Today is National Aboriginal Day, prompting the Diocese of Ottawa to tweet this meaningless nonsense:
If the diocese truly believes its churches are built on land that belongs to someone else, they should give it back. Bishop John Chapman could set an example by giving away his rectory.
Having spend the last 50 years trying to convince people to stop smoking tobacco because it is bad for them, the government of Canada has legalised cannabis even though smoking it is probably worse.
Our prime minister, who must by now have realised that a drug-stupefied population is his only hope for re-election, tweeted this:
Criminals will still reap the profits; the only difference is they are sitting in the House of Commons.
Children will undoubtedly find it easy to obtain legal marijuana – from their older friends, from their parents. From the back garden.
As Western civilisation aborts, euthanises and dopes itself into extinction, cheered on by mainline churches, I fear there will be no reprieve, no swinging back of the pendulum, no regret or repentance, no Christendom redux.
We have one remaining hope: not marijuana, Maranatha.
Christ Church Deer Park Anglican Church in Toronto is holding a Holy (that’s the claim, at least) Eucharist and Gospel Drag event on June 22.
From here:
Happy #PRIDE2018! Join us on June 22 at 7pm for a fully inclusive and informal service of Holy Eucharistic (aka. Mass or Communion) with Canada’s first openly gay bishop, +Kevin Robertson, words from queer activists, and music by our very own Deb Whalen and friends.
The service will be followed by an evening of Gospel Drag with Carlotta Carlisle,Tynomi Banks and Katinka Kature, and a free round of ice-cold beer!
Using only the finest liturgy, featuring fantastic live music, and coupled with a pint of locally brewed beer, we have unlocked the perfect combination to kick off your Pride Toronto celebrations! Oh, and did we mention drag?!
For those wondering who these ladies are, please peruse these videos where you can admire their genteel virtues before you decide whether or not to invite them to perform at your church.
Here is Tynomi in full gospel drag swing:
Here is Carlotta practicing her audition for the position of next Bishop of Toronto:
And last but not least, here’s Katina demonstrating a tasteful liturgical dance:
Geoff Woodcroft was elected coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Rupert’s at an electoral synod Saturday, June 16.
If you hack your way through the dense undergrowth of clichés sprouting lushly in the article below you will discover that Woodcroft supports same-sex marriage. It appears that this is now a requirement for being a bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Woodcroft, 57, says he is “overwhelmed by the generous expression of the diocese” and surprised by the numbers of votes he received. He was elected on the fifth ballot, after receiving 48 votes from clergy and 75 from the laity. “It’s an absolute thrill,” he says.
Woodcroft says he is passionate about moving the church away from seeing itself through the lens of scarcity. “I see us as being abundantly blessed,” he says. He is looking forward to shifting the way the church is evaluated from “old metrics” like numbers on Sunday, to stories of “how disciples carry Christ into the world,” he adds.
“What are the volunteer things we’re doing? How many volunteer hours? What are the things that we’re doing—in narrative rather than numerical form—that really show the goodness of God working through the church? I think that those are the things that are actually going to be the excitement that helps us build the church yet again.”
Bishop-elect Geoff Woodcroft (middle) with Diocese of Rupert’s Land Bishop Don Philipps and Archbishop Greg Kerr-Wilson, metropolitan of Rupert’s Land, shortly after his election
Woodcroft says his first goals as bishop will be to get to know clergy and their families, to reach out to rural areas and to promote reconciliation. “What permeates everything we do is the spirit and drive towards reconciliation.”
Woodcroft is an associate of Rupert’s Land Indigenous Council and was an Anglican representative at the Independent Assessment Process hearings as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, listening to the stories of settlement claimants and offering, if invited, statements of apology.
He says he has learned a lot from Indigenous elders. “I think I am a better person because I know that I have to be on a path of reconciliation.”
His church, St. Paul’s, also worked with Cree ministry Wechetowin to create a memorial to residential school survivors at The Forks Historical Site in Winnipeg.
In response to a questionnaire given to candidates prior to the election, Woodcroft said that he will support same-sex marriage, adding that the decision to facilitate same-sex marriage is not unanimous in the diocese. “We need a generous conversation about Christian marriage, including same-gender marriage,” he wrote. He added that “local option is a good beginning; but I also think we can dig deeper into the giftedness of our many parishes to achieve a more comprehensive solution that does not threaten or divide any of us from one another.”
When a homosexual couple go to a Christian baker for a wedding cake in the almost certain knowledge they will not get it, they are not so much interested in the cake as destroying the baker.
Similarly, if a homosexual applied to a small evangelical Christian college – the only one in Canada – to become a lawyer, knowing full-well he will be unable to attend because he is unwilling to sign a document agreeing to abstain from sex outside of heterosexual marriage, he is out to destroy the college not obtain a law degree. Aspiring homosexual lawyers won’t have to go through this inconvenience because Canada’s courts have done it for them.
The Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to accredit Trinity’s graduates, effectively preventing the law school from continuing to function.
As far as I know, no unmarried heterosexual couples are particularly upset about Trinity’s covenant, even though they are equally discriminated against.
Needless to say, no mainline protestant denominations have offered any support for Trinity Western. Quite the opposite: here is an article by Michael Coren, ex-evangelical, ex-Catholic, some would say ex-Christian and now an Anglican priest in training, supporting the decision.
For a saner view, go here:
The Supreme Court of Canada struck a brave blow on Friday for LGBTQ students who would be compelled to attend a proposed law school at Trinity Western University — a small, private, evangelical Christian school in Langley, B.C., whose “community covenant” prohibits sexual relations except among married men and women.
That is to say, they struck a blow for nobody.
“Students who do not agree with the religious practices do not need to attend,” former chief justice Beverley McLachlin wrote. “But if they want to attend, for whatever reason, and agree to the practices required of students, it is difficult to speak of compulsion.”
McLachlin was nevertheless part of the 7-2 majority upholding the British Columbia and Ontario law societies’ decision not to accredit Trinity’s graduates. The societies, as delegated wielders of government power, argued doing so would effectively grant the government’s imprimatur to the covenant and erect “inequitable barriers on entry to the profession”: there would be 60 more law school places available, and some would effectively be unavailable to LGBTQ students thanks to the covenant.
The court decided that was a reasonable application of the law societies’ mandates to oversee the legal profession.
And in so ruling they helped … nobody. Again. Indeed, they might just have killed Trinity Law before it ever admits a student — though Earl Phillips, head of the program, says he suspects there are “many options” available other than the obvious ones: abandoning either the covenant or the law school.
The implications of the ruling are potentially massive. “Canada has a tradition dating back at least four centuries of religious schools which are established to allow people to study at institutions that reflect their faith and their practices,” McLachlin wrote in her concurrence. Many have always admitted students of other faiths (or none), on the condition they respect institutional mores. Today many such institutions receive public money to teach elementary and secondary students. Yet the highest court in the land has decided it’s fine for a government actor to discriminate against grown men and women who want to assemble freely in an entirely private religious institution to learn the law.
It did so in a decision that’s sloppily argued and full of contradictions. Notably, it credits the law societies’ quest for a diverse legal profession without ever considering that an evangelical Christian law school would obviously contribute to that goal. And it veers wildly off the beaten path in an effort to downplay the obvious impingement on the Trinity Western community’s religious freedoms.
No, I didn’t make that up, it’s a Diocese of New Westminster family camp for sexual minorities where the chapel services will have a strong focus on queer and trans theologies and our lives as queer and trans Christians.
Enrol now before it fills up.
More here:
Queerest and Dearest is being sponsored by the Diocesan Youth Movement in the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster and specifically being organized by a diverse group of volunteers, which includes queer parents, straight parents of queer kids, queer adults without children, trans and cisgender parents, trans youth, cisgender queer youth, people of colour and white people, settlers and indigenous folks. We are mostly Anglicans, with one Lutheran amongst us. A number of us are involved in children, youth and family ministry, and a number of us have experience leading queer- and trans-focused camps as well as camps without this focus.
All you need is love. Because love is the only way. Any kind of love. For anything or anyone. Anywhere, anyhow, any way you like it. Because love is the only way. And because Michael Curry said so in front of the queen. And because the Archbishop of Canterbury applauded along with every other half-witted bishop in the Western hemisphere.
I am reposting this article because Andrew Asbil, the clergyman who participated in euthanising the couple, has just been voted the next bishop of the Diocese of Toronto.
I remember a time when for a church to be “prophetic” it had to stand against the tide of the culture, against the immorality of the state, against the prevailing delusions that beguile our impressionable egos. Not so today. Because same-sex marriage is legal, the church has embraced it and has assigned committees loaded with waffling liberal clergy to contort Scripture to their collective will. It is much the same for abortion. And now euthanasia.
On March 27 Mr. and Mrs Brickenden committed suicide together with the help of a doctor:
On March 27, George and Shirley died holding hands in their own bed in a Toronto retirement home.
Their children, who watched from the foot of the bed, say the couple drew their last breaths at almost the same moment.
They had been married for just shy of 73 years.
The Brickendens are one of the few couples in Canada to receive a doctor-assisted death together, and the first to speak about it publicly.
The local vicar was on hand, perhaps to deliver a sermon in hope of hastening the couple’s exit:
Present were Pamela, Saxe and Angela, their spouses, the two doctors and Andrew Asbil, the Dean of Toronto’s St. James Cathedral, who later told me he had “without hesitation” supported the couple’s wish for their funeral to be held at the Anglican church.
March 27 was Maundy Thursday when we remember Jesus’ Last Supper before his excruciating death on Good Friday, an unpleasantness that he would be pastorally encouraged to sidestep by today’s Dying with Dignity Anglicanism.
The Anglican Church of Canada has produced a report in which it comes down firmly on the side of indecision. There is also a study guide to encourage parishes to have indecisive conversations about the church’s indecision.
It is important to remember that In Sure and Certain Hope was not intended as a contribution to the debate about the moral appropriateness of medically-assisted dying. The changed legal landscape has moved us beyond that to a point where many of us are likely to know, love and care for those who will face difficult decisions and may choose to avail themselves of medically-assisted dying or to reject such an option.
How long will it be before General Synod has a motion before it to approve a euthanasia liturgy and consummate its longing to become a death cult. I’d give it 10 years.
And what a surprise! He supports same-sex marriage:
The Very Rev. Andrew Asbil (answering whether he would vote to change the marriage canon)
I would vote in favour of the motion.
Bishops run in the Asbil family. Andrew’s father is Walter Asbil who was bishop of the Diocese of Niagara from 1991-1997. If son takes after father, Toronto might be in for interesting times considering how the Disaster – sorry, Diocese – of Niagara has turned out.
The Diocese of B.C. should formally enter the real estate business since it spends so much time selling empty churches to all and sundry to pay off its debt. Further diocesan woes include clergy holding views that are unencumbered by any hint of Christian theology and woodpeckers that are eating the cathedral.
No matter, help is at hand in the form of a Pride Eucharist. That should scare the woodpeckers away.
