The life of an ordinary Church of England vicar

It doesn’t usually include kicking police, drinking binges, bomb hoaxes, cannabis, fraud and criminal damage. But, in the case of Rev. Gareth Jones, it does.

Rev. Jones is the vicar (still, according to the website!) at St. Mary’s in Ilford, a parish that claims to be “A place of prayer, dialogue and hospitality” – unless you are a policeman. The parish is Anglo-Catholic, employing the usual trappings of incense, candles and an eastward facing priest at the altar – while he is able to stand, of course. No mention is made of the concentration of cannabis used in the thurible.

If Rev. Jones finds himself without a job – as surely he soon must – he could move to Canada and seek employment with the Anglican Church of Canada; if he pretends to be gay he is almost guaranteed a position.

From the BBC:

The Reverend Gareth Jones swore at officers and claimed he had diplomatic immunity from the Vatican when he was arrested two weeks ago.

A paramedic found him passed out on a street in central London.

Jones, who later said he was “deeply ashamed” about what happened, had drunk three bottles of wine, several pints of beer, gin and tonics and vodka.

[….]

As police intervened, the priest from St Mary’s Church in Ilford, east London, kicked an officer in the face, the court was told.

When asked which embassy would grant him diplomatic immunity, the priest said “the Vatican” and swore at officers.

Jones, who has previous convictions for a bomb hoax, affray, possession of cannabis, fraud, and criminal damage, now faces formal church disciplinary proceedings.

The Dead Parrot Sketch Redux

In its never ceasing quest to appear relevant, dynamic, progressive and forward-looking, the Anglican Church of Canada has decided not to decide on whether to support a Frankenstinian creation whose death throes twitching ceased five years ago: The Anglican Covenant.

From the Journal:

No Anglican Covenant decision in 2016

General Synod 2016 will not be asked to vote for or against adopting the proposed Anglican Covenant when it meets this July. Instead, a draft motion directs Council of General Synod (CoGS) to “continue to monitor developments related to the Anglican Covenant.”

Anglican Journal displays its bias

The Anglican Journal is biased: it reports with breathless reverence on what looks to me like a couple of hundred people on Parliament Hill indulging in a blanket exercise “to help people understand Canada’s history from an Indigenous perspective” and completely ignores 22,000 people meeting on Parliament Hill for the March for Life.

There were Anglicans at both; which looks more newsworthy to you? Here are the blankets:

Blanket Exercise

And here is the March for Life:

Primate Fred Hiltz suspects there might be stress at General Synod over same-sex marriage

Fred Hiltz, as perceptive as ever, has realised that, whichever way the vote over same-sex marriage goes in July, some people will leave aggravated. A vote for will upset the few remaining conservatives and a vote against will upset the disproportionately high number of homosexual clergy. This is all a repeat performance of the lamentations and appeals for unity that accompanied the voting over same-sex blessings in prior synods. Then, as now, the so-called unity is bogus. Also bogus were the assurances that same-sex blessings would not lead to same sex marriage. Does anyone truly believe that priests will not be compelled to perform same-sex marriages if the vote goes that way?

Hiltz has as much as admitted that the whole synod exercise will be a vacuous farce since, even if the same-sex marriage motion is voted down – as it probably will be – dioceses will go ahead with it anyway.

Still, at least the synod will be green, that’s the main thing.

From the Anglican Journal:

“No doubt in this synod there will be some stress and some strain, but I hope and pray that in the grace of the waters of baptism in which we have been made one with Christ, that we will be able to continue to do our work in synod and that we’ll know that in the midst of it all, we are, in fact, members one of another.”

This General Synod, the 41st in the history of the Anglican Church of Canada, is expected to be momentous, involving as it does a vote to change the church’s canon (law) on marriage.

“That’s a fairly huge issue for our church, so I think people who come to this General Synod will rightly have some anxiety about that,” says General Synod Deputy Prolocutor Cynthia Haines-Turner, in another video released by the office of General Synod.

It also seems likely that, whichever way the estimated 269 delegates assembling in Thornhill, Ont., July 7–12 vote, the impact will be felt in Anglican churches across Canada. In an April 12 interview, Hiltz told the Anglican Journal that bishops are concerned that clergy and parishes may decide to leave the church if the vote is not acceptable to them. (Avowals to this effect have also been made by followers of the Journal’s Facebook page.) Hiltz also said he believed some clergy, if faced with a “no” vote, might decide to marry same-sex couples anyway.

As a fitting summary of the mess, Hiltz utters two tautologies followed by an appeal from the Beatles:

Hiltz said that as he reflected recently on the upcoming General Synod, the words from an Anglican night prayer came repeatedly to mind: “What has been done has been done. What has not been done has not been done. Now let it be.”

The Anglican Church of Canada is finally hitting its stride by becoming a tango school

I admit I have not quite decided which prospect I find most appealing: ACoC churches that are bankrupt, ACoC churches that are empty or ACoC churches that have become tango schools. The last I think; so long as they have same-sex partners, of course.

From CTV News

Churches convert into tango schools and daycares to stay financially stable

The idea of turning her local Ottawa church into a community hub was at the forefront of Leanne Moussa’s mind when the building went up for sale two years ago.

With a group of other residents, Moussa paid $1.52 million for All Saints Anglican Church, once the site of the state funeral for Prime Minister Robert Borden.

“We had a real interest in preserving what we see as an important place of Canadian history, and preserving that as a public space in some way,” she said. “We think this building and this property has served some important functions, not just for the congregation but for the larger community.”

Once the renovations and repairs are complete, the church will be home to a coffee shop, a wedding event space and meeting rooms for book launches, art shows and activist groups. Eventually, the church’s lower hall will be turned into a permanent restaurant.

Moussa, who is not religious, notes that All Saints is still a home of worship for smaller faith-based groups. It’s used as a mosque on Friday, a synagogue on Saturday and a church to two Christian groups on Sunday. It’s also is a destination for tango and yoga classes nearly every night of the week.

Diocese of Rupert’s Land plans to proceed with same-sex marriages

The bishop of Rupert’s Land has issued the following statement that clearly says – amidst the usual faux-pious gobbledegook – that he intends to go ahead with marrying same-sex couples in spite of the fact that the motion to approve same-sex marriages won’t be voted upon until the next general synod, that it is unlikely to pass anyway and that it could not receive final approval until 2019.

Fred Hiltz has already received an oracle  that this was bound to happen; I suppose Phillips, having seen that, thought to himself: “Why wait?”

An Update from the Bishop on Same-sex Marriages in our Church May 23, 2016.

It is my hope that this brief pastoral update will be helpful to members of our Diocese. Since the communication from the House of Bishops and the response from the Council of General Synod regarding the proposed change to the marriage canon back in March, 2016, I have noted both the interest and concern around how I view same-sex marriage in our Diocese, as well as the confusion and anxiety about what my approach to same-sex marriage might be.

Through continued prayer, listening to many voices, studying the Commission’s report, This Holy Estate, and much conversation, I am able to offer the following, hopefully straightforward, statement: I am convinced that the time has come for the provision for same-sex marriages in our Diocese to become reality. I am committed to working toward making that happen both as soon as responsibly possible, and in a grace-filled manner that minimizes the impact for those who struggle with this issue – both within and beyond our Diocese.

How this needs to take place is yet to be determined and it is important that I, our other delegates to General Synod, and all of the members of our Diocese, remain open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in discerning that path.

Yours [not in any way, shape or form – editor] in Christ,
Donald Phillips, PhD
Bishop of Rupert’s Land

Justin Welby wants to wipe out AIDS by 2030

Read and watch here.

There is nothing particularly surprising about this since the Anglican church seems to have an obsessive interest in making broad declarations about things over which it has no control or influence. When Anglican leaders are not parading their impotence by Making Poverty History or demanding justice on behalf of the climate, they are, with no medical knowledge whatsoever and a diminished confidence in the efficacy of prayer to heal, trumpeting that AIDS is to be banished by 2030. But why AIDS?

As you can see from the following chart, heart disease kills five time the number of people as AIDS. Even diarrhoea kills as many people as AIDS. Why isn’t the Archbishop of Canterbury telling us what a great privilege it is to be invited to give a message on the fight against diarrhoea?

disease

The reason, I suspect, is that, in a similar vein to Romans 1:18-32, as the church’s interest in eternity has waned, so its interest in sex – homosexual sex in particular – has increased, attracting a disproportionate number of homosexual clergy.

Although AIDS can be spread through heterosexual contact, the preferred way to contract it is still through homosexual activity. As this article points out, homosexual men are more severely affected by HIV than any other group in the United States.”

So for Anglican leaders, combating AIDS is a species of group self-interest.

March for Life, Ottawa 2016

I have just returned from the annual Ottawa March for Life. I’ll publish more photos in a later post.

Estimates of how many attended vary between 20,000 (march organisers) and 4,000 (mainstream media). Estimating the numbers in a large crowd is tricky but I think the number of people on the hill was closer to 20,000 than 4,000.

Some of the Anglicans for Life attendees:

_DSC0080The march was shorter than previous years because protesters against the march had blocked the road, so we were rerouted. Typically, those campaigning for freedom of choice quail at the prospect of anyone making a choice at odds with their choice and resort to the tactic commonly used by communists, fascists and over-sensitive bishops alike: try to suppress the free expression of the opposition. Here are the protestors being held in check by police:

_DSC0171Some Anglicans for Life clergy:

_DSC0084Some of the peaceful opposition:

_DSC0156We have much better signs:

_DSC0140And off we go:

_DSC0155 _DSC0170 _DSC0184Anglicans tire easily. After the march:

_DSC0195These two were keeping an eye on things from the top of the parliament building:

_DSC0201