Tag Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Justin Welby to meet with Fred Hiltz

Posted on by
1

From here:

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and his wife, Caroline, are expected to arrive in Canada on Monday, April 7, for a “ personal, pastoral visit,” with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The brief visit is a part of Welby’s personal commitment to visit the primates (senior archbishops) of the Anglican Communion, to meet them and learn about their provinces prior to the next meeting of all the primates.

If a prior meeting is anything to go by, what Welby learns from Hiltz is going to be slightly one-sided: the lawsuits, the attempts to intimidate conservative clergy, the inhibiting of clergy and the acquisition of buildings will, I am sure, all be glossed over.

[Welby] has said that his visits are aimed at fostering friendship and “mutual understanding.”

And here is the fundamental problem: there is already mutual understanding. Conservative Christians understand the Anglican Church of Canada so well that most of them have left. The Anglican Church of Canada understands that conservative Anglicans who have left are engaging in unfair competition by preaching the genuine Christian Gospel. What more is there to understand?

Anglican Church of Canada participates in Truth and Reconciliation

Posted on by
7

From here:

From March 27 to 30, several thousand Indigenous and non-Indigenous people will gather in Edmonton, Alberta for the seventh and final national Truth and Reconciliation Commission event.

The Anglican delegation will include Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, National Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald, the Venerable Michael Thompson, General Secretary, and Archbishop Terry Finlay, Primate’s Envoy on Residential Schools.

Bishops, clergy, and parishioners from the dioceses of Edmonton, Athabasca, and Calgary will also be present for TRC events including the lighting of the sacred fire, statement giving by residential school survivors, church listening circles, and a public Anglican expression of reconciliation.

The purpose of the Sacred Fire is:

The Lighting of the Sacred Fire happens before we begin each National Event to ensure that the Spirits and the Teachings guide and protect us while the Commission does its work.

And:

The fire is generally started during the first part of opening ceremony after sacred space has been set. The Fire Keeper quietly calls in the powers of the directions as well as the fire powers when the Sacred Fire is first lit.

The most curious thing that strikes me about the Church’s attempts to atone for thrusting Western religion and cultural values on Indigenous North Americans is its eagerness to now do the opposite: displace Christianity with Indigenous Animist practices. The Church seems to be saying: “we were wrong all along and to prove it we will adopt your religious beliefs in favour of our own.”

I have a suspicion that this would not be happening if the church did not secretly think that any belief system is just about as good as any other. If Anglican Church of Canada clergy truly wanted to provide compensation for those their predecessors abused, they could sell their church buildings – many of which are almost empty – and donate the proceeds to the ex-inmates of the much loathed Residential Schools. A lot more practical than a “full-colour historical timeline of evolving relations between Indigenous peoples and the Anglican Church of Canada.”

Average Sunday attendance in the Church of England

Posted on by
6

From here:

The Church of England attracts fewer than 800,000 worshippers to its churches on a typical Sunday, according to new estimates yesterday.

Numbers in the pews have fallen to less than half the levels of the 1960s, the count showed.

The signs of continuing decline in support for the CofE follow census evidence of a widespread fall in allegiance to Christianity, with numbers calling themselves Christian dropping by more than four million in a decade.

The Church’s figure for ‘usual Sunday attendance’, the method used since the 1930s to measure congregations, found CofE churches had 795,800 worshippers on Sundays in 2012. The numbers were 9,000 down on the previous year.

They indicate that repeated efforts by the Church to modernise its services and its image – through a series of modern language rewrites of its prayer book, attempts by its leaders to appeal to supposed public concern with poverty, and efforts to make its government more efficient – have not succeeded in drawing young people.

The statistics upon which this article is based can be found here. Here is the graph of “usual Sunday attendance”:

CofE ASA

I must admit, the decline is not as precipitous as I had expected; not nearly as severe as in North American Anglicanism. The Anglican Church of Canada, presumably to save itself the embarrassment, has not published detailed attendance figures since 2001.

Earth Day condoms

Posted on by
20

Apparently, Earth Day is getting back to its roots: fertility management. Humanity is a blight on the face of the earth, so environmentalists are coming to the rescue with 44,000 free condoms. Naturally, they are environmentally friendly, Fair Trade condoms: you will be pleased to learn that eco condoms are made entirely from fair trade and FSC certified rubber.

From here:

In honor of Earth Day this year, groups are giving out 44,000 “Endangered Species Condoms.”

The environmentally friendly condoms will be distributed in an effort to refocus the green holiday back to why it was started: to campaign against “runaway human population growth and overconsumption.”

“April 22 is the 44th Earth Day, and this year we want to bring the holiday’s focus back to its origins: runaway human population growth and overconsumption, the root causes of our most pressing environmental crises,” the Center for Biological Diversity wrote in a pitch to its supporters.

None of this deters the Anglican Church of Canada from celebrating Earth Day, of course. Perhaps a packet of Fair Trade Condoms will be served along with a cup of the Primate’s Blend Fair Trade Coffee.

The highlight of another Anglican year: Justice Camp

Posted on by
4

This year Justice Camp is in Edmonton and it is exploring such rivetingly interesting topics as “faith and the tar sands”.  If only I could be absolutely certain that none of the jet fuel of the plane I would have to fly on would come from the demon tar sands, the temptation to attend would be irresistible.

From here:

Participants will choose from seven immersion experiences on topics ranging from the relationship between faith and the tar sands, urban responses to systemic poverty, and interreligious perspectives on land and human life. These are complemented by time for biblical reflection, worship, and relationship building. All of which will foster leadership for social justice skills in participants.

Primate Fred Hiltz on Dung Duty

Posted on by
2

There is a rich satirical vein begging to be explored here, but current litigious exigencies prevent my going further than letting it speak for itself.

Fred-DungThe Anglican Church of Canada has published a new calendar:

The calendar also features “Aldo’s friends,” including Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. The month of May has Hiltz performing  “dung duty” with the Rev. Cynthia Patterson, co-ordinator of the national church’s suicide prevention program and the wife of Dennis Drainville, bishop of Quebec.

Drainville himself is the calendar subject for November, along with Aldo and his goat companion, Alli.

The only thing preventing the donkey and goat being ordained is fear of the stiff competition their theological insights would present to existing clergy.

Anglican Church of Canada repudiates the Doctrine of Discovery – some more

Posted on by
6

In its ceaseless quest for relevance, the Anglican Church of Canada has repudiated something developed in the 15th Century to justify colonising the New World.

The ACoC will undoubtedly beat its collective breast over the sins of its ancestors; after all, it’s so  much easier to confess the sins of one’s forebears than to repent of one’s own sin.

What will probably be overlooked in all this is the ACoC’s current version of naked imperialism: taking parish buildings to which they are morally not entitled from congregations who voted to align themselves with another Anglican Province.

From here:

This spring the 17 members of the Primate’s Commission will start considering how to translate General Synod’s 2010 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery into tangible action. The commission also has mandates to address the practicalities of reconciliation and the persistent injustices in Canada’s indigenous communities.

Its first meeting will likely be in Toronto, possibly in time to report to Council of General Synod in May. “The commission will make recommendations to General Synod in 2016 perhaps in the form of resolutions,” said Ginny Doctor, co-ordinator of indigenous ministries and staff support for the commission. Doctor said the commissioners seem eager and optimistic. “We didn’t have anyone say no. That means there’s a spirit.”

Fred Hiltz thinks churches should have a smudging ceremony every Sunday of Lent

Posted on by
6

Yes, another peculiar way of keeping Lent, this time from the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Smudging – the burning of various herbs and immersing oneself in the resulting smoke (doesn’t sound very green does it?) – is supposed to drive out evil spirits, negative energy and balance energies. As such, the kindest thing one can say about it is that it is harmless nonsense, the unkindest, but perhaps more accurate, is that it is linked to the occult.

Still, at least it proves that the Anglican New-Age Church of Canada still believes in something other than inclusion and diversity.

From here (page 5):

In recent years I have come to deeply appreciate the rites of smudging conducted by indigenous peoples.

[…..]

This entire act is a rite of purification of body, mind and spirit in the service of the Creator.

As I think about this rite, I ask: isn’t that what Lent is all about—a clearing of our eyes, an opening of our ears, a renewing of our minds, a cleansing of our souls and a reorienting of our lives as stewards of God’s creation, followers of Jesus and ambassadors of the compassion and peace he wills for all people?

While I appreciate the significance of imposing ashes at the outset of Lent, I have come to wonder if smudging might not be an equally powerful reminder of the true character of these 40 days. I wonder what the impact might be if there was a ceremony of smudging on each Sunday in Lent….

Anglican Church of Canada’s Africa relations co-ordinator claims GAFCON is engaged in a campaign of misinformation

Posted on by
1

IsaacMukasaRev. Canon Kawuki Mukasa is the ACoC’s new “Africa relations co-ordinator” and he is about to perform a similar function for TEC. It would appear that he has been given the rather ambitious task of rebuilding the reputation of the Anglican Church of Canada in Africa. The diminishing of the ACoC’s standing in Africa has, according to Mukasa, nothing at all to do with the blessing of same sex marriages, the ordination of openly active homosexual clergy, the numerous lawsuits launched to acquire buildings that others paid for or the diminishing of the centrality of Christ.

No! It is all GAFCON’s fault for launching a “campaign of misinformation”. Mukasa isn’t entirely clear what the heinous calumnies GAFCON has ingeniously concocted are that could possibly appear worse than the things the ACoC has actually done.

From here (page 4, my emphasis):

In a letter read out by Bishop Barry Clarke at the January meeting of the Montreal Diocesan Council, Rev. Canon Kawuki Mukasa, global relations officer for Africa, says the Anglican Church of Canada would like to build on the good will that Montreal has helped to sustain in relations with Africa. He invites the diocese to work collaboratively with other Canadian dioceses that have companion links with African dioceses “to explore ways of reclaiming the reputation that Canada used to enjoy in African Provinces” before a “campaign of misinformation” by an international group called the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

Anglican Church of Canada does Christian unity

Posted on by
5

From here:

Canadians prepared the resources for this year’s liturgy and daily reflections. They chose as a theme Paul’s rhetorical question in addressing divisions in the church in Corinth, “Has Christ been divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). The question calls us to confess the scandal of disunity and it’s marring effect on the witness of the church catholic. This week always has about it a spirit of repentance and renewal.

[…..]

In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity let us be mindful of the great “Don de Dieu” the great gift of God’s peace and unity in Christ for us and for the world. And let us pray that as church leaders, church councils, and neighbours in faith we may embrace and embody that gift with passion and perseverance for the glory of Christ and the good of the world.

How should one respond to the Anglican Church of Canada, unrepentant fomenter of strife, litigation, worldwide schism and cosmic mayhem, celebrating Christian unity?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6FEfmyVj0