Apparently the Diocese of Niagara will try just about anything except Christianity to entice people into its buildings: the place was full for the first time this century.
If you missed it, never fear, there will be a repeat of the fescennine folly at St. George’s Anglican Church, St. Catharines on Valentine’s day.
It’s all part of Living the Vision: coming soon to a church near you.
From here:
I was at the Christ’s Church Cathedral on Tuesday for a special performance of The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler’s still controversial (not to mention funny) play about some defining things that make a woman a woman, and a girl a girl.
Throughout the evening words were spoken that presumably had never been heard before in this hallowed space. Four-letter words some of them, with hard consonants, resounding profanely in the Gothic-Revival splendour of vaulted ceilings, stained glass and fluted columns. The hundreds who filled the church on this night would frequently drown out the sound of those words, not with indignant protest but laughter.
I was shocked. You might imagine. A “mainstream” church, with its pews full!?
The cathedral on James North, the centrepiece of the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, was built 1852-1876. Back then they didn’t envision plays in the church, certainly not with such language and content, and certainly not with the lines being delivered by ordained Anglican priests.
Back then, they really would’ve been shocked. You might imagine. But mostly because those ordained priests were … worst outrage of all … women.
Eight of them — female Anglican priests, from Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Guelph, Cayuga, Hamilton. They dressed in black vestments and red scarves, and at least one in stiletto heels.
Some even now will find it offensive that something called The Vagina Monologues was staged in a church, a sacred place, that priests said the “f” word and worse.
There’s a certain blessing in NOT being part of this Church!
A church that presents the VM is not from God! No need to use any profanities in a church that pretends to aspire to the the God who created the whole universe. Sad state in the Niagara Diocese; Bird should dissolve the diocese immediately and send everyone elsewhere! The Anglican church of Canada is in violation of the original faith it contradicted in the 39 articles. The church of England [Anglican] has erred!
OMG!!!! Where to begin?
I thought this play was supposed to be a one person (oops, it’s ok to be gender specific when it means women are portrayed in a positive way) or should I say one woman play. I count seven in the picture (and the article mentions that there were eight). How can this be a monologue? Perhaps they all wanted to be included in this so much that none of them could make a personal sacrifice for the benefit of the play. After all, “it’s all about me” isn’t it.
That this rude excuse for a play was even considered to be conducted within what is still a Holy place of Worship is beyond unconsianable. But so what. Since when church about anything other than “what I want to do”? (And here I thought that Church was supposed to be about Worshipping God.)
Not having ever seen this particular play I might not be qualified to comment on it too much. But from what I have heard about it I am of the understanding that is a poorly disguised piece of propaganda that has been put into our society by a facsict feminist, and as such makes no attempt at all to glorify God. So I have to wonder why the women who are supposed to be Priests spent any time at all on this thing? How much of the Church’s time that they should have been using for true Christain ministry was stolen for this?
And at the rist of ruffling a few feathers (sorry Kate) do I even mention the issue of woman ordination? This is not to say that there are some male preists that should never have been ordained. But holy jumpin! If this doesn’t take the cake than what will? For me personally this is yet another example of how when we start to ignore God’s Holy Word we end up going down some very wrong paths.
I suppose that I should not get too upset by this incident though. After all, it will likely be only a few short years until this particular church is deconsecrated and turned permanently into a playhouse.
If this is what it takes to fill a Cathedral than may God have mercy on us all.
Just because it looks like a church and has all the churcy stuff and and fancy costumes doesn’t mean it is the House of God. Maybe the F and C words will be part of the deconsecration service. Just turn the keys over to someone who cares.
Yes, well, a male bishop allowed this to happen in the cathedral, didn’t he? I don’t think that either gender has a monopoly on foolishness.
Hello Kate,
Hope all is well with you. I did try to be a little sensitive to your feelings as I stated “For me personally…”. And in all fairness it was the article itself that raised the issue woman ordination. Also, please note that I also stated “This is not to say that there are some male preists that should never have been ordained.” Mr. Bird is in my opinion a perfect example of this.
Still the larger issue is “how the heck did the DoN get to this pathetic point in the first place?”. That a Cathedral is less than full for regular worship, but full for something like this?!? How very sad indeed.
All the best to you Kate.
I know, sorry if I seemed a bit short. I’ve been forced to take it easy because of severe back pain for the last couple of weeks, and I’m a wee bit testy…. I don’t slow down too well.
Lets look at this from another angle.
Bird has finally found a way to fill the pews of his cathedral. The ACoC may have found its true calling: vulgar entertainment mecca. The possibilities are only limited by the bounds of the criminal code.
There’s more on the St. George’s performance here:
I checked out the linked article (at the Hamilton Standard) and the comments posted. I figured that there would be a presence of “other than Anglican types” and likely also the usual secularist reply. It was interesting to see very little support for the play being conducted in a Church. In fact several of the comments were rather critical of the Anglican Church and opinions that things like this, supposedly intended to bring people into the Church, will only further drive people away. Can someone please forward a copy of the Hamilton Spectator article, complete with the comments, to Bird Ingham Hiltz and company.
There is a remote chance that Hiltz and Bird would ignore me, but why don’t you email them:
Bishop Michael Bird – bishop@niagara.anglican.ca
Archbishop Fred Hiltz – primate@national.anglican.ca
Gee is the Red Scarf the new Rainbow Banner?
I suspect that many in the Cathedral audience were there to witness the completee debasement of Niagara Diocese.
How can the faithful possibly stomach this?
I remember watching an episode of the TV movie, Morse, some years ago that revolved around a group of female Theology students at Oxford University who were working very hard indeed to become ordained priests in the Church of England. Male Theology students, of course, were cast by them as the bad guys. Very predictable (in fact, all left-wing ideology and action is very predictable). Anyway, as I watched, what I was thinking was that these women bore no resemblance to “women of the cloth” in any way apart from the identity of the organization whose glass ceiling they were aspiring to break. They were portrayed as not being Godly, they had no sense of morality or spiritualty that came across in any way, did not exhibit any care for their fellow human beings, and might just as well have been vying for a place in a prestigious law firm or for a corporate postion, as for a place in the Christian clergy. In other words, these women were into power, and power alone. It was incidental to them that it was a Christian Church they were attempting to join as priests. God and Christianity did not come into their worldviews or actions. Yes, it was only a movie, but I detected in it a reflection of the way things might really be.
I guess these women of the Niagara parish must have seen the show too, and been inspired by it. Perhaps they were the understudies.
The ACofC seems to believe that sexhibition is their raison d’etre these days.
How ungodly.
Stand Firm had some good comments on this also.
This disgusts me. I wonder if any of these ladies are active in the pro life movement? For some reason I have my doubts. To think, an anti-life priest. Strikes me as an oxymoron.
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