Your call is important to us

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We’ve all heard it. It is the ubiquitous mantra piped through our telephone earpieces every time we call a corporate entity – after we have spent 10 minutes listening to repulsive muzak carefully chosen to induce the caller hang up to make the torment stop. Those stalwarts persistent enough to battle through the auditory torture are invited to press an interminable sequence of numbers, an arcane code, permitting them to enter into the hallowed presence of the loathed robotic voice.

At this point it has become clear that your call is not important. If it were, a human would be there to answer it. Or, after leaving a message, a human would call us back. But one doesn’t.

The message is a lie. The person reading it knows it is a lie. The corporation that wrote the script for the person to read knows it is a lie. We know it is a lie. They know we know it is a lie but the message drones on. As Alexander Solzhenitsyn put it about a regime that our Western world seems bent on emulating:

We know they are lying.
They know they are lying.
They know that we know they are lying.
We know that they know we know they are lying.
And still they continue to lie.

If you are wondering what prompted this: I called my bank branch today under the naive delusion that I might be able to speak to a person. Thus far, in spite of valiant persistence, my best efforts have been thwarted.

I even wrote a Google review to vent my frustration. I received a response from the Digital Care Team thanking me for bringing this to their attention because my feedback is important to them.

The trouble is, they are lying. They are not grateful, and my feedback isn’t important. They know they are lying, and they know that I know they are lying. And still they continue to lie.

Gaia worship in the Diocese of Huron

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I’ll give this to Trivitt Memorial Anglican Church in the Diocese of Huron: they are completely open about the god they serve: Gaia.

Most ACoC churches use tradition Anglican FudgeTM to conceal their abandoning of Christianity. Not Triviit! They advertise the fact.

From here:

When you walk inside Trivitt Memorial Church in Exeter, Ont., it’s hard not to be taken aback by the sheer size and scale of the Earth, unlike what many people have ever seen.

“You walk in the front door, and you’re just sort of greeted with the biggest interpretation of Earth, I think, I’ve ever seen. It’s bigger than a cinema screen or projection, and I really appreciated it. The kids walked in and had that ‘A-ha!’ moment. They were blown away,” said Darryn de Souza, who brought his homeschool class from Perth County to see GAIA.

Measuring 20 feet wide and six metres in diameter, this version of Earth is suspended from the ceiling of Trivitt Memorial Church, spinning to the sounds the astronauts aboard the spacecraft that took the pictures that made this display possible.

“Generally, people say ‘Look at how much water there is. Look how far north Canada is. Look at the size of Africa, as a continent’,” said the man who helped bring the GAIA exhibit to Exeter, John Miller.

GAIA, named after the Greek Goddess of Earth, mother of all life, is the centrepiece of the Huron Waves Music Festival this summer. Eight concerts, inspired by GAIA, take place between now and July 3rd. That’s when the inflated balloon leaves Exeter.

Toronto bishop is looking forward to Pride Parade

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The bishop of Toronto, Andrew Asbil, will be attending Toronto’s Pride Parade on June 25th.

Not only will it be a celebration of the triune god of the Anglican Church of Confusion (ACoC for short), Diversity Inclusion Acceptance, but it will protest the rise of homophobia and transphobia. After all, our liberal government has only donated a parsimonious $40 million to 2SLGBT+HAVEIGOTTHEMALL causes in the last 4 years; it doesn’t get much more phobic than that.

Asbil goes on to make the required denouncement of the revised Ugandan homosexuality laws while conveniently ignoring the homosexuals routinely thrown off rooftops in Islamic countries. To mention that would be Islamophobic and he can’t risk a battle of the phobias.

The Pride flag will be raised at Queens Park on June 19th. In 2017, I distinctly remember the March for Life flag being taken down from Ottawa’s City Hall. What I don’t remember is any ACoC bishop protesting; not a murmur. Are they all babyphobic?

Asbil ends his missive with an invitation to join him in the June 25th Sunday worship featuring water pistols and homoerotic cavorting. Attendance is mandatory.

Read it all here:

Dear Friends,

This year feels different.

On Sunday, June 25, hundreds of “Proud Anglicans” will come together in downtown Toronto for the annual Pride Parade. This is always a great celebration, complete with sashes, glitter, music and Super Soakers. It’s a party, celebrating the beautiful diversity of the children of God. Pride is also an affirmation of mutual love and respect within the greater human family, for we are all made in God’s loving image. The Toronto Pride Parade began almost 50 years ago as a protest but has become more of a celebration over the years as LGBTQ2s+ people have moved from the margins to the mainstream.

But this year feels different. The rise of homophobia and transphobia both far away and here at home reminds us that the struggle for inclusion, acceptance and dignity is not yet won. It seems the progress we’ve made in the areas of sexuality and gender identity is more tenuous than many of us would care to consider. In Uganda, new laws passed this month continue the criminalization of same-sex relationships but with added harsher penalties, including life in prison for those who identify publicly as LGBTQ+, and the death sentence for “aggravated homosexuality.” South of the border, in the state of Florida, the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” laws prohibit instruction of sexuality and gender identity in all grades, effectively excluding families with two Dads or two Moms from being included in the school curriculum. Here at home, some local school boards have decided they will not fly the Pride flag this year because Pride does not align with their values.

St. Aidan’s rainbow doors vandalised

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Under the tutelage of Rev. Kevin George, the youth group at St. Aidan’s in London has painted some rainbow doors “to display as a sign of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community”.

Someone who is less than enthusiastic about drag queen story hour has vandalised them with the following:

Admittedly, this is a trifle rude, but then Rev. George is not averse to posting scatological incivilities in his twitter feed when it suits him:

That didn’t deter the good Rev from piously tweeting this about his vandalised doors: “To the person or persons who did this last night at St Aidan’s Church, we will not be deterred. Hate will not prevail.” I suspect what he really means by that last sentence is “Hate will not prevail, unless it’s what I hate”.

From here:

Members of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church arrived this morning to find some of their property vandalised.

Overnight, a door they had painted for pride month was spray painted with profanity. The vandalism was referring to “drag queen story time,” an event that has recently sparked controversy.

The Church’s Rector Kevin George told CTV News that young members of the Church created a pride art installation a year ago with multiple doors saying, “God’s doors are open to all.”

The Pride Flag door was left on display on a fence outside the Church Saturday and was vandalized with profanity spray painted over it.

“It was disheartening to see that message,” Rector Kevin George said in response to the “vulgar message” they found on the door.

In a post on social media, George, said, “To the person or persons who did this last night at St Aidan’s Church, we will not be deterred. Hate will not prevail.”

George said members of the Church spent part of the afternoon repainting their doors in Pride colours, which will be on display for next month.

Bishop Cyrus Pitman joins ANiC

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On January 10 2008, Pitman wrote to his clergy demanding their allegiance:

In what could be the start of real schism in the Anglican Church, a Newfoundland bishop is demanding clergy come to the provincial capital to declare whether their loyalties lie with him or his predecessor, the leader of a breakaway conservative movement.

“Attendance at these gatherings is mandatory,” Cyrus Pitman, bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador warns in a Dec. 18 letter to clergy obtained by the Star.

Clergy from Eastern Newfoundland’s 33 parishes are to be in St. John’s on Jan. 21 to restate their ordination vows and to get new licences, with a date for those from the six Labrador parishes yet to be set.

On April 10 2008, Pitman fired one of his priests for upholding Biblical standards:

The Rev. Darrel Critch, Rector at St. Mary the Virgin on Craigmillar Avenue, St John’s, Newfoundland has been removed from his position by Bp. Pitman and Archdeacon Peddle.

This happened on the evening of Thursday the 10th of April at an emergency Vestry Meeting called by Bishop Pitman. Archdeacon Peddle showed up at the meeting and shortly thereafter Rev. Critch was relieved from his duties. Archdeacon Peddle has now been appointed administrator of St. Mary’s.

Why? Well what I have heard is that Rev. Critch made a stand on the Scriptures and removed a couple from choir who were living together in an immoral relationship.

In July 2008, Pitman  made an attempt to compile a register of lay people who had left the Anglican Church of Canada to make sure that none of them exercise any ministry in an ACoC diocese:

LAY RELINQUISHMENTS
Lay people who have also left the Anglican Church of Canada are asked to indicate their intentions to the Bishop who will maintain a register for future information.
It seems clear to us that lay people who leave also relinquish their privilege to be part of any Ministry that they have been allowed to perform.

Not an obvious career path to ANiC, but I presume he has changed his mind. I wonder if he has apologised to those adversely affected by his past actions.

From here:

A retired Newfoundland bishop known for advocating for same-sex marriage has joined the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), a breakaway group of Anglican churches known for its opposition to same-sex marriage. 

Bishop Cyrus Pitman, who was bishop of the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador from 2004 to 2013, has come out of retirement to work for an ANiC member church in Newfoundland, the Anglican Journal has learned. ANiC is in turn part of the Anglican Church in North America, which formed a parallel and independent network of parishes in the late 2000s due to disagreement on issues of sexuality, among other doctrinal divisions. 

In an email to the Anglican Journal, Pitman said he had surrendered his license as a bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada so that he could be licensed in ANiC. 

“I have been worshipping for some time at the Church of the Good Samaritan where I am working with young men in our homeless shelter. This ministry to the homeless is what the gospel is all about. I am happy to continue to serve the Lord in this way,” he wrote. 

In January 2008, Pitman asked clergy in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador to declare their loyalty to the Anglican Church of Canada at the same time that they renewed their ordination vows and licenses. At the time, the CBC reported he said that while there was room for legitimate disagreement within the church, leaving to join the incipient breakaway organization was going too far. Also at that time, his predecessor as bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Bishop Donald Harvey, was moderator bishop of ANiC, which was then in its infancy. 

Susan Green is a parishioner in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland. The daughter of a pastor, she says she can’t remember a life without the church in it. Pitman, whom Green knew through her family’s connection to the church, worked closely with her to advocate for same-sex marriage in the church. She says he was the first person to encourage her, along with her partner, Brenda Halley, to speak out about wanting their family to be affirmed in the church. 

So when she heard he had left the Anglican Church of Canada to join ANiC, she says, she was surprised by the reversal.

Bishop of St Davids to retire

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The last time I visited Wales it was the hottest driest summer for 300 years. It didn’t even rain in the Lake District where every shop displays umbrellas and raincoats in the front window.

The only time it rained was when I was in St. Davids and the cathedral flooded. I like to think it was to protest the bishop of St. Davids, Joanna Penberthy. In an effort to elevate herself from the depths of obscurity that is the natural habitat of Anglican bishops, on March 25th 2021 she tweeted “never, never trust a Tory”.

Not only that, she uses an iPhone.

In June she apologized or, more likely, was made to apologize (for the tweet, not the iPhone).

She has announced that she will retire this year on the 31st of July. I expect the sun will shine on that day.

From here:

Bishop Joanna was elected in November 2016 and made history as the first woman to be consecrated as a Bishop in the Church in Wales in January 2017. She has served as Bishop for six years after a long and well-travelled ministry that took in the dioceses of Durham, Llandaff, St Asaph, Bath and Wells, Swansea and Brecon as well as a spell as Priest in the diocese which she later came to lead.

Announcing the retirement, the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, said “I want to thank Bisop Joanna for her ministry in the diocese and province. She has contributed significantly to areas of church life in particular on environmental matters and with our Social Responsibility network.”

Bishop Joanna will retire on 31st July 2023.

William Cliff inhibited three days after being elected bishop of Ontario

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Jeremiah 17:9 strikes again.

To the Anglican Church of Canada’s credit, those in charge acted quickly after as yet unspecified allegations were made against Cliff, in spite of a possible temptation to sweep it under the rug.

No-one is immune. Recently Canon Mike Pilavachi, pastor at an orthodox Anglican church in the UK has stepped down because of allegations of dubious behaviour. And, of course, there was Ravi Zacharias, Jean Vanier and numerous other less illustrious examples, liberal and conservative.

As Psalm 146 advises: Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help

That includes clerical princes.

From here:

Only three days after he was elected as the next Bishop of Ontario, Bishop William Cliff of the Diocese of Brandon has been inhibited in both the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario by Metropolitan Anne Germond and in his home Province of Rupert’s Land by Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson.

An allegation has been received by Archbishop Germond, and she reports that “the proper authorities have been informed.” The nature of the allegation has not been made public.

While the allegation is being investigated, Bishop Cliff may not exercise the functions of ordained ministry.

He was to succeed Bishop Michael Oulton, who wrote to the diocese May 2:

Anglican colonialism

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It’s hard to view the determination of Western Anglicanism to impose its obsessive adoration of homosexuality on African churches as anything other than neo-colonialism.

Yet, the enduring talent of liberal clergy to see everything backwards Through the Looking-Glass results in twisting reality such that “colonialism is largely responsible for the negative attitude toward homosexuality”.

Read it all here:

Colonalism’s legacy seen in marriage debate

Raphael Hess is the Bishop of South Africa’s diocese of Saldanha Bay and describes himself as “coloured,” a term used in South Africa which means he has both Black and white ancestry. His diocese is in the minority in South Africa, having come out in favour of same-sex marriage. It’s a stance Hess describes as honouring, respecting and endorsing it while waiting for the rest of the province to do the same.

He says colonialism is largely responsible for the negative attitude toward homosexuality across Africa. “To reduce it to that only would be to simplify the issue. But certainly we inherit our laws from our colonial past because we’ve been taught that that is wrong … In Africa, those laws are still on our statute books. They weren’t invented by us.”

Anglican Church of Canada to bunk with United Church

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The Anglican Church of Canada is in fierce competition with the United Church of Canada to see who can reach extinction point first.

Both are struggling to align themselves with the conceits and foibles of the age and both are sinking fast. Nothing would be more natural for them than to move in together. So they are.

Friends don’t let friends sink alone.

From here:

The office of General Synod may move out of its current office in Toronto into space owned by the United Church of Canada, the Anglican Journal has learned.

Joseph Vecsi, director of Communications and Information Resources, confirmed that talks are underway about a move with the United Church but have not been finalized, and referred the Journal to Archdeacon Alan Perry, general secretary of General Synod for any additional details. But neither Perry nor a spokeswoman for the United Church of Canada were commenting on the talks at the time this article was written.

“The negotiations are ongoing and once we have something to announce, we’ll let you know,” Perry told the Journal. United Church of Canada spokesperson Lori-Ann Livingstone likewise said, “We don’t have anything to share at this point.”

Anglican mammon

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Some years ago I attended what was supposed to be an ecclesiastical pep talk by the then primate, Fred Hiltz. As I listened to him with drooping eyelids, it occurred to me that his delivery, reminiscent of Marvin the Robot, was not amenable to inspiring enthusiasm in others. Eventually, though, the archbishop’s eyes lit up, the voice became almost animated, the arms began gesticulating with excitement. “This is better”, I thought, we are about to hear that revival has broken out against all the odds. Perhaps someone had come back from the dead after prayer.

Alas, no. Someone had donated $160,000 to the church.

Nothing inspires activity and passion in the ACoC so much as the prospect of acquiring or losing money. Hence, with a looming $1.6 million deficit, Archbishop Linda Nicholls has appointed a committee to find radical solutions for accumulating more lovely cash.

From here:

A draft 2022 financial statement initially shared with CoGS, intended to be presented by the financial management committee, shows General Synod with a $1.6-million excess of expenses over revenues. Meanwhile, Nicholls said, statistics show the church’s membership is aging and declining. Cultural shifts in Canadian society and a newly redefined relationship with the Indigenous church, she said, also demand new ideas.

“Every organization needs to ask itself periodically whether the framework for the life of the institution is helping or possibly hindering its professed mission,” she said. The new committee would therefore be tasked with bringing recommendations to CoGS and to General Synod in 2025 to address these needs. Nicholls said it would be composed of theologians, bishops, clergy and laypeople “with a mandate to listen well and offer creative, lifegiving solutions—even radical solutions.”