Some parishes in the Diocese of Niagara want to get rid of their clergy

Posted on January 24, 2012 by David

In their zeal to be frugal, it seems that some Niagara parishes are considering firing their clergy. Bishop Michael Bird isn’t happy with this and has sent out a letter scolding parishes tempted to subvert his vision of a Generous Culture of Stewardship in this way:

We have heard of several parishes that are considering a motion at their Annual Vestry meeting to reduce the level of clergy staffing to save money in the parish budget. We want to remind clergy and churchwardens that the appointment of licensed clergy and lay workers and the conditions of their employment are under the purview of the Bishop (not the Vestry). To entertain such a motion has ethical and legal implications, reaching far beyond budgetary concerns.

Impecunious parishes need not despair, though: the letter goes on to offer a vague hope of diocesan assistance. I expect the bishop will be donating a portion of his $112,000 stipend to flagging congregations. Those wishing to apply for grants should send an email to: bi****@**************an.ca.

Occupiers urinate on a cross

Posted on January 23, 2012 by David

Presumably, this is an attempt by the Occupy movement to further ingratiate itself with The Episcopal Church.

Oddly enough, even though any minute I’m expecting to read a statement from an Occupy admiring bishop explaining how this furthers the church’s mission in some obscure way, it hasn’t worked.

The Occupiers have been asked to leave within two weeks. This gives them plenty of time to come up with new mischief with which to tax the limits of the gracious pastoral response that benighted clerics feel compelled to extend to anyone muttering the incantation “poor and marginalised”.

The Occupiers also stole part of a baptismal font; still, what more could they do in two weeks?

Arson.

From here:

There’s no longer room at the inn at a Manhattan church that’s sheltering Occupy Wall Streeters after a holy vessel disappeared from the altar last week.

When the Rev. Bob Brashear prepared for Sunday services at West Park Presbyterian Church on West 86th Street, he noticed parts of the bronze baptismal font were gone.

In a fire-and-brimstone message to occupiers later that day, he thundered, “It was like pissing on the 99 percent.”

In Brooklyn, at another church housing OWS protesters, an occupier urinated on a cross, according to Rabbi Chaim Gruber, who has angrily abandoned the OWS movement.

In a letter last week to OWS obtained by The Post, the rabbi fumed, “The Park Slope church housing occupiers was desecrated when an occupier peed inside the building and the pee came into contact with a cross.”

The pastor of the church did not return calls.

At West Park, Rev. Brashear walked into the church for a morning service to find the 18-inch-diameter bronze basin and lid missing from the baptismal font’s 800-pound base. Holy water — straight from the River Jordan — had been poured from the missing basin insert into the base’s bowl.

[….]

The pastor has given protesters two weeks to vacate the church.

Taliban executes 15 Pakistani soldiers

Posted on January 22, 2012 by David

From here:

A video showing fifteen Pakistani soldiers being lined up and shot dead by a firing squad has been released by the Taliban.

The paramilitary troops were abducted on December 23 in what the terror group described as an operation to avenge the deaths of insurgents in Pakistan.

The release of the horrific video is intended to serve as a warning to Pakistan’s 600,000-member army, which has failed to break the back of the insurgents despite superior firepower and a series of offensives against their strongholds in mountain regions.

Someone should explain to these Taliban chaps that they really shouldn’t go round kidnapping people and shooting them in the back of the head because it will be used as a recruiting tool by the U.S. military.

Richard Dawkins to debate Rowan Williams

Posted on January 22, 2012 by David

The event is actually billed as a “Dialogue” – a mini-indaba, no doubt – and will take place on February 23rd at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. That’s the same venue where Dawkins didn’t debate William Lane Craig.

The fact that Dawkins has agreed to this “Dialogue” is a measure of his confidence that he will make mincemeat out of Rowan Williams.

Judging by this clip, I suspect his confidence is not entirely misplaced:

My favourite part of this exchange comes at the point where Rowan tries to explain miracles, specifically the Virgin Birth:

Rowan: Here you have a long history of preparation for the coming of God in a new way, here you have a particular life, that of Mary opening itself up to the action of God in a certain way and then there is an opening. Something comes through, something fresh happens which is not – if you like – a suspension of the laws of nature but nature itself opening up to its own depths – something coming through.

Dawkins: I’m not sure what that means.

Rowan: It’s poetic language.

It sounds to me more like a description of a cosmic bowel movement than “poetic language.”

Diocese of Niagara: Frodo and Gandalf walk down the aisle hand in hand

Posted on January 22, 2012 by David

The Diocese of Niagara has a liturgy for blessing same sex marriages.

Those same sex couples who are a little uncomfortable with some of the things the Bible has to say about their nocturnal hanky panky, needn’t worry since they can choose a “secular reading” for the Proclamation of the Word. And why not? After all, the Bible has no place in today’s Anglican church; neither does God, come to think of it.

One of the readings is J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Road Goes Ever On”; it can be found in The Hobbit and in Lord of The Rings where it works very well. I’m not sure that it is quite so well suited to the Proclamation of the Word, though. One can only hope that, after reciting it, the happy couple both disappear when they put their rings on.

Occupy St. Paul’s invited into a school

Posted on January 20, 2012 by David

From here:

The group behind the anti-capitalist protests outside St Paul’s Cathedral is to be invited into schools to teach pupils how to start their own campaigns.

Teenagers will learn about the Occupy movement, which has for months blighted London with its ‘Tent City’ protest, as part of their citizenship lessons.

Critics have attacked the move, warning head teachers it is ‘dangerous’.
It is feared that protesters could use the opportunity to indoctrinate youngsters and gain fresh recruits.

[….]

Mr Kelsey-Fry insisted that pupils will not be indoctrinated with Occupy’s beliefs, adding: ‘We want them to further their own ways of engagement. It’s not a recruiting situation.’

That’s a relief; for a moment I thought that the only reason the tent brigade could possibly have for going into schools was to convince children that they, too, should pick up their tents and Occupy.

What I had forgotten is that they would probably not be allowed to do what must be done for an effective recruitment drive: urinate on someone. Not on the first visit, anyway.

Diocese of BC in financial trouble

Posted on January 19, 2012 by David

The diocese has $2.2M in accumulated debt, a budget deficit for 2012 of $180,000 and rapidly declining revenue from parishes.

To pay its debt, the diocese is busy selling empty buildings and is not allocating funds to anything other than debt reduction.

The diocese’s financial predicament wasn’t improved by the $315,000 it spent in legal fees to remove the parishioners of the Church of St. Mary of the Incarnation, Metchosin from their building – that’s all a part of being a missional church, of course.

The diocese is consuming itself simply to stay alive. Still, at least it is paving the way for the rest of the Anglican Church of Canada.

For more details go here.

Too many stop signs in Toronto contributing to global warming

Posted on January 19, 2012 by David

Next time you are pulled over by the RCMP for a rolling stop at a stop sign, you have a new excuse: you are helping to prevent global warming.

From here:

Is the rapid spread of stop signs in Scarborough contributing to global warming?

City of Toronto staff were given two months to find out, but couldn’t.

The investigation started in November, when Mike Del Grande, councillor for Scarborough-Agincourt, appeared concerned about the number of new stop signs being approved for the area.

A vestige of Occupy Toronto lives on

Posted on January 19, 2012 by David

From here:

TORONTO – A dozen Occupy Toronto members set up a small tent city adjacent to City Hall Tuesday to protest the cuts in the city’s 2012 budget.

Late Wednesday, they were still there and determined to have their voices heard.

Why do you need a tent to make your voice heard? Are they talking tents?

This ragtag assortment is protesting the Toronto budget cuts. Except, that is, for Wes Trotman who seems to be on a camping vacation and has just lost his way:

Wes Trotman is camping out, but admits he doesn’t know anything about the budget.

St Paul's occupiers to be evicted

Posted on January 18, 2012 by David

The Occupy St. Paul’s protesters have lost their court battle and will be evicted.

Reaction from the church was predictable:

The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, commenting on the ruling, said: ‘Whatever now happens as a result of today’s judgment, the protest has brought a number of vital themes to prominence.

‘These are themes that the St Paul’s Institute remains committed to exploring and, now through London Connection, we want to ensure they continue to have a voice.

‘Bishops cannot have all the answers to what are complex economic problems. What we can do, however, is broker communications and make sure that a proper connection between finance and its ethical and moral context is found.’

It will be a profound relief to the clergy of St. Paul’s to return to the main mission of the Church of England: criticising capitalism from comfy armchairs, sherry in hand, without the tedious inconvenience of having to wade through a tide of smelly protesters first.