Canadian Primate says 2018 Lambeth unlikely

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Justin Welby doesn’t want to hold another Lambeth conference only to discover a large number of bishops absenting themselves because they are upset with the presence of the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC; both provinces have wandered away from received Christian truth according to Primates from the Global South. As a result, Justin Welby is meeting with the Primates, ostensibly to listen to their concerns, and, no doubt, to try and convince them to show up.

Fred Hiltz thinks this is “okay”; anyone adept at reading between the lines will notice a concealed “just” in front of the “okay”. Hiltz isn’t very happy about it: it isn’t “okay” at all. The reason is simple enough: the Global South Primates have little use for the obfuscating tactics of Western Anglicanism: Indabas, the listening process, holy listening, facilitated conversations and other such claptrap. They will tell Welby exactly what they think of TEC’s and the ACoC’s elevation of homo-erotic gratification to the status of holy  – and it won’t be pretty.

Reading what Hiltz said gives the impression that Welby and Hiltz are simpatico – I hesitate to imply that Welby is in the pocket of the North American Primates. The Global South and Hiltz are, of course, antipathetic, if not downright mutually hostile.

Hiltz said that sort of consultation is “okay,” but noted that it is a change from the way the meeting has been called in the past. “He may want to style it so that it is the Archbishop of Canterbury in consultation with and support of the primates, but historically it is the Archbishop that convenes a Lambeth Conference, and then people decide whether they will come or not, including some primates.”

Fred Hiltz thinks the terrorist attacks should prompt us to strengthen our ties to other faiths

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He is specifically thinking of reaching out to Muslims; I expect that surprises you. Not to convert them to Christianity – perish the thought – but to assure them that we are all still good ecumenical pals and that the notion that Islam has anything to do with these terrorist attacks never crossed our minds.

From here:

When asked about the role of the church in situations of national tragedy, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said that the churches’ primary response must be to call the nation to prayer. He went on to note that in this particular situation, churches should also strengthen ties to other faiths. “I think there is an opportunity for churches to reach out to people of other faith traditions…I think lots of Muslims are feeling pretty vulnerable right now.”

[…]

The Muslim Council of Greater Hamilton has invited grieving members of the community to come to any of their mosques on Friday to hear sermons in honour of Cirillo.

I assume Fred Hiltz will be there.

One in 50 Church of England clergy don’t believe in God

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In what can only be understood as a latent death wish, the Church of England employs vicars who are atheists, don’t believe God is personal, don’t believe God can be known and don’t believe Jesus is the only way to the Father.

At the same time, the church, obstinately blind to the obvious, is bewildered by the dramatic decline in Sunday attendance: a recent report states, ‘there is no single recipe for growth; there are no simple solutions to decline.’

From here:

One in 50 Anglican clergy in the UK believes God is merely a human construct, according to a new survey today.

Just eight in ten believe there is a personal God and a further three in 100 believe there is some spirit or life force.

And in spite of two millennia of Church doctrine based on determining the mind of God through the Scriptures, nearly one in ten believes: “No-one can know what God is like.”

The YouGov survey of more than 1,500 Anglican clergy commissioned by the Westminster Faith Debates for the current series on the future of the Church of England shows growing acceptance for other faiths, with more than four in ten believing that while Christianity is the “best path” to God, other religions may offer paths as well.

I wish someone would run a similar survey for the Anglican Church of Canada.

Nathan Cirillo, the soldier shot on Parliament hill, was from Hamilton

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From here:

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was shot at point-blank range as he stood guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa Wednesday.

The young Hamilton father was a reservist who was only on a short-term posting at the memorial, relatives and other sources have confirmed.

Bishop Michael Bird had this to say:

Bishop Michael Bird visited the armoury to pass on the message that the soldiers and their fallen comrade’s family were in his thoughts and prayers.

“We are blessed to live in this country … but maybe this is a reality check for us,” he said.

Canada is traditionally at the forefront in peacekeeping, he said. “Obviously, we live in a different world, now. We live in a violent world, but ultimately violence does not have the final say.”

Bird has it wrong: ultimately, there will be judgement and it will be not be non-violent. Those who have not received the forgiveness afforded by Christ’s atoning death on the cross will be judged; their fate will be unpleasant.

Even the less than ultimate, temporal, final say will be the exercise of force by state authorities who have the Biblically sanctioned authority to restrain evil by the sword – using violence.

Bishop Jim Njegovan’s son’s assets frozen

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More on the fraud allegations against Noah Njegovan.

It’s hard to imagine the bishop or the diocese riding out this dreadful mess:

Trips to Sin City, meals and massages were among the fraudulent purchases made by an Anglican priest using a church credit card, court documents allege.

In total, more than $200,000 in fraudulent purchases were made, documents state — including cash advances, payment of meal, bar and hotel bills and a trio of trips to Las Vegas.

The allegations were revealed as The Anglican Church of Canada, The Diocese of Brandon successfully applied to the court to have the priest’s assets frozen pending the outcome of a lawsuit.

The diocese’s insurer is suing the priest to recover the money that was allegedly embezzled, and the order freezing his assets was granted in Brandon Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday.

Named in court documents as the defendant is Noah Njegovan, the son of Brandon Bishop Jim Njegovan.

According to the statement of claim, Njegovan was executive archdeacon and assistant to his father at the time the funds were allegedly misappropriated.

Initially, Noah Njegovan was charged with fraud over $5,000 in relation to the case, but that charge was withdrawn in March.

The civil lawsuit — filed shortly after the fraud charge was withdrawn — seeks $250,000 for fraud, breach of trust, breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation.

It also seeks a further $100,000 in punitive damages.

[…..]

A review of diocese finances revealed that, in total, more than $202,286 was misappropriated using the credit card.

That included $90,175 in cash advances, $46,660 spent on meal and bar bills, $13,277 on hotels, $8,107 on fuel and travel and $6,791 on three trips to Las Vegas.

Another $31,488 was spent on purchases such as clothing, a Netflix subscription and massages, documents allege.

A temporary order freezing the priest’s assets has been in place since July 24. Monday’s order puts that freeze in place until the lawsuit is resolved.

Noah Njegovan is not currently employed by, or associated with, the Diocese of Brandon.

The Diocese of Niagara’s financial haemorrhage

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The Diocese of Niagara had a surplus of around $1.7M in 2013 thanks, in part, to selling St. Hilda’s church building and rectory for around $2.6M (other property sales brought this to around $3.3M):

actual2By 2016, the diocese has estimated that not only will all that money have evaporated, but there will be a $62,591 deficit:

budget

It looks to me as if the diocese is on the road to extinction.

ISIS is the result of global warming

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This was so obvious, it’s hard to understand why no one spotted it before. It took an intellect as discerning as John Kerry’s to make the connection:

Kerry said extremist violence was just a symptom of underlying causes that needed to be addressed. He spoke in that context of a need for a partnership – to pursue peace, shared prosperity and the ability to get an education and a job, as well as “sustainability of the planet itself.”

“And that brings us to something like climate change, which is profoundly having an impact in various parts of the world, where droughts are occurring not at a 100-year level but at a 500-year level in places that they haven’t occurred, floods of massive proportions, diminishment of water for crops and agriculture at a time where we need to be talking about sustainable food.”

Kerry is right about one thing. There is an underlying cause for the grotesque violence: man’s fallen nature. Unlike Christianity, Islam has no means to redeem; even worse, it provides an abundance of material to support the kind of violence that ISIS enjoys.

Toronto bishop reckons Christianity and Islam share “core values”

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From here (page 4):

Many readers of this paper are familiar with the core values of Judaism and Christianity. It is important to know that Islam shares many of those core values as well.

Let’s see, the “core values” of Christianity would include the divinity of Jesus, his resurrection, his virgin birth, his atoning for man’s sin though dying on a cross, his being the only way to God Father, his coming again; not to mention the Trinity, the Eucharist and the Church as the Bride of Christ. How many of these core values does Islam share? None.

A core value that provoked Bishop Peter Fenty into making the above silly statement was:

Adherents to Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe in the sacredness of life.

Regrettably, not even that is  a core value for North American Anglicanism: neither the ACoC nor TEC will unequivocally condemn abortion so, clearly, life is not sacred to them at all.

To explain ISIS and what is happening in Iraq, the bishop goes on to quote Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the fellow who, to promote harmony, wanted to build a mosque in the ashes of the World Trade Centre:

We may be decades away from achieving a true Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. The region must heal from more than a century of colonial domination, Cold War conflict, despotic regimes, and economic stagnation that has left so much of the population grasping for anything to assert their power and address political grievances.

As you can see, the problem lies anywhere but with Islam.

Anglican vicar turns from terrorism to eco-agitation

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From here:

PederickTHE priest at the forefront of the Anglican Church’s push to dump millions of dollars in fossil fuel investments on ethical grounds was also responsible for the most ­notorious act of terrorism on Australian soil.

Evan Pederick was the only man convicted over the 1978 bombing of Sydney’s Hilton Hotel, which killed three people.

Today, Father Pederick heads a parish in the southern Perth suburb of Cannington and has been the driving force of the church’s sell-off of holdings in coal, oil and gas companies.

At last month’s annual synod of the Anglican Diocese of Perth, Father Pederick successfully ­argued for the divestment of fossil fuels.

[…]

Father Pederick came forward and confessed to the bombing in 1989 and was ultimately jailed for 13½ years (he would serve 8½) after being convicted of three murders and conspiracy to murder. His alleged co-conspirator, Tim Anderson, was in 1990 sentenced to 14 years’ jail.

Supreme Court judge Michael Grove said Mr Anderson had been “brainwashed” by the Ananda Marga cult when he instigated the bombing. Seven months later, he was acquitted.

What strikes me about this isn’t so much that Evan Pederick was a terrorist – in the article he acknowledges that he is “a sinful human being” and presumably has repented of his sin – but that he appears unduly susceptible to brainwashing. First by the Ananda Marga cult, a pile of nonsense so transparently bogus that it is astonishing that anyone could fall for it, and secondly by the Fossil Fuel Divestment cult, a pile of nonsense so transparently bogus that… well, you know the rest.