Category Archives: Diocese of Niagara

Diocese of Niagara: 2013 financial update

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From here:

Regarding financial resources, Budget Chair Andrew Clinkard reported that “the diocesan financial position continues to get healthier.” He pointed out the diocese has not used their “interest bearing credit line” since March of this year, the “long term debt from parishes has been reduced by $179,000.00 and “we are anticipating an operating surplus for 2013.”

What Clinkard omitted from this rosy assessment was mentioning the influx of cash the diocese received from selling St. Hilda’s church building and rectory.

The rectory sold for $650,0000 and the church building for $2,250,000 (note: I have changed this to an exact number), making the debt reduction of $179,000.00 appear rather less impressive.

Niagara Anglican circulation numbers

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In one year the Niagara Anglican’s (the Diocese of Niagara’s paper) circulation has declined by 6.4%. This is due to the “[i]ncapacity or death” of former recipients.

It’s not unreasonable to infer that the decline in circulation is at least matched if not exceeded by an equivalent 6.4% decline in membership.

Interestingly, the circulation numbers include parishes that have left the diocese – there are 4; I and others in the departed congregations continue to receive the paper – so basing membership on the circulation numbers probably yields an inflated figure.

You will be please to know that $426,573 of your tax dollars have contributed to distributing Anglican Church of Canada newspapers.

From here (Page 4):

In her 2013 report to the recent Anglican Editors Association conference, Senior Manager Beverley Murphy provided the following information:

• Total circulation [of the Anglican Journal] was down 4.49% since last year;

• Incapacity or death is the reason given in most instances for cancellation;

• Electronic updates average 72 per week;

• Majority of updates are sent by parishes via regular mail;

• Half of all circulation emails come from individuals, then parishes (36.7%) and dioceses (13.3%);

• The Canada Periodical Fund provided a grant ($426,573 from April 2012 to April

2013) which basically covers half of all mailing costs for the Anglican Journal and the 23 diocesan newspapers;

• The Canada Post’s Address Accuracy Program compares subscribers’ addresses with valid addresses on Canada Post’s database. All diocesan papers have sustained the required rate of 95% accuracy.

In 2012, the Niagara Anglican had an accuracy rate of 98.5%.

In June 2012, the Niagara Anglican had a circulation of 10,406, which stood at 9,740 in September this year. It is the fifth largest among the diocesan papers.

Toronto Anglican is the largest, followed by Anglican Life (Newfoundland and Labrador), Huron Church News and the Diocesan Times (Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). The total Anglican Journal circulation for June 2012 was 155,383 subscribers compared with 143,510 in September 2013.

Diocese of Niagara sells St. Hilda’s Church

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It was sold to the city and will be turned into a paramedic station.

_Y8C4545From here:

Dear Resident:

Re: Public drop-in session, Wednesday, September 18 – intended development of southwest Oakville paramedic station.

This letter is in follow up to the August 15 letter you received regarding Halton Region’s intention to develop a paramedic station in southwest Oakville at 1258 Rebecca Street, formerly St. Hilda’s Anglican Church. As mentioned in the letter, the Region will be holding a public drop-in session to answer any questions and to hear your thoughts on the construction and operation of a paramedic station at this site. Details about that session have now been confirmed and we hope you can attend.

[…..]

Construction of the new paramedic station is targeted to begin in late 2014, pending planning approvals.

As a reminder, information about the planning and intended development of the station can also be found at www.halton.ca/SWOakvilleStation. We will continue to update the page regularly.

We look forward to hearing from you at the drop-in session. If you are unable to attend and have any questions, please call me at 905-825-6000, ext. 7091, send me an email at greg.sage@halton.ca, or contact Christine Barber, Deputy Chief/Manager, Operations at 905-825-6000 ext. 7045 or christine.barber@halton.ca.

And here:

Why do we intend to build a paramedic station at 1258 Rebecca Street?

    • A new paramedic station will support the health and safety of residents in the community.
    • Southwest Oakville has one of the highest rates of paramedic calls in Halton Region.
    • The area needs a paramedic station to help paramedics respond to calls in the area more quickly, which will improve patient outcomes and save lives.
    • The need for a station in southwest Oakville was identified in 2005, in the Emergency Medical Services 10-Year Master Plan.[…..]

What else will be going on this property?

  • We have no plans for the remainder of the property at this time.
  • Any future land use is required to be approved by Council and the community would be consulted before anything moved forward.
  • The community can be assured that the property will be maintained in good condition at all times by the Region.

When will construction begin and end?

  • Pending permits, demolition would then happen in the fall of 2013.
  • Pending approvals, construction will begin in late 2014 or early 2015.
  • The station is scheduled to be operational in 2015.

 

St. Hilda’s rectory was sold a number of months back for $650,000; it is now a hole in the ground beside a large pile of earth:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

And here is a portion of the letter from the bishop promising to keep the church open:

11-09-2013 5-58-00 PM

The Diocese of Niagara invites me to dinner with the bishop

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The invitation arrived by email this morning. The question is, to use the popular vernacular, are they just messing with my head?

If I grit my teeth, pay the $225 and show up at the door, will I simply be slapped with another lawsuit claiming attempted bribery for sending $225 to the diocese under the pretence that I had been invited to dinner – as if that were at all likely.

Or would my appearance be an occasion for the matrons of the diocese to have synchronised attacks of the vapours?

Only one way to find out.

Here is the email:

Bishop’s Company Dinner‏

To: mr.toad @ pobox.com
Picture of Niagara Anglican
News in the Diocese of Niagara

Bishop's Company Time us running outTime is running out!

The Annual Bishop’s Company Dinner is on Monday, September 30, 2013 at The Burlington Convention Centre.

WAIT!!!!!!

Don’t ignore this email please

There are lots of good reasons to go to the Dinner – here are just a few:

  • To support the pastoral ministry of Bishop Michael Bird to those in need of care and assistance.
  • To be nourished through the wisdom of a very prophetic speaker – Bishop Michael Ingham
  • To enjoy a wonderful evening of entertainment, good food, inspirational speaking while connecting with Anglicans from across our diocese.

Sign up now

If you have been to the Dinner before – please sign up again!

If you are new – please don’t be shy….it’s a wonderful evening and we promise you’ll love it!

Here’s the catch:

The deadline to register is just two weeks away: Weds September 18th at 5 pm

It’s easy:

Sign up online – click here

…or….Call Nancy Clause at Cathedral Place – 905.527.1316 x 380

Diocese of Niagara: “Jesus had two Dads and he turned out just fine”

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A Diocese of Niagara parish, St. John the Evangelist in Niagara Falls, is displaying the following billboard:

reddit-church-signThe idea is hard to miss: there is nothing wrong with a same-sex couple being parents.

The billboard doesn’t get into any tricky details such as the fact that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and a woman not two men. Or that the liberal clergy who occupy the Diocese of Niagara delight in calling the third person of the Trinity “she” when it suits them – why not two Mums on the sign? Or that, while they are not busy calling the Holy Spirit “she”, liberal clergy are studiously engaged on expunging all references to God as “he” from liturgies and hymn books because, as they keep telling us, God is genderless. Or that Jesus was raised by a man and a woman, not two Dads. Or that two men can’t conceive, try as they might. Or that a majority of Niagara clerics don’t even believe in the Virgin Birth. I know: picky picky picky.

You will notice that the photographer was leaning heavily to the left when he took the photograph.

More here:

A church billboard that affirms homosexuality has gone viral. After Reddit user Reeb0k posted a photo of the sign online, it quickly gained hundreds of thousands of views. The controversial text on the placard reads, “Jesus had two dads and he turned out just fine.”

Not much information is provided along with the picture, but the sign on which it appears belongs to a “St. John’s Anglican Church.” According to the Reddit user, the house of worship is in his home city, but the name of that city isn’t mentioned in the post.

In addition to the pro-gay message, a portion of the church’s address is present on the sign (the number “3428″ appears). After a quick web search, TheBlaze discovered that the church is located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, in Canada.

In an effort to confirm that the sign is, indeed, posted, we called the church office and phoned the Rev. Duncan Lyon, a member of the St. John’s clergy. His wife answered the phone and confirmed that the pro-gay message is posted outside of the church.

When we asked for more information about the motivation behind it, she referred us back to the church office, adding, “I’m sure you can sort it out yourself.”

Michael Ingham to speak in the Diocese of Niagara

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Now that he has retired, Bishop Michael Ingham has started on the lecture circuit.

Where better to begin than the diocese which has been attempting to out-liberal the Diocese of New Westminster for about a decade: the Diocese of Niagara. He will be speaking at the Bishop’s Company Dinner – a diocesan club for well-heeled laypeople inclined to senior cleric sycophancy – on September 30, 2013.

IngThose who wish to be regaled with tales of Ingham’s former triumphs – or how to break up a worldwide denomination by being inclusive – may do so for a mere $225. I wonder how much Ingham is being paid.

Ing2

Fighting the homophobia web virus

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At St. Christopher’s in the Diocese of Niagara, 1 Timothy 6:12 has taken a strange turn.

They are “fighting the homophobia web virus on the internet”:

St.C

I can almost see the homophobia web virus shrivelling, like a vampire in the sunlight, before the onslaught of rainbow flag, candles and small but doughty semicircle of crusading Anglicans.

I don’t know about you, but I had no idea there was such a thing as a homophobia web virus; the next time the Windows Technical Department calls I plan on asking them about it.

Diocese of Niagara: anything to keep the membership numbers up

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In spite of all the excitement I am having with its bishop, the Diocese of Niagara is still mailing me a paper copy of the Niagara Anglican.

This is either a desperate bid to create the illusion of there being two more people on the diocesan membership roll that there actually are, or it’s an attempt to goad me into saying something else that could prove very expensive; I can’t decide which.

NA

The Diocese of Niagara’s addition to Canon 4.6

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Canon 4.6 is full of turgid prose offering advice on things like where to stick your solar panels and what sort of permit is needed before erecting a tent within three metres of a building.

There is this interesting sentence, though, added in July 2013, displayed prominently in both the full document and much briefer summary:

All church buildings and land are either the property of the diocese or are held in trust on behalf of the diocese.

Parishioners basking in the blissful delusion that what they pay for they own, beware: you don’t, the diocese owns everything, even the tents.