Author Archives: David

Diocese of Toronto Marriage Canon Dialogue conversations

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Yes, I know ‘dialogue’ and ‘conversation’ mean much the same thing, so one of the words is redundant, but that’s how the diocese has described their latest tête-à-tête on the issue that is eventually going to result in the diocese becoming redundant. When you see ‘dialogue’ and ‘conversation’ not just in the same sentence but contiguously in the same sentence, rest assured, the judgment of Babel has already been visited on the perpetrators.

What succulent fruit has sprung from the dialogue conversations? Weariness, fear, anxiety, pain and polarisation.

The only question left to ask is: this is so wonderful, why has the Anglican church waited so long?

Bishops report on Marriage Canon Dialogue conversations

  • A feeling of weariness
  • Fear of what the vote at General Synod 2019 will mean, both in the diocese and in the rest of the Communion
  • In spite of the fear, we want to stay together.
  • Need to include the insights of youth and children
  • Need to care for those who are feeling left out
  • There is a deep longing and need to talk about scripture and theology
  • There is a need to have resources, and to have pastoral care that is contextualized
  • People feel polarized but they do so within the Big Tent
  • Concerns about our international relationships
  • There is a degree of pain avoidance
  • Anxiety about being labelled
  • We’re already living with diversity and we need to hold up that we’re unified in Jesus Christ
  • While there is weariness and fear, there is a need to move on with courage and hope and faith

Diocese of Huron faces civil lawsuit over sex abuse

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The victims were all boys.

From here:

Disgraced ex-cleric David Norton’s legal troubles appear to go way beyond the criminal courts.

The former Anglican priest who was convicted Tuesday of four counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault of boys from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation already is facing civil action from another victim in London and a counter-claim from the Diocese of Huron.

The plaintiff in a $4.9-million lawsuit against Norton and the Diocese of Huron is the victim in Norton’s sexual interference conviction registered earlier this year. He was abused by the priest at St. Mark’s parish in the 1990s.

Norton, 72, pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced in August to four years in prison.

Just like the rest of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Diocese of Huron likes to trumpet its virtue by participating in Truth and Reconciliation blanket exercises, walks, bicycle rides or, as the Diocese of Niagara so charmingly puts it by: “live[ing] into the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action and confront the ways in which it has embodied colonial attitudes.”

Of course, extirpating colonial attitudes is a lot cheaper than $4.9-million, so the Diocese of Huron has decided not to live into taking any responsibility for the abuse, let alone reconciling with the victims. Instead, we have a litany of denials:

In a statement of defence, the diocese denied “each and every allegation in the statement of claim.”

They deny Norton was an employee and they deny they knew about his activities. They also deny the boy was injured.

The diocese has issued a cross-claim against Norton, holding him solely responsible for any liability.

Tanya Phibbs, Archdeacon of the Diocese of Huron, told Global News that the Diocese was “deeply saddened” by the allegations. Not $4.9 million worth of saddened, though.

Diocese of Niagara appoints an Honorary Lay Canon of Church Closures

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That is not the euphemism used in Bishop Susan Bell’s charge to synod, of course; nevertheless, that’s what it is. Or it could be Church Closures, Sales and Demolitions.

From here (my emphasis):

I think I am also beginning to see a general loosening of our love affair with bricks and mortar:  The property we own as a Diocese is a strategic asset, it’s true.  But perhaps not in the ways we used to think about it.  The fact is, churches have life cycles.  They were and are planted according to key demographics, they have a beginning to their life, a middle and an end.  The truth is, very few churches live for a century and fewer still live to see two – unless it is this venerable and beautiful cathedral that we are meeting in today.  Parishes and church buildings are meant to spring up where the mission fields are. And when it is very clear that they have come to the end of their life cycle it is incumbent on us – the stewards of those resources – to redeploy those assets as needed for a new mission field – as intended by their founders: Christians who gave money to the church to be the church.

This is an important thing for us to understand.  It is not good Christian practice for us to hold buildings hostage to our desires to hold on to worldly things.  It is good Christian practice to make disciples and to preach the Gospel to the whole of creation.  So, we are called to go where the mission field is.  We will become a planting church once again.  And what does that look like in this time?  It looks like understanding the needs of new housing surveys; of underserviced inner-city neighbourhoods; strategic small-town locations.  These are some of the contexts that we are learning about and planning to engage.

And to better ascertain how best to deploy our precious building resources I have asked Mr. Terry Charters to lead a new committee that will work with our Secretary of Synod and Treasurer on our property portfolio to best and most strategically maintain, sell, re-purpose, rent or restore property based on the best analysis we have available of demographics.  This will also include a focus on our continuing plans for the revitalization of Cathedral Place – on which he’ll report later in the course of Synod. This group will also have the aim of searching for reliable community partnerships and for income generation plans to support sustainability but also to underwrite future mission and ministry in this diocese. This is the job of tilling the soil and planting seeds for the next season of our beloved church.

And to go with this new committee, I’ve also conferred on Terry the title of Honorary Lay Canon of Christ’s Church Cathedral.  We are greatly indebted to him for his many hours of specialized and valuable ministry among us and look forward to all that he has to share with us in the coming years.  We’ll have a service of installation for him and Canon Jody early in the New Year.

The problem of AR-15 sentience

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The Anglican Journal has an article on the Pittsburgh synagogue murders that contains this odd sentence:

The AR-15 and its non-patented variants have been behind most of the mass-shootings in the U.S. in recent history.

A church that has ceased to believe that “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” still has to pin the blame for evil on something, so what could be better than a semi-automatic rifle – “in sin did my gunsmith conceive me.”

In 2018 a secret cabal of AR-15s became self-aware, precipitating judgment day: it could be the theme of a movie.

In fairness to the article, other comments made by clergy do recognise that “Human beings have moral agency”, a sentiment not strengthened further down by Bishops Against Gun Violence who, we can only assume, are entirely comfortable with knife violence.

Nor are the calls to end anti-Semitism made more convincing by the repeated Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions motions – none of which have yet passed – presented in TEC synods.

The article ends with:

Most of all, we offer ourselves, our ministry, and our own prayerful witness to those who have endured the horror of gun violence in all of our communities so that together, we can drive away the spectre of hate with light and life.”

It sounds good but the problem isn’t hate, it’s sin and that is something Anglican clergy don’t like to talk about.

Deconsecration and Transgender Remembrance

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Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church in the Diocese of Huron is inclusive:

Bishop Cronyn Memorial’s core values speak to inclusivity. The church treats all as made in God’s image, regardless of race, gender, orientation, age, ability, nationality or economic class.

It is so inclusive that on November 7th it is being deconsecrated due to a lack of attendees. Shortly after that, on November 19th a Transgender Day of Remembrance will be held in the building. I don’t suppose the two are connected.

The church was named after Benjamin Cronyn, London’s first resident Anglican clergyman and the first bishop in the Huron Diocese. Cronyn had an eventful and colourful life but I don’t suppose that even his most fevered nightmares could have conjured up the antics that would be embraced by a church that was to bear his name.

For those attending, be warned, the bathrooms are:

That means the you must relieve yourself in a location determined by your chromosomes, not your whimsy. Pretty upsetting, I know.

Making the way less straight

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The Anglican Church, having given up on being “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord”, has opted instead for an alliance between the straight and less than straight:

This began at St. Paul’s when the teacher promoting it couldn’t drum up any support from students at her school. She knew Anglicans are willing to try anything so long as it is not Biblical.

From here:

Uxbridge church starts Gay/Straight Alliance

WHEN Kathleen Caroll, a member of St. Paul, Uxbridge and a teacher at a local school, proposed that the students at the school form a rainbow by wearing different coloured t-shirts in honour of Pride Week, she was met with a negative response. Out of that experience came the creation of the Uxbridge Gay/Straight Alliance, which meets at the church.

Toronto bishop Kevin Robertson leant his support:

Canadian government budgets over half a billion dollars to regulate cannabis

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There will, of course, be “cost recovery”, although that doesn’t include health care cost increases – psychiatric and physical – which will be borne mainly by non-imbibing tax-payers.

I strongly suspect “organized crime” mentioned here will be rubbing its collective hands in glee since its unregulated prices will ensure a continuing or, more likely, increased stream of customers as dope addiction tightens its grip on a growing number of witless Canadians.

OTTAWA, Oct. 5, 2018 /CNW/ – The Cannabis Act will come into force on October 17, 2018. The Act aims to keep cannabis out of the hands of Canadian youth and the profits away from criminals and organized crime.

[……]

  • In the Fall Economic Statement 2017, the Government announced $546 million over five years to ensure appropriate capacity to license, inspect and enforce all aspects of the Cannabis Act and to undertake robust public education and awareness activities.
  • The cost-recovery approach is guided by the principle that fees should allow for both larger and smaller players in a diverse market. Through this approach, Health Canada will collect no more than the cost of delivering the regulatory program.
  • Cost recovery for the regulation of cannabis includes four fees:
  • Application screening fee: recovers the costs associated with screening new licence applications ($3,277 for standard licence applicants and $1,638 for micro and nursery licence applicants);
  • Security clearance fee: recovers the costs associated with screening, processing, and issuing or refusing security clearances ($1,654);
  • Import/export permit fee: recovers the costs associated with screening, processing, and issuing or refusing to issue an import or export permit for medical or scientific purposes ($610); and,
  • Annual regulatory fee: recovers the aggregate costs of administering the cannabis regulatory program that are not covered under any of the other fees (2.3% of cannabis revenue for standard licence holders, or $23,000 if cannabis revenue is less than $1 million, and 1% on the first $1 million of cannabis revenue for micro and nursery licence holders or $2,500 in cases where cannabis revenue is less than $250,000).
  • Licence holders who produce cannabis exclusively for medical purposes are exempt from the annual regulatory fee.

 

O Cannabis: Canada gone to pot

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Recreational use of cannabis became legal in Canada yesterday.

It was an election promise of Justin Trudeau’s liberals; we voted for him (well, not all of us) and so, as a nation, we have received what we asked for, what we deserve: big dope, big government, big stupefaction.

The Government of New Brunswick has a helpful website on bongs, blubbers, dab rigs and other paraphernalia to facilitate your consumption of cannabis and hasten you on your journey to psychosis and schizophrenia .

The Anglican Church of Canada, normally much inclined to giving its prophetic viewpoint on every contemporary societal lunacy, has been strangely silent on the matter. Perhaps they are waiting to see whether pot induced psychosis will lead the unwary into tottering in to one of its decaying churches, mistaking the whiff of incense for something stronger.

We have spent the last 60 years trying to stamp out tobacco smoking; here we go again.

From the Globe and Mail:

First, public health officials at all levels of government have been quite clear that marijuana remains a mind-altering drug, and that it has the potential to become addictive, impair judgement, and increase the risk of developing psychosis with heavy use. Some heavy pot smokers are even tormented by constant nausea.

Depending on how Canadians choose to consume the drug, there are also fears that it could lead to a renormalization of smoking. There are at least 33 known carcinogens in marijuana smoke and it’s been tied to cancer, respiratory problems and heart disease.

Meanwhile, students who use the drug regularly have been shown to suffer from poor health and tend to get lower grades. Experts have argued that setting the legal age federally at 18 (legal age will be 19 in most provinces) is a mistake, as the adult brain continues to develop until the age of 25 and too much pot may impede that development. (There are some studies, including one out of the University of Pennsylvania, indicating that concerns surrounding marijuana’s physical effects on young people may be overblown.)

One of the main reasons the government said it wanted to legalize marijuana in the first place was to cripple the black market and reduce access for young people.

On the other end of the spectrum, seniors are being told to be cautious if they are particularly frail, as pot impairment can have an affect on cognition and mobility. Children are particularly susceptible to consuming marijuana edibles (which are not legal yet) and these products should always be kept out of reach.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada warns that there is growing evidence on the harms of cannabis use during pregnancy. Risks that may be associated with pot use include low birthweight, preterm labour and stillbirth.

Canadians of all ages must also remain aware that synthetic marijuana, a compound that mimics the effect of THC, may continue circulating on the black market after legalization, and should be avoided.

Cornwall church holds its first Pride service

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Trinity Anglican Church in Cornwall, Ontario held its first Pride service this year.

The idea was to demonstrate a willingness to be “open and accessible to all”,  a quality that was apparently eluding them before September 9th, 2018, the date of the first Pride service.

Oddly enough, in spite of drawing the circle wider, the church was more than half empty, confirming my suspicion that the wider the circle, the fewer the people:

From here:

Drawing the Circle Wide
Cornwall September 9, 2018 marked the inaugural Pride Service held at Trinity, Cornwall. It came just a year after Trinity and the parishes of Stormont Deanery became the first ‘church’ group—of any denomination—to march in the Cornwall Pride Parade. The idea of a ‘Pride Service’ arose out of discussions with the presidents of Diversity/Diversité Cornwall, Stephanie Nadeau and Liz Quenville, and Trinity’s Assistant Curate Mary-Cate Garden. It marked the growing bonds between the LGBTQ2+ community in Cornwall and Trinity.

The church plans to have more Pride services in the “hope that these will become a sign that the Anglican churches of Stormont Deanery are welcoming places.” Or as a sign of a desperate church willing to try anything but Christianity to entice people through its doors, depending on your perspective.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has new inclusive language guidelines

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has developed some inclusive language guidelines to help it proclaim the “good news” in “an increasingly pluralistic context”.

What is the ELCIC’s “good news”, you may be wondering. After plumbing the theological depths of the insights buried in this document, I am compelled to conclude that it’s the fact that the ELCIC has decided to use inclusive language.

For example, whatever you do, don’t refer to God as “He”; it may not upset Him, but it surely will upset the ELCIC:

It is preferable, then, to reduce to a minimum the use of gendered pronouns when referring to God, and to use ‘God’ as the pronoun for God. While this may cause some awkward phrasing, it keeps us mindful of how God transcends human gender. Avoid pronouns like ‘He’, ‘His’, ‘Him’ when referring to God. Consider varied and diverse pronouns as an alternative.

Getting around the inconvenient fact that Jesus was a man is a bit trickier, but it can be done:

In regards to the Second Person of the Trinity, while Jesus’ body was male in gender the incarnation’s significance is God’s connection to our humanity. It is preferable to minimize the use of the male pronouns for the Christ, so as not to connect the incarnation to maleness, but rather use names or titles when referring to the Second Person of the Trinity, e.g., Jesus, Christ, the Messiah, Saviour, companion or kin.

The document contains a helpful glossary of terms to enlighten those of us who hitherto have rested comfortably in a cocoon of indifference to the varieties of sexual deviation being gleefully explored by the ELCIC. Not all are new, of course: for example, promiscuity has been relabelled “polyamory”. It won’t be long before committed polyamorous ménages are pronounced “holy” and worthy of church blessings because promiscuity is now an orientation:

Polyamory (Polya): a term that describes a spectrum of people who have an orientation towards consensual non-monogamous relationships.

Thanks to this document, no one has the excuse of pleading ignorance to the meaning of the “+” in  “LGBTQ2+”: it means “unnamed identities”. Anything you can imagine and probably some things you can’t.

LGBTQ2 +: an abbreviation or umbrella terms for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning and Two-spirit peoples. The addition of the + recognizes the diversity of unnamed identities the abbreviation often comes to represent.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church of Canada are in full communion; there are plans to hold joint synods and parishes are combining. Both denominations have the same understanding of Christianity and both are withering away at much the same rate.

As the trend to merge these two offerings of Plato’s Retreat re-imagined accelerates, I look forward to enjoying the spectacle of precision synchronised withering.