Tag Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Same-sex couples on the increase, Anglican Church of Canada rejoices

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The Anglican Church of Canada has ruptured itself over the issue of blessing same-sex couples and, by doing so, has staked its future on attracting some of them to replace the conventional families who have fled its heretical clutches.

The ACoC is in luck: Statistics Canada has reported a 42% increase in same-sex couples over the last five years.

Unhappily for the ACoC, the percentage of same-sex couples is still only at 0.69% of the total number of couples. How many of them attend an Anglican church I wonder? Not many, and most of those who do are employed by the church as priests.

From here:

The face of the Canadian family is changing.

There are more common-law couples, single parents and same-sex couples heading households than ever before, according to the latest data released Sept. 19 from Statistics Canada’s 2011 Census of Population.

And while the traditional family structure—mother, father and children—still accounts for two-thirds of all Canadian families, the number of traditional families as a proportion of all families declined from 2006 to 2011.

The census counted a total of 9,389,700 families in 2011. Of these, 67 per cent consisted of married couples, down from 70.5 per cent a decade ago. In contrast, common-law couples increased by 13.9 per cent in 2011 and single-parent families rose by 8.0 per cent that same year.

The number of same-sex married couples “nearly tripled” between 2006 and 2011—the five year period following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada. The census counted 64,575 same-sex couple families in 2011, an increase of 42.4 per cent from 2006. (Statistics Canada later stated that the number of same-sex married couples may have been overestimated by as many as 4,500.)

Anglican Church of Canada archives threatened by budget cuts

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This is a shame, since the archives are just about the only parts of the Anglican Church of Canada worth preserving.

From here:

Church and secular archivists across Canada fear that funding cuts to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will severely restrict their ability to acquire, preserve and make accessible the precious original documents that chronicle our history.

This mandate, legislated under the Library and Archives Canada Act, is considered equivalent to that of the U.S. Library of Congress or the British Library. “This constitutes an attack on one of Canada’s most important cultural institutions,” said James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) in a press release. Staff at our national archives and library are the stewards of our collective memory.”

[….]

“The impact on the local archival work of the Anglican church will be devastating,” says Nancy Hurn, General Synod archivist.

 

Anglican Church of Canada demographics

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The Anglican Journal conducted a survey to find out who is reading the paper. The age of those who read the Journal and who are, therefore, interested in the Anglican Church of Canada’s version of Christianity is revealing. You can view all the results here. These are the age groupings:

 

Let’s make the not unreasonable assumption that the age demographics of those who read the Journal are an accurate reflection of the age of church attendees. If we do, it means that unless things change and the church manages to attract younger people, in around 20 years, there will be 42% fewer Anglicans, in 30 years 72% fewer and in 40 years 94% fewer. That’s assuming the 6% currently between ages 18 to 49 don’t leave in the meantime.

The average Sunday attendance in the Anglican Church of Canada is around 320,000. If the above figures are any indication, in 40 years the average attendance will be 19,200.

ELCIC and ACoC welcome new United Church Moderator

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From here:

The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has given the election of the United Church of Canada’s (UCC) first openly gay moderator a resounding two thumbs up.

[…..]

Although Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, could not be reached for comment, the Anglican Church of Canada was represented at the Ottawa meeting by Archdeacon Bruce Myers of the diocese of Quebec. Myers said he spoke with Dr. Paterson following his installation, informally extending the hand of fellowship and congratulations on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada. The primate will offer more formal greetings when he returns from his travels, said Myers.

Having been beaten to the punch by a Lutheran, Fred Hiltz privately expressed his regret at not being Canada’s first homosexual Anglican Primate; Hiltz has promised to work harder on his inner gayness.

 

Dancing with the bishops

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Anglican Primate Fred Hiltz and Lutheran Bishop Susan Johnson attest that the Anglican Church of Canada and the  Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada are simpatico  by giving a demonstration of ballroom dancing during the Eucharist.

I don’t know about you, but I find this Anglican-Lutheran mating ritual very moving – although, if Fred must clap, I do wish he’d learn to clap off the beat..

The Anglican Church of Canada wants to know what the Marks of Mission look like

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From here:

Calling all Anglican photographers! Pull out your cameras, your fancy lenses, or your smartphones for our new photo contest. Capture an image that depicts one or all of the Marks of Mission and send it in to the General Synod office by January 1, 2013.

Here is my submission:

The Marx of Mission

The Anglican Church of Canada and pacifism

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As a callow youth I was an avid reader of Leo Tolstoy and became convinced that he was on to something in his impassioned support of pacifism.

Time passed and it occurred to me that to be a comfortable pacifist in a society whose order is maintained by the application of force is, at the very least, hypocritical. The Anglican Church of Canada is no stranger to hypocrisy, of course, so it is no surprise that some of its reverend gentlemen support pacifism.

The Rev. R. G. Cross has made his case for pacifism here.

Sadly, he does leave out one of the more interesting comments made by a 19-20C pacifist, Lytton Strachey. His remark is uncanny in its prescient applicability to today’s Anglican clergy. Strachey was a homosexual and when asked, “If a German soldier tried to rape your sister, what would you do”” slyly replied; “I would try to interpose my own body.”

Many would argue that non-violence is not a practical subject to be explored in the church’s life. Since the days of Constantine, the church has supported empire, the concept of the just war and the right of citizens to defend themselves against aggressors.
 Violence appears to be an integral part of the universe, and personal violence necessary, in some instances, to affirm self esteem in the face of continuing injustice and oppression.

[……]

What is the non-violent answer? The rejection of the use of force to achieve social and political goals. It involves refusal to harm another being.

Anglican Church of Canada CoGS is out of ideas

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From here:

Emerging from daylong discussions on May 25 about the future of the Anglican Church of Canada, members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) appeared to lack ideas about what the next steps should be.

In fact, members expressed feeling “overwhelmed” by the question of how to renew church structures.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that instead of hearing new ideas, he heard a lot of familiar ones following reports coming out of small group discussion. Further, he said he wasn’t convinced that members were grasping the urgency of our situation.

I have a new idea for the Anglican Church of Canada: give Christianity a try.

What won’t work is more of the same nonsense as typified by the questions CoGS was asked to ponder:

* How might God be using the current financial situation of General Synod to tell us about our future in carrying out Vision 2019?

* What might the Holy Spirit be telling us about ourselves as we grapple with the complexities of our current governance and structural challenges?

* How might Jesus be leading us on a journey of spiritual renewal through the presence of indigenous peoples among us, and their witness in the Mississauga Declaration.

Some bright spark thought the church should “clearly and proactively articulate its unique mission and ministry”. Leaving aside the obvious thought that anyone who uses the word “proactive” is mentally constipated, it goes without saying that a church that has no “unique mission and ministry”  is wasting its time trying to find ways to articulate it.

It all ended in a sacred circle in which the obstinately blinkered Colin Johnson declared that the church “is not any more broken than it ever was”. He said much the same in 2008 when parishes started leaving the ACoC; then there were 19 ANiC parishes, now there are 47. The ACoC is running out of money. No-one knows what to do. CoGS is “overwhelmed”. The situation, according the primate, Fred Hiltz, is “urgent”. Crisis? What crisis?

Bishop Michael Ingham reviews the Anglican Church of Canada’s position on war

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He comes to this conclusion:

The Ecumenical Call discusses the justifiable use of armed force, and concludes “there are extreme circumstances where, as the last resort and the lesser evil, the lawful use of armed force may become necessary.” This is a difficult conclusion for many Christians, and yet it would reflect the broad views of Canadian Anglicans as expressed in these official statements through the years.

A clear and consistent pattern of belief is evident in the documents surveyed here. Violence and war are incompatible with Christ’s teaching. Christian responsibility is to build up communities of peace founded upon justice for all people and for the earth itself. Peacemaking and reconciliation are at the heart of the Christian gospel.

I would have thought that the violent death of God’s son offered as a propitiation for the sins of the world is at the “heart of the Christian gospel”, rather than the polysemous vagueness of “peacemaking and reconciliation”. But, then, I’m not an Anglican bishop.