Category Archives: Diocese of Niagara

Diocese of Niagara: Consistency is not a hallmark of God's call

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Some delectations from the official organ of the Diocese of Niagara, a diocese of diversity, inclusion and lawsuits.

First a differing view as to the meaning of Fred Hiltz’s lugubrious meanderings when he popped in to say hello in January.

Time and time again, we have prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and we understand ourselves to be acting in response to that guidance. Niagara has not weighed the pros and cons of making the decision to bless same gender unions. We have not positioned ourselves as conservatives and liberals contesting our own righteousness. The Diocese of Niagara is responding to what we believe is the call of the Holy Spirit – to create a rite to acknowledge a blessing that God has already conferred on same gender unions. This is not to suggest that other dioceses are wrong in their discernment of what God is calling them to right now. I have no trouble believing that God could be calling Niagara to one course of action while the call to other dioceses is different. Consistency is not a hallmark of God’s call.

One cannot expect consistency from the anthropomorphic god of the Diocese of Niagara.

It’s easy enough to allow that God is just fine with St. Down in the Slums shouting amens in between singing choruses and All Sable and Minks indulging in a weekly inhalation of incense while accompanied by a slightly off-key choir singing anthems which are somewhat beyond it.

Sex between two men or two women, though, is something the bible forbids, although liberals would argue that point. Either way, it is either forbidden for everyone or allowed for everyone; only a feeble-minded sub-Christian relativism would claim that God is inconsistent in this.

And while we are on the subject of feeble-minded relativism, there is this:

What would need to happen on a Sunday morning to make it meaningful and worthwhile for you to participate in worship?

What could we do or what should we avoid to create an experience of community that is life-giving, life-affirming, and life-changing for you?

The answer to this is obvious: every Sunday when I drive to church, I pass a local “Y”. It has a full parking lot and inside there are rooms filled with hot, sweaty worshippers. It is about as meaningful and worthwhile as the average Diocese of Niagara service, it builds community and it probably is life-giving in that its adherents may live a bit longer than slobs like me who drive past.

The god that is worshipped here is the body; not too different from the various and sundry gods – green, political, utopian, shamanistic, unitarian – comfortably ensconced in the diocese.

And here we have the only activity that is still recognised as sinful by the Diocese of Niagara: earning a lot of money:

The spread between the rich and the poor in this country is sinful.
For the top 100 Canadian CEO’s the average annual earnings are $10,408,054. The head of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion based in Waterloo, Ontario, pocketed more than $51,000,000. How much is enough?

Hang on a minute, don’t CEO’s count in God’s house with its many mansions? What about inclusion?

Is the writer of the article, John Ripley, exhibiting envy? It probably doesn’t matter, since that was struck off the diocesan list of sins in the synod of 1973.

Diocese of Niagara: Bishop Michael Bird disseminating integrity and discernment in the UK

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Bishop Michael Bird is off to the UK to enlighten Rowan Williams on how the Diocese of Niagara has reached the point it has in bulldozing forward its agenda to bless same sex unions. It seems that the Anglican Communion Office believes that the Diocese of Niagara and Michael Bird have addressed this thorny issue with integrity and discernment and, one assumes, could serve as a role model for others. He is there today!

Here he is declaring how he is going to export sweetness and light to the UK:

The examples of integrity and discernment that Michael Bird has displayed so far have been these:

  • The day after the first three Niagara parishes voted to join ANiC, representatives from the diocese appeared at the parishes to demand the keys to the buildings. Within the same week, the rectors of the churches were inhibited from ministering and soon after that, fired.
  • The bank accounts of the parishes were frozen by the diocese.
  • Shortly after this, the diocese took the parishes to court to demand use of the parish buildings even though they had no people to put in them. They lost at the first court appearance; Bird was in the courtroom and when the ruling was handed down, threw a bible on the table in a fit of rage.
  • About a month later, the parishes were in court again and this time, the judge ruled that the parishes had to share their buildings with the diocese; Bird’s bible was not abused.
  • In order to make a political point, the diocese held services in the parish buildings with people imported from elsewhere in the diocese, although  in one parish no people at all showed up for the first six months.
  • In spite of being approached a number of times by Bishop Don Harvey, Michael Bird has stubbornly refused to negotiate outside of the court.

Altogether a fine record of tolerance, staying at the table, conversing, diversity, inclusion and –  let’s not forget – integrity and discernment.

Rowan Williams – look out.

Diocese of Niagara: the inevitable fawning

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The Diocese of Niagara is displaying Gene Robinson’s inaugural non-Christian prayer to an anonymous god on its web site but is strangely silent when it comes Rick Warren’s Christian prayer, a prayer that refers to Jesus. One supposes that this is because Niagara’s diocesan hegemony is more comfortable with a homosexual bishop than Jesus – someone they would demonstrably rather ignore.

It also has Obama’s address – I don’t remember Bush being given the same space – confirming my suspicion that the Niagara diocese is more interested in the kingdom of man than the kingdom of God, and left-wing political agitation than the salvation of souls.

Correction: Rick Warren’s prayer was put on the Niagara site a day later.

Diocese of Niagara: a succession of shame

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The rot in the Diocese of Niagara started many years ago and has been passed down through the laying on of hands to each new bishop: John Bothwell, Walter Asbil, Ralph Spence and now Michael Bird.

John Bothwell began his reign of error in 1972.

In the early 1980s a friend of mine believed that God was calling him to become a priest in the diocese of Niagara; since he was a Christian, this was a brave move. Things went well for him academically, but John Bothwell had devised a test to weed out the undesirables in Niagara priests.

Before the final interviews candidates were made to watch a movie. Not just any movie, but a hard-core pornographic movie of homosexual men performing acts upon one another that normal people would rather not think about. The ostensible reason for this was to prepare the would-be priests for real life in the sunny Niagara Peninsular; indiscriminate inclusivity being paramount, any expressions of disgust were predictably used to filter out judgemental and diversity-intolerant candidates. To his credit my friend failed the test. Subsequently, after steeling himself for the inevitable assault on his sensibilities, he did become a priest

The reason that the diocese of Niagara is in the heretical mess that it is in today is because the way was carefully prepared by Bothwell and the subsequent troupe of delinquent, scelestious theomaniacs posing as bishops that followed in his footsteps.

Even though Michael Bird is a prat extraordinaire, not all the credit for Niagara’s heterodox buffoonery can be laid at his doorstep: in order to prosecute his folly, he stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before. Which is just as well considering his height.

Freebie Friday at St. Hilda's

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A baby girl was baptised at St. Hilda’s ANiC this morning. Her mother is a young Christian woman who has been attending St. Hilda’s during the last year or so. A little less than ten years ago, every Friday lunchtime she used to walk from the high-school she attended to St. Hilda’s building for a free lunch at Freebie Friday. Part of the free lunch is a short talk on the Gospel by St. Hilda’s Pastor Paul; seeds sometimes fall on fertile ground, take root and grow, resulting in a saved sinner and great joy in heaven. The student who used to come for free lunches is now a fine young Christian who has baptised her baby and brought other Freebie Friday alumni to Sunday worship.

The last court ruling on the dispute between the Diocese of Niagara and St. Hilda’s ANiC, was that – until final ownership of the building is settled – the building must be shared between the diocese and St. Hilda’s. The diocese was given the Sunday morning time slot, so St. Hilda’s is meeting in a school gymnasium for Sunday worship. But St. Hilda’s ANiC is still present in the church building during the week and, for the moment, Freebie Friday continues.

Freebie Friday began just over ten years ago. St. Hilda’s building is located close to a high-school; every lunchtime there was a steady trickle of children past the church on their way to the mall. We wanted to try and convey to the children the idea of the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers us as the result of his atoning death on the cross: just as salvation is free, so is lunch.

The lunch is run and paid for by volunteers from St. Hilda’s and it quickly became popular: there are two sittings which attract about a hundred children every Friday. The principal of the high school regularly expresses his gratitude for this ministry.

The children sponsor two World Vision kids with their own money and buy yearly Christmas gifts for them. Recently they paid for three wheelchairs for the Free Wheelchair Mission, an organisation that provides wheelchairs as a gift of mobility for the physically disabled poor in developing countries.

Which brings me to the reason why we are fighting in the courts to keep our building. The diocese of Niagara has a congregation of about five people using St. Hilda’s building; it is managed by two priests. If they win ownership of the building, Freebie Friday, along with other ministries will stop. St. Hilda’s ANiC would not be able to continue it because it has to take place at a location close to the school; the diocese will not continue it because, even if they had the inclination, they do not have the people needed to keep the building open, let alone engage in time consuming ministries. Even their own priests admit that their congregation is not viable.

If the diocese wins the court battle for the building, after a decent interval it will be sold and bulldozed; God’s work in that place will cease.

This is why we fight.

Fresh Start in the Diocese of Niagara

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How to welcome your new squatter-priest, diocese of Niagara style.

Welcoming a new priest is just as important as welcoming anyone else into our church community – and all the more challenging as they bring their new gifts and opportunities to a leadership position.

In the Diocese of Niagara, we believe that transition is happening even before a new priest is welcomed into your parish. With that in mind, FRESH START sees itself as a resource to parishes, parochial committees and clergy once news of a move is announced.
After the new incumbent arrives, clergy will receive an invitation to join a clergy FRESH START group, which meets on a monthly basis for two years. In Niagara , commitment to this program is a condition of employment. The clergy group offers a place for questioning and affirmation, through what can sometimes be a difficult time. Remember, for many clergy this is a personal as well as a professional transition.

It is understandable that Niagara is one of the dioceses using Fresh Start to introduce new priests. After all, they have had such a lot of practice at the clergy-conga in St. Hilda’s alone. In less than a year there was Brian Ruttan with his congregation of zero – come to think of it there was no-one to introduce him to; then Martha Tatarnic – actually there was no-one to introduce her to either since she brought her congregation from St. Jude’s; then Cheryl Fricker – yet again with no introduction needed since she brought her own troop of Celts.

Perhaps it should be renamed False Start in Niagara.

Celts invade St. Hilda's!

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Rev. Cheryl Fricker of St. Aidan’s Oakville has obviously been told by her masters in the diocese of Niagara to Add an Imageput some people in St. Hilda’s building – anyone at all – to make it appear that the diocese is doing something useful there.

From the diocese of Niagara web site here:

Description: All are welcome to join us every Sunday at 8:30 am in the spirit of St. Hilda to celebrate communion together using the songs and prayers form the Celtic Christian Tradition.

Looking for a later service?

Description: If 8:30 is too early for you, please join us at St. Aidan’s Anglican Church at 318 Queen Mary Drive for our 10 AM family Eucharist. Take Rebecca east to Forsythe, go North on Forsythe to Queen Mary. The church is at the corner of Queen Mary and Stewart Street. All are welcome!

Little pretence is made that there is actually any need for an 8:30 service at St. Hilda’s since, if 8:30 is too early, come along to St. Aidan’s building. We are all one happy family – we all really attend St. Aidan’s anyway.

Cheryl makes even less effort to disguise the fact that the congregation at St. Aidan’s is simply using St. Hilda’s building to make a political statement here:

Early Celtic Communion
St. Aidan’s, Oakville
Every Sunday Morning at St. Hilda’s Anglican Church 1258 Rebecca Street, right next door to the Library. All are welcome! 8:30 AM

It’s just as well that Celts are used to a cold, damp environment since Cheryl isn’t getting up early enough to turn on the heat.

The continuing saga of St. Hilda's: the kvetching of St. Aidan's.

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The diocese of Niagara has imported the Rev. Cheryl Fricker as the “Priest in Charge” of the diocese of Niagara’s version of church-manqué at St. Hilda’s building.

One week ago, there were 7 cars in the parking lot and this Sunday 6 for the diocesan service; eliminating 3 cars for staff (clergy, music director and server) that leaves a congregation of around 5 people. One has to understand the situation fully in order to appreciate the magnitude of the overweening effrontery of the imported congregation. Cheryl Fricker is rector of St. Aidan’s and, just like Martha before her, brought a few stooges-in-training from her own congregation.

The generous perspective on this is that the congregants at St. Aidan’s are, like all good Anglicans, kept in the dark about everything that is going on in the organisation that is the sorry excuse for a Canadian Anglican church. So, naturally, when their rector asks them to turn up for an 8:30 a.m. service, they expect everything to be laid on in the manner to which they are accustomed.

Apparently, the facilities were found wanting by the invading forces. These are the complaints:

It was only 52 degrees in sanctuary.
The real rector of St. Hilda’s used to go into the building at 5:00 a.m. every Sunday to turn the heat up so that it would be warm when his flock arrived. St. Aidan’s: you should ask your rector why she is not doing that. Oh, and while you are at it, ask her why she is not paying her bills: St. Hilda’s ANiC is still paying to heat the place – even when you are occupying it.

The communion vessels are old and shabby.
Give them back, they are ours; we liked them, but Priestly Imposter Number 1, Brian Ruttan insisted on our giving them to him. In spite of the fact that many of them have sentimental value for the real parishioners of St. Hilda’s, we gave them up and bought new ones for ourselves. And now you, St. Aidan’s, are whining that they are not good enough for you!

The church had been stripped.
Martha Tatarnic did have a keyboard, piano and some children’s toys in the sanctuary; it was inconsiderate of her to remove them, wasn’t it? Martha is now at St.David’s and Holy Cross in Orillia (stdavids@orilliapronet.com 705-325-1421); why don’t you ask her for the stuff back?

The musicians in the real St. Hilda’s took their musical instruments with them; come to think of it, we have more instruments than you have people in your congregation.

There were no hymn books.
We haven’t used hymn books for 10 years, but they are there somewhere; so sorry to put you to the trouble, but you just need to look for them.

One of the many ironies on the St. Aidan’s occupation is that St. Aidan’s used to be regarded as a “missionary church” – an Anglican euphemism that means it can’t pay its own way – and St. Hilda’s diocesan assessment was increased to pay a part of St. Aidan’s share. We still are paying.