Anglican clergyman agues for civil same-sex marriage before Australian parliament

Posted on by
1

The very Reverend Peter Catt reckons that same sex marriage doesn’t impinge on marriage at all, even though it unavoidably changes the Biblical definition of marriage from a divinely established covenant between a man and a woman to something arbitrary and man-made. Rev. Peter Catt is Dean of St. John’s Cathedral, so perhaps he hasn’t been able to find the time to read the Bible.

From here:

THE Anglican Church of Australia’s Very Reverend Peter Catt says a same-sex marriage Bill would not deny or denigrate the legitimacy of marriage.

Addressing the parliamentary hearing on same-sex marriage on behalf of the church’s social responsibilities committee, Dr Catt said civil unions instead extended the liberties of same or opposite-sex couples.

“I really don’t see that this impinges on marriage at all,” he said.

He said children were better off in a relationship with good values, which included gay couples, and said bad marriages actually did more to undermine the institution of marriage.

Occupy St John’s, Shaughnessy

Posted on by
Reply

The Diocese of New Westminster, having secured legal ownership of St John’s, Shaughnessy’s building, is looking for a new rector for the church. Such is the paucity of suitable contenders in Canada, that Michael Ingham on a recent trip to Canterbury, asked Rowan Williams for suggestions.

And now, according to this, Rowan Williams has come through:

Archbishop Rowan Williams has followed-up and recently sent +Michael a letter suggesting two possible candidates for the Interim Ministry position at St John’s, Shaughnessy.

It looks as if Rev. Giles Fraser or Rev. Graeme Knowles might have found a new job.

The Diocese of Montreal loses money in the markets

Posted on by
5

Obviously no one has told the diocese that capitalism doesn’t work any more and, even if it did, that it is fundamentally unChristian.

From the diocesan paper (page 4):

The fund that handles the investments of the Diocese of Montreal has not escaped the impact of conditions in Canadian and world financial markets.

According to a report to the diocesan synod in late October, the net asset value of the Anglican Balanced Fund, a private mutual fund in which the units are owned by the Diocese, certain parishes and related institutions, stood at $27.69 a unit (the equivalent of a share) on August 31, down from $29.33 at the end of 2010 and $28.40 year earlier.

Coincidentally, in the same issue we find a favourable review of Terry Eagleton’s “Why Marx was right”.  I am unsure as to how a revue of a book about Marx found its way into an ostensibly Christian paper other than to note that not only did Marx predict the end of capitalism but that, as could be said of many of Canada’s Anglican clergy: “He was, of course, an atheist; but one does not need to be religious to be spiritual”.

It does go to show that those in charge of diocesan investments should read their own paper, not to mention consult their lefty clergy, Rev. Canon Paul Jennings, Very Rev. Michael Pitts and Rev. James McDermott all of whom visited Occupy Montreal upon which they bestowed their anti-capitalist blessing.

And now for something completely different

Posted on by
1

An Anglican clergyman says something sensible about how Christianity might be applied to the financial mess and the St. Paul’s occupation.

Read it all here:

The best thing the Church seemed to be able to come up with was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s support for a new ‘Robin Hood’ tax — in other words, another financial instrument to add to the pile. But what might have been a better response, given the complexity of the issues involved?

The first answer in any realm of public responsibility lies in the model Jesus Christ set before his followers, as the Lord of all who nevertheless came “not to be served, but to serve”.

I remember a lecturer many years ago who argued that this ought to be the guiding principle of Christians in the arts. The first goal of the artist, he said, should not be self-expression but service of others. The answer to the question, “What should I paint or sculpt or design?” should be, “What could I paint or sculpt or design that would be of benefit to someone else?”

Yet this can apply to financiers as much as to artists. The guiding principle here should be not “How much money can we make?” but, “How can I best be of service?” In every occupation and relationship, those who claim to follow Christ should follow his example of being “the servant of all”.

 

Gaza flotilla crybabies

Posted on by
Reply

The latest Gaza flotilla, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, transported a group of Canadian poseurs to meet their fate as martyrs manqué at the hands of the IDF.

According to an initial report:

“There is one Canadian, from London, Ont., who was harshly beaten,” said Dylan Penner, an Ottawa-based spokesman for the group Canadian Boat to Gaza.

A subsequent report softened the harsh beating to being roughed up:

However, Penner said he had been told some activists — including David Heap, a Canadian from London, Ont. — were “roughed up” when they refused to leave their vessel. Two other Canadians — Montrealer Ehab Lotayef and Torontonian Karen DeVito — were also aboard the Tahrir, but organizers haven’t been able to reach any of the activists directly so far.

Now, it’s apparent that the twerp, David Heap, is tweeting from an air-conditioned Israeli jail equipped with free Internet access, having fully recovered from possibly being jostled as he was removed from the boat:

Foremost among these is David Heap, a University of Western Ontario faculty member who claims to have been “tasered” and “bruised” as Israeli soldiers hauled his unco-operative self from the high seas. From the title of the article he wrote for the left-wing site Rabble.ca — “I write from cell 9 in the Apartheid State of Israel” — you would think he was Martin Luther King with a Twitter account, penning manifestos from a Birmingham jail. But even by his own morally self-aggrandizing account, he is “basically ok” after his high-seas experience.

[…..]

Heap and his friends set their compass for a confrontation with the Israeli Defense Forces, the most humane and professional military in the Middle East. And their only real punishment for trying to bring material goods to a terrorist-controlled regime in Gaza is to spend a few days in climate-controlled, Internet-equipped Israeli jails complaining about their ordeal to journalist pals back home.

Mr. Heap’s whining campaign isn’t nearly as dangerous as the tactics used by other activists, but it certainly is far more annoying.

David Heap is employed by the University of Western Ontario to teach French Studies, not, presumably, from a flotilla boat as this UWO graduate notes:

As a UWO graduate, and an Ontario tax payer, I would like to find out if Dr. Heap is currently drawing a salary supported by the tax payer, while undertaking non-academic activities of dubious nature, which have been denounced by our Foreign Minister John Baird in the past. I would also like to find out if students that registered at the faculty to be instructed in French by Dr. Heap are receiving an equivalent level of instruction, given the potential for Dr. Heap to be absent for quite some time?

Linda Gibbons spends 3 months in jail on outdated injunction

Posted on by
6

Linda Gibbons, a 63 year old great grandmother has just spent three months in jail for silently protesting outside the Morgentaler abortion clinic. The arrest was for violating a court injunction designed to prevent her protest – except the injunction was invalid because it was out of date.

So while a harmless little old lady is illegally incarcerated for three months because she protested the killing of unborn babies, an assortment of degenerate yahoos are allowed to break numerous bye-laws by camping in a Toronto park to protest capitalism, all the while being enthusiastically cheered on by Church, union and batty journalists. That’s called social justice in this funny old world.

From here:

After three months in prison, Linda Gibbons was found not guilty on a charge of disobeying a court order and released from custody to the hugs of supporters in a downtown Toronto courtroom Friday afternoon. Justice Alphonse T. Lacavera determined Sheriff Peter Krause improperly read the text of an outdated injunction when he directed that she be arrested outside the Morgentaler Clinic (known corporately as “Lexogest Inc.”) abortion site this past August 4.

OWS protester demands free capitalist hamburger from McDonald's

Posted on by
6

From here:

An Occupy Wall Street protestor was arrested early Friday after a violent rampage at a McDonald’s that refused to offer him free food.

The NYPD says it happened at about 2:45 a.m. at a McDonald’s near the make-shift tent city in Zuccotti Park.

The man, who had not been identified, went into the world’s largest restaurant chain and demanded free food, apparently craving a burger over the gourmet food being served in the park.

The people behind the counter, who are working instead of protesting, were not about to offer the man free food.

The protester then turned violent, even breaking a machine inside of the store before police arrived and arrested the 27-year-old.

As we all know, McDonald’s is a place where the unspoken anxieties of society can often find a voice; it is a stage on which to conduct by proxy the arguments that society itself does not know how to handle.  The urgent larger issues raised by those demanding free hamburgers remain very much on the table and we need – as fast food consumers and as society as a whole – to work to make sure that they are properly addressed.

The eviction of one hamburger-crazed anti-capitalist activist has constituted violence in the name of the purveyors of grease-laden unhealthy food the world over.

But at least it has triggered awareness of the need to advance the moral agenda of redistributing artery clogging fat to those who aren’t getting their fair share.

h/t mcj