In an odd twist of events, Michael Coren has been assigned to work at the Church of the Incarnation in Oakville as part of his M.Div studies.
This parish is part of the Diocese of Niagara, the diocese my parish fled in 2008 over theological differences. Michael Coren has managed what few who have left their teenage years behind can claim: he has reversed his opinions on just about everything. For example, in 2008 he was a great supporter of St. Hilda’s and the stand we had taken against the Diocese of Niagara. When we were on speaking terms (he has blocked me on twitter), I occasionally fed him tidbits of information on the antics of the diocese as they attempted (successfully in the end) to liberate our building from us. Here is one of his email responses to me about the diocesan leaders:
Unbelievable! They are such self-caricatures. I’ll use it on TV and perhaps radio. Stay strong man – just like Owen Glendower.
Now he has chosen to work for the self-caricatures.
The rector at the Church of the Incarnation is Rev Michael Patterson who used to work for the diocese as the Director of Evangelism and then as the Diocesan Executive Officer.
A few encounters I had with him stick in my mind:
The first was when I was leading worship at a servers’ festival. I had chosen a song about God the Father, a description which, Patterson confided to me in the break, many in his congregation found offensive because of its blatant patriarchy.
The second was when he came to speak at St. Hilda’s during his stint as Director of Evangelism. It was year 10 in the diocese’s Decade of Evangelism: apparently, the diocese was still struggling to define “evangelism”.
The last encounter was a veiled threat of a lawsuit over what I thought were some rather amusing remarks I made in this blog. His boss, who few would accuse of being much given to original thought, picked up the idea and did sue me.
Michael Coren is at the Church of the Incarnation to learn. Learn what? How to define “evangelism”?
Mr Coren, like many in his new-found liberal christian camp, seems incapable of engaging in an intelligent discussion with any who disagree with him. He is very tolerant of those who agree with him and intolerant of those who don’t. (He also blocked me, not only on Twitter, but on Facebook as well.) One of his favourite debating tactics, it seems, is to find some spelling or grammatical error in a reply he disagrees with, or who disagrees with him, and focus on ridiculing that instead of addressing the argument. Another is to come back with what I’m sure he considers a clever rejoinder that often has nothing to do with the subject under discussion, but which rejoinder is more often than not headshakingly juvenile and completely unfunny
I have stated previously that reference to the apostates as “liberals” can only be described as deceptive. Clearly they are apostates whose only concern is to win over the hearts of those who refuse to accept the Gospel. It is indeed tragic to see a man who at one time stood for the Gospel but now stand for the “god of political expediency”.
“Michael Coren has managed what few who have left their teenage years behind can claim: he has reversed his opinions on just about everything.”
Including Catholicism. Hard to believe this is the man who wrote the book “Why Catholics Are Right”!*
How long before he loses interest in Anglicanism (such as it is these days) and pops up as either a Unitarian or a Muslim? He appears to have the same ephemeral enthusiasms for religion as Toad of Toad Hall had for transportation.
* I still like his book “Gilbert: The Man Who Was G.K. Chesterton” though.
If memory serves Coren was a staunch Roman Catholic until one of his relatives, a niece I think, “came out” as homosexual.
Of course the Roman Catholic Church was not going to change it’s position on human sexuality and it seems neither would Coren’s relative. So he found himself in that situation that Jesus Christ forewarns us about in which we have to make a choice. Turn out Coren chose sin and with that the Anglican church of Canada was a willing accomplice.
It is all rather sad really. From my perspective Coren has lost all credibility. And now that he has associated himself with the AcoC it seems that fewer and fewer people are paying any attention to him. Oh well. He made his bed and now he gets to lay in it.
By the response of the current Pontifex Maximus to the homosexual abuse skandal: that is, satan’s accuser attack against the Bishops; a pox of Wilderness snakes be upon you; or, feeding the accusers’ megalomania; then, officially, a cold-blooded Silenzia, it appears Mr. Coren jumped the Barque of Peter too soon.
More sad than anything- he’s obviously a lost soul-too bad he has such a public platform to display his confusion and set others off that are searching and looking for guidance or inspiration. He really needs to shut up and lock himself up somewhere to figure things out, quietly.