Author Archives: David

Bishop Jane Alexander denies tapping into the Zeitgeist while doing it

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Here are bishop’s remarks at synod in support of same-sex marriage:

play-sharp-fill

Her opening gambit, declaring LGBT people are “not an abomination” is a loaded statement along the lines of “when did you stop beating your wife?” It presupposes that there are conservatives in the church who think they are an abomination: no conservative I know thinks that.

She goes on to say that every person at the synod is “a beloved child of God”. Not quite. Every person is loved by God but before we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are his creatures still in our sins deserving his wrath, not his children. Since this is an Anglican synod full of those averse to such ideas, I am sure there were at least some there that fell into the category of “creature”.

She moves then to piously declare that she will not pronounce LGBT people “not good enough” marry because, after all, we all take Communion together. This is another “when did you stop beating your wife?” statement. It has nothing to do with being “good enough”, it is a category error. Without redefining “marriage”, it is as impossible for a man to marry a man or a woman a woman as it is for them to marry a cabbage.

The bishop then meanders into the fantasy that marriage has little to do with sex so, by implication, we needn’t worry ourselves about the things homosexual couples get up to. Marriage is about relationship, not sex. No so: marriage is about relationship, erotic love and sex.

Now we reach the nub of the matter. Because Christian marriage is counter-cultural (it is), it must also be counter-cultural to marry homosexuals (it isn’t). The Anglican church is obsessed with homoerotic sexuality, just like the culture in which it immersed. It has absorbed, re-packaged and then regurgitated the obsession, but it is the same obsession: it is not counter-cultural.

This is the church pandering to culture.

Rabbit’s ears and the bishop

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Kevin Robertson is a homosexual bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada. He is unapologetic about what would at one time seem to be an unlikely combination: a male Anglican bishop married to another man.

Perhaps this improbable juxtaposition has unhinged his sensibilities or possibly the photographing of oneself with faux rabbit’s ears has liturgical significance. Or perhaps this signals an arcane sexual invitation beyond the comprehension of those immersed in the mundane confines of heterosexual mores. We may never know, but here is Kevin in multiple poses with rabbit’s ears:

Retired vicar reconciles with his male Romanian model husband

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Reconciliation: Justin Welby would be proud.

Rev. Philip Clements aged 79 is married to a male Romanian model aged 24. You will be surprised to learn that the relationship has had its ups and downs; but now they are back together.

Since the vicar is sexually inert due, he says, to his age, the relationship with his husband is celibate and, consequently, there is nothing wrong with it according to the Church of England.

Nevertheless, as far as I can see, there is nothing right with it, notwithstanding  its intrinsically sad, comedic properties.

From here:

A retired vicar who was left homeless after selling his house to buy his Romanian husband a flat has insisted their three-year romance is real.

Philip Clements, 79, said their relationship is better than ever as he appeared on the Jeremy Kyle programme with his husband Florin Marin this morning.

The pair married in April last year after meeting on dating app Grindr in 2015.

Mr Clements even sold his £215,000 home in Sandwich, Kent, to buy a flat in Bucharest, Romania – where Mr Marin was from – and transferred ownership into his new husband’s name.

The couple split after just a few months later due to arguments about Mr Marin’s nightlife. Mr Clements ended up returning to Britain with nowhere to live.

But in a U-turn the couple say they are now giving their relationship another try and put on a united front on the Jeremy Kyle show this morning.

Opening up about their relationship, Mr Clements said: ‘I don’t have any money but our relationship is better than ever, though I’m not sure if Florin agrees.

He revealed his relationship with Philip couldn’t be physical due to age but said that wasn’t a problem. The former chef said: ‘It’s not a problem with him, if I want a physical relationship with someone I will just tell Philip beforehand.’

Bishop Michael Curry still hasn’t found what he’s looking for

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The aura of celebrity that encircles Michael Curry’s head in place of a halo continued to grow brighter as he met with members of a rock band to talk about “the way of love”.

As you probably know, when they’re not busy playing rock and roll, making excessive amounts of money, and devising ways to evade paying tax,  Bono and the rest of U2 enjoy instructing star-struck bishops on the deep theological matters of the day.

From here:

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry met backstage this week with U2 and front man Bono at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where the Episcopal Church leader and the globally renowned rockers discussed Curry’s Reclaiming Jesus initiative.

The meeting happened in the evening June 25 just before the first of a series of U2 concerts in New York on the band’s Experience + Innocence tour. A photo released by the band shows the foursome posing with Curry.

“I know of no other group that has sung and witnessed more powerfully to the way of love than U2,” Curry said June 27 in a written statement to Episcopal News Service. “It was a real blessing to sit with them to talk about Jesus, the way of love, and changing our lives and the world. They are an extraordinary community gift to us all.”

A bishop cycles for reconciliation

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When I read that Bishop Rob Hardwick is “is cycling across Canada in the name of unity, healing and reconciliation”, I thought to myself, “at last someone in the Anglican Church of Canada is symbolically making amends for the shabby treatment of conservatives who have left the ACoC.”

I was wrong, of course; he is cycling to reconcile with Indigenous people, a worthy endeavour, no doubt, but so much easier than reconciling with those with whom one is still at war.

From here:

The Right Reverend Rob Hardwick is cycling across Canada in the name of unity, healing and reconciliation.
Hardwick, who has served as the bishop of the Diocese of Qu’Appelle for the past five years, knows about the often uneasy relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.

He says that his diocese, located in southern Saskatchewan, had the longest-running residential school in Canada.

“The pain of that, the pain of that history, is with us,” Hardwick said. “The pain of so many people that have lost their culture and have been abused in various ways.”

“This bike ride is a form of penance, in a way, but it’s also to try and bring reconciliation.”

The peddling bishop had a little mishap on his journey: the less than green SUV and camper that were following him ended up in a ditch. A fitting metaphor for the final resting place of his church:

An SUV towing a camper crossed the highway and landed in the ditch with the camper jackknifed mid-afternoon today.

The vehicle belongs to Bishop Bob (Diocese of Qu’Appelle) who is cycling across Canada praying for unity, healing and reconciliation within the Anglican Church of Canada and Aboriginal peoples (Living the Mission – Bishop’s Ride).

Church of Ireland suffering from GAFCON derangement syndrome

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The attendance of two Church of Ireland bishops at GAFCON has sent the Church of Ireland into a tizzy. The Church of Ireland claims to “provide a context in which people of diverse views on theology and liturgy can live and worship together.” The statement should read “diverse views that are not too orthodox.”

From here:

Church of Ireland dean accuses conference of ‘tactical use of homophobic rallying calls’

Attendance by two Church of Ireland bishops at the conservative Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) meeting in Jerusalem last week has provoked deep anger among the church’s clergy.

They have described it as “an absolute disgrace”, “schismatic”, and as illustrating “how utterly out of touch some senior clergy” were with church membership.

[…….]

On Sunday, Church of Ireland dean of Waterford Maria Jansson asked “how can Bishops Harold Miller and Ferran Glenfield reconcile the vows they made at their consecrations as bishops to ‘maintain and further the unity of the church’ with their support of Gafcon which stridently endeavours to undermine that very unity?”

Their presence in Jerusalem illustrated “how utterly out of touch some senior clergy can become from the average member of the Church of Ireland”, she said.

Anglican clergy gather for the Toronto Pride Parade

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When I looked at the photo below depicting a clump of Anglican clergy gathered in eager anticipation of participating in the Toronto Pride Parade, I found myself musing on what to call such a collective.

As I looked at the ladies, “a murder of crows” sprang to mind but, being in a charitable frame of mind, I set that aside in favour of something more fitting to the occasion; that and the fact that my cat is glaring suspiciously at me as I write this.

With a nod to my cat’s ancestors and Melissa Skelton, here we have a Pride of Pussies, with Toronto’s first homosexual bishop, Kevin Robertson, lurking in the background:

The Church of England’s Lego Indaba

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Rowan Williams used Indaba groups to try and cure the divisions in the Church of England. That didn’t work so Justin Welby is trying something new by using Lego “to build 3D metaphors for the state of the church….”

If that doesn’t solve the problems in the Anglican Communion, nothing will.

From here:

The Church of England wants to build a new future… using Lego.

Vicars yesterday used the toy bricks at a bizarre problem-solving session where they were asked to build 3D metaphors for the state of the church and also to describe themselves.

The process apparently ‘liberates the creative imagination’ and helps explore how participants’ ‘ideas, identities, values and expectations might combine to solve problems or discover vision’.

But Anthony Kilmister, chairman of the Anglican Association, said: ‘This beggars belief when the Church is facing so many serious issues.

‘A little more proper conversation and action and a little less playing with Lego might achieve something more constructive.’

The session was held in the diocese of Canterbury, overseen by Archbishop Justin Welby, whose spokesman said: ‘He is always positive about anything that encourages creative thinking.’

Safe spaces then and now

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A few years ago when I visited the Monasteries of Metéora, I was fascinated by the murals on the walls of the narthex where new Christians had to wait before being baptised. They were graphic images of what early – and possibly prospective – Christians had to endure for their faith: dismemberment, crucifixion, crushing, flaying and disembowelling.

If 14th century proselytes were undeterred by the sights in this safe space, they were led into the baptistry for baptism.

The Diocese of Toronto has a safe space too, where transgender youth can escape homophobic slurs and other horrors of the modern world.

Could this have something to do with how we have ended up with a generation of such feeble, enervated, impotent, milquetoast Anglican Christians?

From here:

In a conversation with his mother and aunt in 2015, Mylo Woods talked about how difficult it was to be a trans youth. “Everyone was bullying me, using homophobic slurs, making me feel angry and depressed, even suicidal,” he recalls telling them.

During the conversation, Mylo said he wished he had a place to get away from it all. “I just wanted something for me and other kids where we could be ourselves and forget worrying about those things anymore,” he says.

His comment struck a chord. “In my world, if a child asks you if you can build a safe space for them, you say yes,” says his aunt, the Rev. Erin Martin, the incumbent of St. James the Apostle, Sharon, located about 50 km north of Toronto.

Ms. Martin and Mylo’s mother, Kit Woods, had an idea. What about creating a safe place for LGBTQ youth and their friends at the church? The women, who are sisters, asked some parishioners if they would like to help. They said yes, and in 2016 A Safe Place was born.

Held in the parish hall, the twice-monthly gathering gives LGBTQ youth and their friends an opportunity to hang out together and be themselves. There is no structured program. Sometimes they simply shout out “I’m gay!” or “I’m trans!” or “I don’t know what I am!” It is a release for some of the kids because they can’t say it at home. Often they share stories about their lives such as being misgendered or rejected because they are gay. Then they rally around each other for support. It isn’t all serious – they have a lot of fun as well.

In case anyone thinks I am being callous and unfeeling – well, perhaps I am a little, but not as much as those who are encouraging children to celebrate their mental disorder rather than help them cure it.