechetowin to create a memorial to residential school survivors at The Forks Historical Site in Winnipeg.

In response to a questionnaire given to candidates prior to the election, Woodcroft said that he will support same-sex marriage, adding that the decision to facilitate same-sex marriage is not unanimous in the diocese. “We need a generous conversation about Christian marriage, including same-gender marriage,” he wrote. He added that “local option is a good beginning; but I also think we can dig deeper into the giftedness of our many parishes to achieve a more comprehensive solution that does not threaten or divide any of us from one another.”

Michael Curry’s sermon in Diocese of Rupert’s Land Pride Parade

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All you need is love. Because love is the only way. Any kind of love. For anything or anyone. Anywhere, anyhow, any way you like it. Because love is the only way. And because Michael Curry said so in front of the queen. And because the Archbishop of Canterbury applauded along with every other half-witted bishop in the Western hemisphere.

An exodus of bishops from the Anglican Church of Canada

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These are the bishops on their way out: Niagara’s Michael Bird; Toronto’s Colin Johnson; Primate Fred Hiltz; and now, Rupert’s Land’s Donald Phillips.

They are all liberal and heartily endorse same-sex marriage. Why have they all decided to leave now? Do they know something we don’t about the fate of the ACoC? Are they concerned that there is no future for them in the ACoC because they are all heterosexual? Have they reached that stage in life when ambition yields to the sad realisation that all the ecclesiastical mayhem that can possibly be inflicted on the Anglican Communion in one lifetime has already been wrought during their climb up the greasy clerical pole?

We may never know but at least it is satisfying to bid them adieu.

From here:

Diocese of Rupert’s Land Bishop Donald Phillips plans to retire in the fall after the election of a coadjutor bishop this June, saying that it’s important to “go out on a high note.”

Phillips, who is 63, says the decision was “more personal than diocesan,” coming as it did after his wife’s retirement last summer. “I’m thinking, 18, 18 and a half years—that’s a good long run.”

[……]

Moving forward, Phillips sees the challenge of maintaining stipendiary ordained ministry as pressing for the diocese of Rupert’s Land and the Anglican Church of Canada. “Increasingly now, we’re having parishes that can’t afford to close, but they can’t afford a full-time priest…the way that [clergy] are deployed will hopefully start to change.”