Tag Archives: Anglican Church of Canada

Diocese of Ottawa: making wrong things right by doing them

Posted on by
6

The Bishop of Ottawa has decided to begin blessing same sex unions. The reason given is:

Just as the Church was not able to come to a clear mind regarding the benefits of the ordination of women to the priesthood until it experienced the priestly ministry of women, Bishop Chapman has taken the process of discernment with regards to same sex blessings to a place beyond discussion.  Bishop Chapman believes that moving forward in the spirit of experiential discernment will allow parishes and congregations to observe and learn; allowing the Church to be better informed moving forward in preparation of next steps at General Synod 2010.

“While the issues are many, the solutions complex and the timelines demand our patience, it is my intention to move forward in our ongoing spirit of discernment,” stated Bishop Chapman. “We must “experience” the issue as a Church before clarity of heart and mind might be attained” adds The Bishop.

This new piece of Angli-jargon,  experiential discernment, gives the game away: the Diocese of Ottawa has abandoned its Christian heritage in favour of mock existentialist soup.

An atheistic existentialist such as Jean-Paul Satre would claim that, since there is no God, humanity does not have a predetermined essence that controls what we are or conditions our views of right and wrong. Rather, through making his own free choices, a person creates his essence – and his own right and wrong – by what he does. We create our own nature; existence precedes essence.

This only makes sense if you assume there is no God; but that has not stopped the Diocese of Ottawa from using the same principle in “discerning” whether same-sex blessings are the right thing to do. Instead of looking in the bible to find out God’s design and plan for humanity,  the diocese is saying “we will create our own moral laws by engaging in a questionable practice until it seems right.” This goes beyond pragmatism: the pragmatist does things and is content if they work. An atheistic existentialist does things to create their “rightness”.

Yet more evidence to show that the Anglican Church of Canada has ceased to be a Christian Church.

Bruce almighty

Posted on by
3

The Venerable Bruce Bryant-Scott from the Diocese of British Columbia displays, once again, his tenuous grip on reality and shallow understanding of human nature in the latest diocesan newsletter.

Add an Image

Venerable Bruce, ESL Candidate

Nevertheless, a radical group affiliated with the Anglican Network persuaded a majority of the parishioners that they needed to leave the Diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada. They also were determined to take the property, which were and are owned by the Diocese of British Columbia.

All of this was unnecessary. While a number of conservative groups have left the Anglican Church of Canada, with some of them engaging in property issues, the majority of evangelical parishes remain within the body of the national church. They know that the Anglican Church of Canada remains an integral part of the Anglican Communion, and that it is the only part of the Anglican Communion recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury as operating in Canada.

They know that the Canadian Church has always been a place where there has always been a diversity of opinion held, and that change under the canons, as an autonomous church, was always expected and authorized from the beginning of the Anglican experience in this country.

I’ve always thought that bad English is a sign of chaotic and illogical thought and the venerable Bruce appears to be determined to illustrate this principle.

First, the venerable Bruce is suffering under the delusion that ANiC, by holding to 2000 years of tradition is “radical” and the diocese of B.C. by breaking with it isn’t.

Second, the venerable Bruce claims that the Anglican Church of Canada is “an integral part of the Anglican Communion”. GAFCON represents the only part of the Anglican Communion that is not attempting to accommodate the demented fantasies of a civilisation that is on the brink of self-annihilation. By 2061 there will only be one person left in the venerable Bruce’s version of the ACoC; he or she will feel very isolated in the global Anglican Communion.

Third, the venerable Bruce claims that evangelicals are welcome in the ACoC: it is strange, then, that J. I. Packer, the most renowned evangelical theologian of the 20th century, is unwelcome in the ACoC. What he really means is that evangelicals who are willing to set loyalty to the ACoC over the truth are welcome. Others will be regarded as trespassers.

Fifth, the last paragraph is such meandering drivel, that the venerable Bruce should consider attending an ESL course as soon as possible.

Nazi war propaganda updated for today

Posted on by
1

Propaganda was a major component of fighting World War 2. The Nazis, for example, would drop leaflets on cities warning civilians that resistance was not only futile, but would make things worse. Here is an example that was used in the Netherlands:

Add an Image

It reads:

“Warning!

To the civilians of Holland!

Do not take part in sabotage against the German army!

You can’t stop the German Army!

Large parts of Holland are already occupied!

All resistance is of no use!

Do not take part in sabotage actions like destroying dikes, blowing up bridges, or making road blockades. These actions are of no use because the German Army has lots of technical means to avoid them.

Do not take part in a war that is not yours!

Do not destroy your own country, but stay calm!

Civilians, captured during sabotage actions will get DEATH PUNISHMENT!

Civilians of Holland, we warn you!”

The Anglican Church of Canada is waging a war against Christians who are no longer willing to go along with its agenda of making a god out of the Zeitgeist. The war is being waged largely through intimidation and in courts of law.

The Diocese of British Columbia has also begun launching propaganda salvos, similar in intent and tone to the example above: resistance is futile and is only making things worse. Here is an extract from a letter by the Venerable Bruce Bryant-Scott Commissary to the Bishop, Diocesan Executive Officer & Diocesan Archdeacon. The whole thing is here.

The Network has had a series of defeats in the courts in Canada. Recently our colleagues in the Diocese of Niagara received payment of $20,000 from the Network for the costs of the legal action there. The Diocese of Niagara will be in court again in March and are asking for costs of over $200,000, and I understand there is a reasonable probability that they will be awarded that amount. Donors to the legal fund of the Network should know that they are not only paying their lawyers’ fees, but those of the lawyers defending the dioceses of the Anglican Church of Canada.

First to set the facts straight, the Diocese of Niagara wanted $70,000 in costs but were awarded $20,000. They have now asked for over $200,000 in legal expenses: what they will be awarded remains to be seen. The contention that ANiC is further funding diocesan lawyers would only be true if ANiC finally loses the court cases.

Second, the clear purpose of this is to demoralise those fighting for what they believe to be right by insinuating that resistance is not only futile, but counter-productive. It is wartime propaganda.

We are undeterred by such nonsense because we believe what we are doing is right, even if pursuing it comes at a cost.

An Anglican Church of Canada parish has a new Lenten series: studying World Faiths, including Wicca.

Posted on by
3

No perverse or grotesque villainy emerging from the ACoC or the ultra-liberal Diocese of Niagara should surprise anyone, but it is helpful to have the occasional reminder of just how far the blight has spread.

This is the Lenten series that is being offered by St. Simon’s Anglican Church, Diocese of Niagara, Oakville, as advertised in the local paper:

Add an Image

The inclusion – and inclusion is what it’s all about, after all – of Wicca is particularly significant since it is explicitly pagan and is a successor to or derivative of Witchcraft:

Wicca is a neopagan, nature-based religion popularised in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant, who at the time called it Witchcraft and its adherents “the Wica”.

Wiccans, as followers of Wicca are now commonly known, typically worship a God (traditionally the Horned God) and a Goddess (traditionally the Triple Goddess), who are sometimes represented as being a part of a greater pantheistic Godhead, and as manifesting themselves as various polytheistic deities. Other characteristics of Wicca include the ritual use of magic, a liberal code of morality and the celebration of eight seasonal-based festivals.

The purpose of Lent is to prepare Christians – through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial – for the annual commemoration during Holy Week of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Apparently, St. Simon’s is unable to find any better way to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection than by studying faiths that don’t believe in it; but then, for the most part, the ACoC leadership doesn’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection either.

In case anyone is naive enough to think that the series is designed to point out where other religions have erred, take note of the fact that individual speakers representing each religion have been invited to speak at each session. The intent is undoubtedly to find common ground between the parish of St. Simon’s and pagan religions.

This shouldn’t be difficult: there is a lot of common ground between the Diocese of Niagara and worship of the horned god.

According to the Anglican Church of Canada, Jesus was a racist

Posted on by
11

The ACoC has published some Lenten Meditations.

Here is one of them:

“… a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the houseof Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ ” – Matthew 14:22-27

This not a story for people who need to think that Jesus always had it together, because it looks like we’ve caught him being mean to a lady because of her ethnicity. At first, he ignores her cries. Then he refuses to help her and compares her people to dogs.

But she challenges his prejudice. And he listens to her challenge and grows in response to it. He ends up healing her daughter. What we may have here is an important moment of self-discovery in Jesus’ life, an enlargement of what it will mean to be who he was. Maybe we are seeing Jesus understand his universality for the first time.

This meditation makes a number of important points:

Jesus did not “always have it together”. This is modern vernacular for saying Jesus was not sinless.

Jesus was prejudiced against a woman because of her race. The woman in question points out his error, Jesus becomes enlightened and understands his “universality for the first time.” Thus, Jesus was not God, made mistakes and had to be set straight. The reference to understanding his universality is undoubtedly an attempt to point out that, once the woman corrected him, Jesus came to the light as proscribed by 21st Century liberalism: inclusivity is all encompassing, paramount and – well, god.

This is an officially sanctioned document from the ACoC: it denies both Jesus’ divinity and the fact that he is sinless. The ACoC seems to be going out of its way to present itself as a non-Christian organisation; I think it has succeeded.

Gaza: The Anglican Church of Canada takes sides – against Israel as usual.

Posted on by
1

The ACoC is urging its members to write a letter:

In pressing for a lasting ceasefire, international leaders including Canada must recognize the recent violence as a symptom of decades-long failure of the international community, State of Israel, and leaders of the Palestinian community in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem to make difficult but necessary commitments to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

Canada must publicly recognize that no lasting peace is possible without justice, and without the adherence of all parties to the rule of law, especially those on which the international community has agreed, including the Geneva Conventions and the protection of non-combatants in militarily occupied territories. Ending the siege of Gaza and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank are two critical steps toward achieving justice and toward adherence to the rule of law.

The first paragraph is the decoy to create an illusion of impartiality.

In the second paragraph we get down to business. The ‘injustices’ singled out for special mention are: Israel’s siege of Gaza, civilian loss of life – presumably civilians in Gaza killed by Israelis –  and the occupation of the West bank. No mention of the thousands of rockets fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza; no mention of the use of humans shields by Hamas;  no mention of Hamas murdering its own people; no mention of the fact that Israel attempts to protect non-combatants, while Hamas deliberately targets them.

In short, another biased, pompously self-righteous, anti-Israel  philippic from Fred Hiltz, the leftist interloper who has hijacked the Anglican church of Canada.

Anglican Church of Canada: Myopia 2019

Posted on by
3

These days, the fashionable thing for businesses to do is produce a Vision Statement; it’s normally an exercise designed to conceal the fact that they are in it for the money. Not that that is an entirely bad thing, but business today, in spite of having abandoned its moral compass, still wishes to present at least a veneer of decency to its customers; so it must pretend it has intangible “core values” however fleeting they may be.

Here is advice from Scotiabank on preparing a vision statement for your business.

But, finding your true vision is neither quick nor painless. It involves asking yourself some difficult questions and sorting through meaningless adjectives in search of the true values at the heart of your company. What are your deepest concerns? What do you hold as your core beliefs? Does your company exist for a purpose beyond just making money?

Similarly, the Anglican Church of Canada, having ceased to be a Christian denomination, is a business which needs a Vision Statement as a diversion from the painful fact that it is teetering on bankruptcy and extinction. Fred Hiltz is peddling Vision 2019, which, apparently “is an opportunity to say ‘here’s what I think our church needs to be about.'” Fred has no idea what church needs to be about, so he has to ask those whom he is pretending to lead. He is adept at generating meaningless adjectives, though and he expresses considerable glee at the prospect of acquiring cash:

Contrast this with someone who actually knew what he was doing, Archbishop William Temple, who declared:  “The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members”.

The Anglican Church of Canada, on the other hand, exists chiefly for the enrichment of its bishops’ pensions. As everyone already knows, its core value is left wing political agitprop.

Lies, damned lies and Fred Hiltz lies

Posted on by
3

Fred’s view of what happened in Alexandria at the Primate’s meeting is here.

My observation is that in those dioceses where resolutions have been passed requesting the authorizing of rites for blessing same-sex unions the Bishops have shown gracious restraint. They have called for continuing discernment in some cases through the drafting and testing of such rites in a limited manner and have advised the House accordingly.  I am of the opinion that while our church struggles to honour the call for gracious restraint in blessing same-sex unions, those who are the proponents of cross-border interventions have and continue to show no restraint. I have endeavored to address this situation since the Lambeth Conference and I regret to say that to date a conversation with the pertinent parties has not been possible. I am disappointed and dismayed. My feelings are grounded in my care and concern for the Bishops and dioceses most adversely affected by these cross-border interventions.

First: the reason that phrases like “gracious restraint” are used is that it is impossible to pin down exactly what they mean. Thus, Hiltz can say that the New Westminster, Niagara, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto dioceses are exhibiting this quality – while obdurately doing what they have been asked not to do –  and bishops, clergy and others of a sensitive disposition do not swoon in horror at the audacity of the lie.

Second: Hiltz’s contention that the “proponents of cross-border interventions have and continue to show no restraint” is completely false: ANiC parishes have, to my certain knowledge, been restraining themselves for at least 30 years. During that time Hiltz and his predecessors have never deviated from their agenda of de-Christianising the Anglican Church.

Third: by using the phrase “proponents of cross-border interventions”, Hiltz is implying that people like Greg Venables are poaching in North American territory in order to expand their own empires. In assuming this, he makes the usual mistake of those whose life is given to grasping power: he cannot conceive that others might have motives that differ from his own. Venables wants to spread the gospel – at all costs; the parishes that have come under his jurisdiction wish to do the same.

Fourth: the “conversation with pertinent parties” is probably a reference to this, where Venables shrewdly asserts : ‘”I talked to Fred about this at Lambeth, but it never occurred to me that a private discussion would become public without us both agreeing first,” Bishop Venables told The Living Church. “It looks more like a publicity stunt than a serious desire for dialogue.’ Venables and Hiltz were at Alexandria together; if Hiltz was that keen on having one of his wretched “conversations”, I’m sure he could have.

Fifth: Hiltz mentions his feelings for “Bishops and dioceses most adversely affected by these cross-border interventions”. How about the people in the parishes that are being sued by the bishops that you have such feeling for, Fred? Again, the gospel is subservient to the power structure of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Malcolm Muggeridge used to say, ” you can have power or love, but you can’t have both”. Hiltz has chosen power.

Hiltz Havoc

Posted on by
Reply

Fred Hiltz, is at it again:

In his New Year’s Day address at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, Archbishop Hiltz said: “Across the board, irrespective of where bishops stand on the matter of blessing same-sex unions, no one is content with the continuing havoc created by cross-border interventions by Primates and bishops of jurisdictions other than their own. I remain committed to addressing the matter in the Communion and particularly at the meeting of the Primates next month in Egypt.”

First of all, the 26 ANiC parishes are very content to be under the jurisdiction of Greg Venables and the Province of the Southern Cone rather than the heretically inclined Anglican Church of Canada.

Secondly, the only havoc occurring is that being caused by Fred Hiltz and his bishops who are suing many of the ANiC parishes to seize their buildings for financial gain. On Tuesday, Hiltz is presenting this tripe to the rest of the Primates in Alexandria. I do hope they see through him.