{"id":26840,"date":"2019-03-11T15:02:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T19:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=26840"},"modified":"2019-03-11T15:02:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T19:02:45","slug":"anglicans-swinging-from-the-rafters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/anglicans-swinging-from-the-rafters\/","title":{"rendered":"Anglicans swinging from the rafters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Diocese of Montreal is in a state of advanced disintegration. To combat the rot, St. Jax Anglican Church in downtown Montreal has consummated the Anglican Church of Canada\u2019s pilgrimage from Christian denomination to pagan circus by having a troop of acrobats swing from its rafters to the accompaniment of a light show.<\/p>\n<p>The rector, transported from the dark night of penury to a beatific vision of performing elephants (why <em>are<\/em> Canadian bishops so overweight?), counts it \u201ca fantastic joy to see for the first time, we believe, a circus company permanently installed in an active, consecrated church\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>From <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/montreal\/montreal-church-circus-1.5022352\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-26841\" src=\"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/le-monastere.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/le-monastere.jpeg 780w, https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/le-monastere-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/le-monastere-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/le-monastere-500x281.jpeg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/>An acrobat dangles from the rafters of a 150-year-old church while a lightshow paints the altar in blue, pink and yellow lights.<\/p>\n<p>Call it a leap of faith.<\/p>\n<p>This was the first show of Le Monast\u00e8re\u00a0\u2014 the monastery, in English\u00a0\u2014\u00a0a circus cabaret show held inside a downtown Montreal church.<\/p>\n<p>Le Monast\u00e8re has partnered with the Anglican church of St. Jax \u2014\u00a0and it could be the\u00a0first agreement of its kind.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been a fantastic joy to see for the first time, we believe, a circus company permanently installed in an active, consecrated church,&#8221; said Rev. Graham Singh, incumbent pastor at St. Jax.<\/p>\n<p>With lagging attendance and surging maintenance bills, churches in Quebec and elsewhere have struggled to stay afloat.<br \/>\nSingh&#8217;s three-year mission with St. Jax has included not only keeping the old, creaky church standing, but also redefining what it is to be a church in a downtown core.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Diocese of Montreal is in a state of advanced disintegration. To combat the rot, St. Jax Anglican Church in downtown Montreal has consummated the Anglican Church of Canada\u2019s pilgrimage from Christian denomination to pagan circus by having a troop &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/anglicans-swinging-from-the-rafters\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[2573,2572],"class_list":["post-26840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diocese-of-montreal","tag-rev-graham-singh","tag-st-jax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26840\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}