Category Archives: Diocese of Huron

Diocese of Huron to proceed with same-sex marriage

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The list of dioceses that intend to perform same-sex marriages continues to grow.

We now have:
Niagara, Toronto (the bishop is considering it), Ottawa and Huron.

The dioceses of BC, Montreal, New Westminster, Kootenay are expected to fall in line shortly:

I expect Logan McMenamie, our Bishop, will issue a statement in the next 24 hours. As will the Archbishop of Toronto, the Bishop of New Westminster, the Bishop of Montreal, the Archbishop of Kootenay, and a host of others. Stay tuned. It isn’t over.

Posted by Bruce Bryant-Scott

From here:

To the Clergy and People of the Diocese of Huron:

As many of you are aware, today a resolution was brought to the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada to allow Anglican clergy to marry all eligible couples regardless of gender. It is with sorrow that we share with you that this resolution did not pass in all three orders (lay, clergy and bishops) as required and was, therefore, defeated.

We know that this decision will cause deep hurt to LGTBQ2+ members of our Diocese and to their families, friends and allies. For this we are truly sorry. You are valued members of the Body of Christ and of our diocese. Despite the pain that this decision may cause you, please do not give up on us. Help us know how we may best care for you at this time.

The chancellor of General Synod has indicated that the current marriage canon ‘does not contain either a definition of marriage or a specific prohibition against solemnizing same-sex marriage’. We are also aware that a diocesan bishop may exercise episcopal authority in authorizing liturgies to respond to pastoral needs within their dioceses, in the absence of any actions by the General Synod. We intend to authorize such liturgies once guidelines are in place.

We know, too, that there are members of our Diocese who believe that the General Synod made a faithful decision. One of the gifts and challenges of the Anglican Church is that we can hold divergent views yet still pray together. It is our fervent hope that this continues to be true as we seek our way into the future together.

Please pray for the Church and for our diocese. Pray for our LGTBQ2+ brothers and sisters. Pray for us as we seek to be faithful leaders in the Diocese of Huron. We hold each of you in our prayers and in our hearts. May the God of all grace, heal us, fill us, renew us and empower us that we may continually seek the Spirit of God in our midst and in each other.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Robert Bennett The Rt. Rev. Linda Nicholls

St. George’s, Windsor to be demolished

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The Diocese of Huron is demolishing St. George’s in Windsor because the congregation has withered and the diocese doesn’t need the building. Of course, when St. Aidan’s congregation – also in Windsor – joined ANiC, the diocese took them to court because they really needed the property – rather like my dog: if I pick up a stick, he must have it, only to lose interest when I drop it.

From here:

Historic St. George’s Church and Hall, facing likely demolition, will be put up for sale in a last-ditch effort to save it.

But officials at the Anglican Church’s Diocese of Huron — which owns the Walkerville property, with an asking price of $250,000 — aren’t holding their breath.

“We’re going to proceed with demolition but because the city really would like to see if we can sell it first, we’re going to test it on the market for a couple of months,” Paul Rathbone, secretary-treasurer for the Diocese of Huron, said Wednesday. “But we’re not going to hold it on the market long at all.

The Diocese of Huron hates fossil fuels

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Cheap energy produced by fossil fuels has given us better medicines, cleaner water, warmer homes, cheaper and more plentiful food, more leisure time and a longer lifespan. It also provided the means of producing the clothes and glasses the young ladies below are wearing, the sign that they are holding and the dentistry that permits them to display their toothy grins with such aplomb.

The Diocese of Huron wants to divest from fossil fuels; Canon Linda Nixon from that diocese is the one on the left brandishing the sign.

Climate-justice-march-FB-BB

The sign isn’t completely inaccurate: if she had her way it certainly would endanger our grandchildren.

Diocese of Huron Dean quits

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Imam-at-CathedralWhen Kevin Dixon was installed as cathedral Dean in the Diocese of Huron, an imam read from the Koran to celebrate the occasion.

Dixon has now moved on to become vice-president of operations at International Justice Mission Canada (IJM), an organisation dedicated to protecting the poor from violence throughout the developing world.

When he was employed by the Diocese of New Westminster, Dixon was one of the first rectors to offer blessings to same-sex couples during which time, Dixon was critical of J.I. Packer’s understanding of the Bible:

The Rev. Kevin Dixon, priest at St. Mary’s Anglican Church in Kerrisdale, meanwhile believes Packer is adopting a “literalistic” reading of the Bible.

“It’s important for people to understand that the holy scriptures is a very nuanced document. I think we need to allow people room to come to a new understanding,” said Dixon, the local newspaper reported.

“I have not always held the view that same-sex relationships are consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, but now I do.”

More recently, Dixon has been occupying himself by observing the elections in El Salvador to verify the free exercise of the right to vote.

I’m not sure whether IJM is active in the Middle East or not, but if it is, perhaps Dixon could take his imam along to observe the violence – forgive me for being literalistic – inflicted on the poor by Islamic State.

Pollinating in the Diocese of Huron

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The Diocese of Huron, having given up on the idea of saving men, has turned its attention to saving bees. Unconcerned by the fact that those who have not received the salvation of Christ are eternally screwed or, as Jonathan Edwards put it, unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, they are at least making sure that the rotten covering is well pollinated.

From here:

Doing their part to restore balance to the local ecosystem, Anglican churches throughout the Diocese of Huron have planted pollination gardens to feed area bees as part of the Garden4Bees project.

Diocese of Huron can’t demolish St. Barnabas

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As I mentioned here, St. Barnabas’s congregation was moved to St. Aidan’s because the Diocese of Huron won St. Aidan’s property from the congregation in a lawsuit, ousted the congregation and now needs create the illusion that it needed the building for its own congregation.

The diocese’s plan, since it couldn’t sell St. Aidan’s without appearing ridiculously hypocritical, was to demolish the now vacated St. Barnabas. Unfortunately for the diocese, St. Barnabas is in the process of being designated a heritage property, so it can’t be demolished. Such a pity.

From here:

The city’s heritage committee voted Monday to deny the Anglican Diocese’s application to demolish the main church, at 2115 Chilver Road, which was built in 1955. Instead, the committee wants the city to designate the structure a heritage building — which would prevent demolition in the future.

The Diocese of Huron wants to demolish St. Barnabas, Windsor

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From here:

A discussion on the potential destruction of a landmark 1950s church in Windsor has been postponed until next month.

St. Barnabas Church at 2115 Chilver Rd. is the subject of a demolition request by the Anglican Church of Canada’s Diocese of Huron, who own the property.

The stated intent of the demolition is to make way for construction of a drugstore.

There is nothing particularly surprising about that, since it follows the received ACoC survival strategy of Deconsecrate, Demolish and Trade (DDT). What makes this a little different is what happened to the congregation:

The church’s congregation relocated and merged with the congregation of St. Aidan’s last year, forming the new congregation of St. Augustine of Canterbury at 5145 Wyandotte St. East.

The building situated at 5145 Wyandotte St. East used to belong to St. Aidan’s congregation, a congregation that voted to join ANiC in 2008. The congregation was sued by the diocese of Huron for possession of the building; the diocese won and promptly locked the congregation out of the building. 165 people left and about 12 remained, so to claim that St. Barnabas and St. Aidan’s “merged” is misleading: the diocesan version of St. Aidan’s was taken over – replaced – with the congregation of St. Barnabas, leaving St. Barnabas empty.

Why would the diocese do this? For the diocese to maintain the fiction that it needed St. Aidan’s building, it could not sell it shortly after winning a thoroughly nasty court battle. Instead, the diocese moved another congregation into St. Aidan’s and sold the building that belonged to the moved congregation.

This is what, in church parlance, is called being missional; or is it incarnational – I forget.

Diocese of Huron focussing on what really matters

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Dog poop.

From here:

I am writing this letter to express the concern we, at St. James Anglican Church feel about the abuse of our facilities by dog owners. In particular, dog owners seem to presume that the gardens and parkland on the south side of St. James are public property, owned by the City of Stratford. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The lands on the south side of St. James stretching down to Huron Street are the property of The Anglican Church of Canada, Diocese of Huron. A large portion of the property is a Registered Cemetery that is very much in use.

In fact, we will have four internments there during the month of June.

At the direction of the Wardens of St. James, a large garbage can is placed out on the south side lawn of the Church for those that may have paper refuse, coffee cups or pop cans. We do this to encourage people to be responsible citizens while visiting our property. This garbage can is not for the collection of hundreds of pounds of dog droppings.

We acknowledge and thank dog owners for cleaning up after their dogs. However, it is their responsibility to carry their dog’s droppings back to their home for disposal.

On behalf of the Clergy, Staff, Wardens and Parishioners of St. James Anglican Church, please accept my sincere thanks for your cooperation.

I’m still trying to train my dog to poop on the immaculate lawn of the Diocese of Niagara’s St. Jude’s; he’s very particular about where he deposits his offering, though, so I’ve had little success.

Rev. George Ferris deposed for paedophilia

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The Anglican Church of Canada has deposed Rev. George Ferris for sexually molesting a number of teenage boys. As this article notes, deposition is “the most severe penalty for ecclesiastical offenses”.

As I recall, the last ecclesiastical offence that provoked sufficient wrath from the Anglican Church of Canada for it to invoke the most severe penalty at its disposal was when a number of priests  – J. I. Packer among them – defied the ACoC to align themselves with another Anglican Province. It would appear that in the eyes of the Anglican Church of Canada, standing up for the Gospel and following one’s conscience is as reprehensible as paedophilia. What a thoroughly twisted denomination the ACoC has become.

The bishop of the Anglican diocese of Huron, Robert Bennett, has deposed the Rev. George Ferris, a retired Anglican priest who faces up to five-and-a-half years in prison for five counts of sexual offences dating back to the 1980s.

Deposition, which is the most severe penalty for ecclesiastical offenses as stated in the Anglican Church of Canada’s Handbook, means Ferris can no longer exercise ordained ministry. It has “the same effect as if the person had relinquished the exercise of the ordained ministry pursuant to Canon XIX,” said the handbook. Deposition also includes all the consequences of “deprivation,” including the severing of connections between the person deprived and his or her parish and diocese.

At his retirement, the diocesan paper published an article entitled: “A Fond Farewell for Father George!” Along with the article is this, in retrospect, ironic and frightening  photograph, captioned:

Father George delights both adults and children in his “Children’s focus”.
31-01-2014 6-39-17 PM

Diocese of Huron hires secular fund raising consultants

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A church employing secular fund raisers to keep itself financially viable is a harbinger of approaching doom. It is an admission that the transcendent principles on which the organisation rests no longer sufficiently motivate its members to part with their cash – probably because the leaders themselves no longer believe them.

In the case of the Diocese of Huron, the fund-raising effort is being disguised by the epithet “Renew”, a word that, when used by a church, usually means spiritual renewal not bank balance renewal.

From here (page 2):

Diocesan Council approved on February 28, 2013, at a Sub-Council meeting, a plan to position the Diocese and direct it forward as Renew will be launched this year at Synod.

The Diocese has been engaged over the last six months in a feasibility and quiet phase study, preparing the Diocese to launch Renew for our parishes. This time also allowed the Diocese to work toward funding costs for materials, planning and labour to provide for this launch of the program.

Diocesan Sub-Council approved the establishment of a new Renew Committee, which is now charged with directing and managing Renew in the Diocese. Part of their mandate is to now recommend consultants to actively work with parishes and the Diocese in raising funds in support of our established needs as a Church.

The Diocese has now engaged the contracted services of Ms. Amanda Gellman and Ms. Lynda McGregor of our Diocese as professional consultants to help lead Renew in Huron.