Category Archives: Diocese of Toronto

Queer hymns for a peculiar people

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The mission of the The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada “is to encourage, promote, and enliven congregational singing.”

Not content to remain in an obscure, irrelevant corner of unambiguous heterosexuality, the society has produced a volume containing hymns “affirming the LGBTQIA2S+ Community”.

If you choose to download it, you will find such timeless titles as: “Queerly Beloved”, “Quirky Queer and Wonderful”, “We Are a Rainbow”, “Who Is the Alien” and, my favourite, “God of Queer Trangressive Spaces” in which you will find the gem: “God’s own deviance is Jesus, born of virgin, Word made flesh”.

I don’t know how we’ve managed to do without this for so long.

From here:

Queer hymn collection offers ‘much-needed’ resource for LGBTQ+ Anglicans and allies

On July 16, three days after the vote at General Synod, the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada released a new hymn collection, Songs for the Holy Other: Hymns Affirming the LGBTQIA2S+ Community. Produced by a volunteer committee from the Hymn Society, an ecumenical non-profit association that seeks to promote congregational singing, Songs for the Holy Other includes almost 50 “queer hymns” by and for individuals who identify with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.

Drag Queen Gospel Story Time

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Drag Queen Story Time has become a popular activity in children’s libraries. Trendy parents like to send junior to the readings to be indoctrinated with the latest in gender fluidity propaganda.

Christ Church Deer Park, not to be outdone by the secular spectacle of men attempting to impersonate a bu ffarilla, celebrated Pride Week with a “Eucharist, followed by a drag show in the parish hall”.

Here is Carlotta Carlisle, drag queen, reading the Gospel during the Eucharist:

When not busy reading the Gospel in church, Carlotta likes to perform at Woody’s, a gay bar in Toronto:

From here, (page 9) where you can find more edifying and inspiring photos:

Christ Church, Deer Park’s Church on Tap community celebrates Pride month on June 14 with a Eucharist, followed by a drag show in the parish hall. Clockwise from top right: drag performer Carlotta Carlisle reads the gospel during the service.

Toronto bishops issue pastoral statement on marriage canon vote

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Read it all here:

Of all the items of business on the General Synod agenda, a lot of attention has been given to the second reading of the motion to revise Canon XXI – On Marriage in the Church to include same-sex marriage.

We do not know, nor do we wish to anticipate, how that vote will go at General Synod. We hope and pray that the Holy Spirit will infuse the conversation with holiness and will guide the results of the balloting. We are all approaching General Synod in a spirit of openness to ongoing discernment.

The College of Bishops, embodying as we do a breadth of theological views ourselves, is committed to remaining united regardless of the outcome. Whether the motion passes or fails, we will not be divided. We will stand together through the grace of God and by faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We call upon the Diocese of Toronto to stand together with us, unified in all our glorious diversity under the banner of Christ.

I can’t see much that is pastoral about this letter. It is filled more with an air of denial and desperation than of spiritual guidance and care.

Denial of the reality that the church has already fractured over same-sex marriage and desperation at the probability of the fracture widening and expressing itself as a loss of yet more members and their wallets.

And nobody is “approaching General Synod in a spirit of openness to ongoing discernment”. Anyone who has not already made up his mind about same-sex marriage has no mind to make up.

St. Paul did his best, but he made a number of errors

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Rev. Maggie Helwig, rector of St. Stevens in the Fields in Toronto made the bold assertion – one among many – in the video below; that particular revelation occurs at 14:09.

In fairness to the Rev. I think she comports herself with more dignity than her interrogators, which is a shame because I disagree with much of what she says and agree with much of what they say, even though I find the way they say it rather grating.

To an outsider, I suspect Rev. Helwig would have won this confrontation.

This took place on Baldwin St. in Toronto:

Anglican church to hold Pride Celebration Service and Drag Show

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To celebrate Pride Month (yes, it’s a whole month now), Christ Church Deer Park Anglican church in the Diocese of Toronto is putting on a Pride Celebration Service and Drag Show with Vanity a la Mode, Jada Hudson, Carlotta Carlisle and Kyle Miller. I’m not recommending that you click on those links but they are there if you simply must.

Someone asked:

child friendly or adults only?

The answer, lending an entirely new meaning to “child friendly”, was:

Absolutely child friendly.

 

Four Toronto priests write an open letter about marriage

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Murray Henderson, Dean Mercer, Ephraim Radner and Catherine Sider-Hamilton have written an open letter to the Canadian House of Bishops. Although it’s a good letter, it is little more than yet another rearguard action in what is about to become not just a losing battle but a lost one.

The interesting question is: what will the four priests do when the motion to change the marriage canon passes in July?

An Open Letter to the House of Bishops

Tuesday in Holy Week

On March 29, The House of Bishops released a call to prayer which included their hope for the upcoming General Synod. From the bishops’ point of view, there will be two doctrines of marriage in the church, and for both there ought to be support and protection.

That said, the church is still rolling like a freight train toward a formal and canonical change and the declaration of a novel and single doctrine of marriage. This new doctrine changes marriage from a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman for procreation, to an erotic agreement between adults.

The purpose has changed, and so the boundaries of marriage become unclear and contestable. Everyone understands the boundaries for marriage and marital intimacy when marriage is defined as the union of sexual opposites in which procreation and the stable nurture of children and families is logically and ontologically implied. Remove that purpose from the nature of marriage, define it primarily as an erotic arrangement between consenting adults, and marriage becomes infinitely malleable. Why limit it to two partners, for instance? There are now articulate advocates for polyamory, and fidelity to more than one partner. Change the definition of marriage, and why should there be only one relationship of depth between one woman and one woman, or one man and one man?

Furthermore, given the magnitude of the proposed change, where is the rationale for it? Where, for a matter of this gravity, is its explanation and rooting in the Scriptures and the received tradition of the church?

Was the Primate’s “This Holy Estate” the rationale? When was it ever declared publicly to be so? Was the Communion ever asked for its opinion of “This Holy Estate”? Was it ever given, borrowing from the academy, a peer review? Were the criticisms ever answered, two of the most glaring being the flat-footed omission of the central scriptural texts on same-sex relations, and the complete absence of a representative conservative scholar on the rationale’s editorial committee – like a boxing match where you never let the received tradition enter the ring.

In other words, this is not an expansion of marriage but a fundamental change. The rationale for it is questionable and unclear and without anything approaching a consensus. Altogether, it is novel and untested.

If the bishops want two doctrines at work, we would urge the House of Bishops to say so. Leave the received doctrine as it is and bring forward a motion that describes the

alternative, its aims and its rationale. Add a term limit for the two to be tested against each other, say 25 – 30 years. We believe that a majority would shout for its approval.

The bishops are right to offer this prayer. There is more than one reason to let time be the judge, to let time clarify the divisions rather than letting rashness deepen them.

Bishop Andrew Asbil has a globally warmed Easter

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As I started to read the bishop’s Easter musing in the diocesan paper, I found my heresy antennae being soothed by the gentle balm of that most remarkable unguent: an Anglican bishop who believes in the resurrection. Or, at the very least, a bishop who does a passable imitation of one.

It all turned to dust and ashes as I approached the end of the article. What really interests the bishop isn’t a man coming bodily back to life who claims to be God, claims to take our sin away, claims to reconcile us to his Father and claims that through him we, too, will come back to life and live in eternity with no more pain, tears or woe. No, what really interests the bishop is global warming.

From here (page 4):

And now, it is the very garden that is under threat. Our over-reaching and grasping ways, our neglect and cavalier attitudes have put such a strain upon creation. As temperatures continue to rise, weather patterns shift, species once named so long ago slowly disappear. Some make predictions, some deny and some believe, some downplay while others wring their hands. And what about us? How do we as a people of faith respond?

The last question that is put to us in the Baptismal Covenant in the Book of Alternative Services is: Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation, and respect, sustain and renew the life of the Earth? We respond by saying, I will, with God’s help. It’s time to find our gardening tools, to take instructions from scientists and climatologists, mystics and children, farmers and monastics, Indigenous elders and theologians. It’s time to tend the garden with all our might, to avoid the moment when, try as we might, we cannot reattach the stem to the root. After all, when we confess that God is our helper, anything is possible. Christ is Risen!

Anglican ripples of sorrow

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In a world where, for their faith, Christians are being persecuted, tortured, set on fire, beheaded, scorned, sued and, if they are the lucky ones, ignored, it takes a tragedy of cosmic proportions to send “ripples of sorrow” through a community already numbed by such tribulation.

And it has happened in Canada of all places. Toronto bishops are lamenting; their lachrymose wails can be heard echoing in the chilly sanctuaries of empty churches from Toronto to Niagara.

All because Bishop Kevin Robertson’s hubby was not invited to the party: the Lambeth 2020 party.

I have to stop now, my keyboard is covered in tears.

From here:

It has been a long tradition for bishops’ spouses to be invited to attend Lambeth as well. However, this bidding has not been extended to same-gender spouses, including Bishop Kevin Robertson’s spouse, Mr. Mohan Sharma. This act of exclusion is troubling to us. While we recognize that the issues involved in a decision of this nature are many-faceted, we wish to express our dismay and sadness at the pain that this causes all of us within the College of Bishops, but in particular Bishop Kevin and Mohan as our friends and co-labourers in the gospel. St. Paul expressed it well in 1 Corinthians 12:26, If one member suffers, all suffer together with it…

We also acknowledge that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s decision not only touches Bishop Kevin and Mohan directly, but also sends ripples of sorrow, both locally and globally, especially within the LGBTQ community. Our diocese is strengthened, inspired and deepened by the faith and witness of our LGBTQ clergy and laity. As St. Paul continues in verse 26, …if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.

I agree with Bishop Kevin Robertson

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Toronto’s Bishop Kevin Robertson is married to another man and, as a result, even though he has been invited to Lambeth 2020, his spouse has not.

Robertson thinks that this decision was “driven by homophobia”. I don’t agree with him about that since the word “homophobia” is a meaningless insult hurled at anyone who believes homosexual practice is inconsistent with a Biblical understanding of marriage and human sexuality.

I do agree with the last thing Robertson said in this article, though: ”Keeping people away and excluding people is not the answer.”

Justin Welby is still trying to present the appearance of straddling the fence on homosexual clergy and same-sex marriage while, in unguarded moments, it is obvious he has no disagreement with either. Welby privately “attempted to comfort” Robertson after breaking the news to him; it’s quite clear where Welby’s sympathies lie.

Is it too much to expect an Archbishop of Canterbury to be honest and straightforward? It seems so.

It is time for Welby to come clean, openly admit he is in favour of same-sex marriage, tell us he is taking the Church of England in that direction, invite all bishops and all their spouses to Lambeth 2020 and let those who disagree take the action that their consciences dictate.

Read it all here:

ONE of the bishops who were told that they could not bring their same-sex spouse to next year’s Lambeth Conference has accused conservative Primates of homophobia in their opposition to his presence.

The Area Bishop of York-Scarborough, the Rt Revd Kevin Robertson, a suffragan in the diocese of Toronto, said that he was not convinced that archbishops from the global South who had insisted that his husband, Mohan Sharma, could not attend the Conference were motivated solely by theological conviction.

Bishop Robertson was told in person by the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace earlier this year that Mr Sharma, unlike the husbands and wives of all other bishops, would not be invited to the Lambeth Conference in 2020.

“It was disappointing, absolutely, and I expressed that to the Archbishop,” Bishop Robertson said. He had been at Lambeth Palace for an induction event for new bishops from across the Ang­lican Communion.

[…..]

He said that in their private conversation at Lambeth Palace, Arch­bishop Welby attempted to comfort him by noting that, at the last Lambeth Conference, gay bishops themselves, let alone their partners, were not invited.

But this did not seem like much progress, Bishop Robertson said. “This is the great frustration of Lam­beth — by excluding spouses like Becki and Mohan it doesn’t allow for frank, even difficult, conversations.

“If they are not present, not seen, not known, how do we advance the conversation and build bridges through the disagreement? Keeping people away and excluding people is not the answer.”