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:

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.