What is a bishop to do when his diocese no longer has the money to pay for clergy salaries or building maintenance, when members of his parishes are either fleeing or dying? Other than donning a rainbow mitre and, with an increasingly embarrassing air of desperation, be so inclusive the main requirement for membership is to believe in anything, the only thing left is to spin the truth so brazenly that there is, as Joseph Goebbels noted, “a certain force of credibility” to the underpinning lie.
Thus, when the Diocese of BC has to sell buildings just to stay afloat and maintain pension funds, the church’s mission, according to Matthew 28:19 using the Standard New Amplified Revised Liberal (SNARL) translation, becomes:
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, and build socially, affordable housing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”
From here:
The Anglican church building in Ladysmith, formerly St. John the Evangelist, will become a seniors’ housing complex.
Right Rev. Logan McMenamie, Bishop of the Diocese of British Columbia, said Monday the move to sell the church to the Ladysmith Resources Centre Association for social housing, was made in the spirit of fulfilling the Christian mission of the church.
“The ministry of the Anglican church will not end,” said McMenamie. “Socially, affordable housing is a big priority for the diocese as we move ahead.”
The Ladysmith Resources Centre Association plans on redeveloping the site to create 30-40 units of affordable housing dedicated to seniors, people with developmental disabilities and others who have trouble with the rental market.
“Socially, affordable housing”. Surely they mean “socially affordable”, which simply means “affordable”.
No. To be linguistically fair, “Socially,” (note the comma) seems to be
intended as an adverbial modifier of the predicate “is a big priority”.
That is, the sentence could be recast as
* Affordable housing is a big priority, socially, for the diocese ..
or equivalently
* Affordable housing is a big social priority for the diocese ..
Such would imply that there are at least two categories in which
priorities could be set: social and otherwise, separate from each other.
For example, within the social category, affordable housing has a
high rank (which might be considered laudable), and within a category
of financial prudence, selling rather than donating also has a high
rank. But, of course, the latter is unstated. Note the slipperiness
(or should I, following David use of “spin”, say vertiginousness ?) of
” the move to sell the church .. for social housing, was made in
the spirit of fulfilling the Christian mission of the church “
I understand your posting this matter, but there is more to it than any “need to stay afloat…” as you suggest. As the Times Colonist article notes:
“The group approached the Anglican Diocese about buying St. John the Evangelist after April 2016 when parishioners voted to disestablish, ending the legal entity of the church parish.
McMenamie said the diocese had other, larger offers for the church building, but opted to go with Ladysmith Resources Centre. The group’s aims were just a better fit with what the diocese wants to achieve.
He also said the Anglican Diocese hopes to continue to work with the Resources Centre Association in the future.”
But will there be any Anglicans left to work with anyone?
Logan will be sharing how to share property at the Unitarian church this Sunday: http://victoriaunitarian.ca/the-sacred-journey/ Yay!!!!
To me, the government (not the church) should be responsible for building, providing, and managing low-costing housing for the poor or low-income earners.