Tag Archives: General Synod

More on the Anglican Church of Canada’s transgender liturgies

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Some clergy and lay delegates at synod spoke against adopting the liturgies, the majority spoke in favour.

This one in favour is interesting because it illustrates the delusion that has bedevilled the ACoC for decades: that doing more of what has brought it to the verge of extinction will, for some incomprehensible reason, reverse the decline. (my bold):

Alex McPhee, lay member from the diocese of Qu’Appelle, spoke in favour. McPhee described how in preparing to attend his first General Synod, he had sent the text of the pastoral liturgies to some transgender friends—all of whom, he said, “not by their own choice, have been hounded out of their birth church communities.”

He continued, “The response I got was, ‘This is so powerful … I can’t believe someone out there wrote something like this. I can’t believe there is a church somewhere in the world that is actually like this.’”

“In my life as an adult convert, I have seen very few documents that have such an immediate attractive power on the unchurched, with the sole exception of the gospels themselves,” McPhee added. “In my opinion, we are being asked to ratify something that is not just wise and discerning, but actually has the power to grow the body of Christ.”

According to Statistics Canada, in 2021 0.19% of the population were transgender. That’s 59,460 people.

If they are the candidates that will grow the church, they must all be latent Anglicans.

The Anglican Church of Canada has Transformational Aspirations

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In order to convince itself that it still has a future, the ACoC’s general synod has passed a resolution to adopt five transformational aspirations. They are to be a church that:

  1. invites and deepens life in Christ;
  2. champions the dignity of every human being;
  3. works to dismantle racism and colonialism;
  4. embraces mutual interdependence with the Indigenous church (Sacred Circle);
    nurtures right relationships among people of faith in local, national and global communities and networks;
  5. stewards and renews God’s creation; protects and sustains the earth; pursues justice for all.

Notably absent is a plan to lead the unsaved to salvation through Jesus Christ. I’m quite sure that is missing because the majority of ACoC clergy no longer recognize the categories “saved” and “unsaved”.

The other notable thing about these aspirations is that there is nothing whatsoever transformational about them. They are the same unimaginative anodyne cliches that have been at work in the church for decades and have brought it to where it is today.

The resolution had overwhelming support.

Read it all here:

General Synod has overwhelmingly approved five priorities or “transformational aspirations” prepared by the Strategic Planning Working Group (SPWG) to serve as the basis for the Anglican Church of Canada’s new strategic plan.

Members voted June 29 in favour of an amended version of Resolution A102, by which General Synod received with gratitude the SPWG’s report and adopted the five transformational aspirations as “transformational commitments to guide planning, priority-setting, resource allocation and collaboration with provinces and dioceses in the 2023-25 biennium.” The resolution also directed Council of General Synod to establish a group for implementation.

As adopted by General Synod, the five transformational aspirations call for the Anglican Church of Canada to be a church that “invites and deepens life in Christ”; “champions the dignity of every human being; works to dismantle racism and colonialism”; “embraces mutual interdependence with the Indigenous church (Sacred Circle)”; nurtures right relationships among people of faith in local, national and global communities and networks”; and “stewards and renews God’s creation; protects and sustains the earth; pursues justice for all.”