Anglican Church of Canada asks clergy for three-year extension to bridge underfunded pension plan

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Ironically, one of the threats the Anglican Church of Canada holds over clergy considering extricating themselves from its tender embrace to join ANiC is that they would be jeopardising their pensions by leaving.

As it turns out, clergy may be jeopardising their pensions by staying.

From here:

The Anglican Church of Canada is asking members of its pension plan to vote in favour of a proposal that would buy it more time before having to top up its underfunded pension plan by hiking premiums or cutting benefits.

By law, the plan must have the support of two-thirds of members before government will consider giving their OK to the proposal. A vote is scheduled for Sept. 6 in which the plan members hope to get permission from its active, inactive and retired membership.

[….]

Pension liabilities are calculated in two broad ways. They are valued on a “going concern” basis (that measures the plan’s health on the assumption it will operate indefinitely) and on a “solvency” basis — which measures the plan’s ability to pay all its debts if it were liquidated immediately.

On the first count, the church’s plan isn’t faring too poorly. At the end of the church’s last fiscal year, the pension plan had $602.8 million in assets, but a $28.7 million shortfall. Still, that’s considered 95 per cent funded over the long term. On the second count, however, the plan faces a cash crunch. The Anglican Church’s pension plan is only 70.5 per cent funded on a solvency basis were it to be wound up tomorrow.

The plan’s administrators are asking for a three-year extension on having to address that gap. The hope is that by then, the plan’s finances will have improved, no doubt helped along by rising interest rates that improve the plan’s valuation.

“With funding relief, we will have three years to try to improve our plan’s funding level,” the plan administrators told pension members in a recent letter. “At the end of three years, we will do another valuation of the plan. If there is still a solvency funding shortfall, we will likely have no choice but to cut benefits.”

The church’s pension plan returned 13.2 per cent last year, and has averaged 7.5 per cent per year for the past decade.

A spokesperson for the Anglican Church of Canada declined to comment on the story.

Justin Welby: diversity is a gift

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If by “diversity´ in a Christian context, one means things like diverse styles of worship or diverse church architecture, then perhaps diversity is a gift.

If by “diversity” one means a multiplicity of religions such as Islam, Christianity and Hinduism, then diversity is an unwanted gift. If the claims of Christianity are true, then all other religions have, to a large degree, got it wrong; their followers are deceived and their good works, insofar as they don’t lead to salvation, in vain.

Unfortunately, Justin Welby appears to be using “diversity” in the latter sense.

From here:

Archbishop Justin told his audience that diversity was a “gift not a threat” and he did not want to live in a “monocultural” society. He said he “rejoiced” in the example of inter faith co-operation and community work he had witnessed in Southall.

Archbishop Justin was speaking after visiting St John’s Church, the Shree Ram Mandir Hindu Temple and the Sikh Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, where 20,000 free meals are served every week in Southall. He also met Muslim leaders, currently observing the Ramadan fast, at the Central Jamia Masjid Mosque in Southall.

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.

A contrast in responses from Justin Welby

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Archbishop Justin Welby’s reaction to attacks on mosques following the murder of Lee Rigby by Muslims contains words like: “evil”, “unacceptable” (the PC version of “evil”), “inexcusable”, “scandal”, “terrible”. He had little difficulty in roundly condemning the attacks – quite rightly, since some of the foiled attacks used nail bombs:

Speaking at Featherstone High School in Southall, west London, the Most Rev Justin Welby described attacks on mosques in the wake of the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby earlier this year as “evil actions”.

“The attacks on minority ethnic groups across the country that there have been over the last few weeks are inexecusable, [sic] unacceptable and a scandal to a tradition of hospitality in this country of which we should be deeply proud and which has contributed far more to us than it has taken from us,” he said.

He added: “I want, as I have already done, to acknowledge the pressure that our Muslim friends and colleagues have faced over the last few weeks.

“There have been terrible attacks, I know that the vast majority of those in this country and especially people of faith would join me in condemning utterly any act of violence against anyone because of their faith.

Contrast that with his official statement on Lee Rigby’s murder:

The Right Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said on Friday regarding Rigby’s murder that Christian and Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom have been helping to bring reconciliation. “I want to recognize the response of churches, mosques and other faith and civil society groups as well as those of brave individuals who have done so much to bring our communities together at this time,” said Welby.

“The strong response from the Muslim Council of Britain and many other organizations has rightly emphasized that these acts have no place in Islam.”

Welby also mentioned his involvement with the interfaith British organization the Christian Muslim Forum, which was founded in the 1990s and comprised of leaders from both faiths. “As Patron of the national Christian Muslim Forum I know that the Forum is offering support and encouragement for these meetings to happen and I continue to hold all those working in these efforts in my prayers,” said Welby.

The Right Reverend Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, said on Friday regarding Rigby’s murder that Christian and Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom have been helping to bring reconciliation. “I want to recognize the response of churches, mosques and other faith and civil society groups as well as those of brave individuals who have done so much to bring our communities together at this time,” said Welby.

“The strong response from the Muslim Council of Britain and many other organizations has rightly emphasized that these acts have no place in Islam.”

Welby also mentioned his involvement with the interfaith British organization the Christian Muslim Forum, which was founded in the 1990s and comprised of leaders from both faiths. “As Patron of the national Christian Muslim Forum I know that the Forum is offering support and encouragement for these meetings to happen and I continue to hold all those working in these efforts in my prayers,” said Welby.

“This is very much a time for communities to come together.”

Notice the completely different emphasis here. Nothing about “evil”, “terrible”, “inexcusable” and so on; rather, the murder is a signal for reconciliation for us to come together to not blame Islam.

An act of ultimate wickedness – murder – is soft-pedalled because the murderers are Muslims.

Admittedly, imams were quick to denounce the murder and assure everyone that it had nothing to do with Islam; the murderers, we are expected to believe, shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the beheading due to a severe misunderstanding of Islam. Yet, there seems to be something inherent to Islam that inspires such violence, something absent in, say, Christianity; when was the last beheading performed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost?

To maintain his credibility – with me, at least – the Archbishop of Canterbury would do better if he could bring himself to condemn, with equal conviction, crimes perpetrated in the name of Islam – according to the clear and vociferous declaration of their perpetrators – and crimes attempted against Islam.

Jettison the impulse to give every benefit of the doubt to the cultural influence of Islam, none of which would be afforded the heritage of Christendom.

Tim Hortons bludgeoned into removing filtre blocking gay website

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When Tim Hortons blocked Dailyxtra.com – “everything gay, every day” – from its free WiFi access, it probably assumed that most customers didn’t want their children accidentally stumbling upon everything gay, every day.

It seems this provoked a twitter storm; profit being everything, Tim Hortons reversed its policy.

For years, Tim’s slogan has been: Always fresh. Now it’s Everything fresh and gay, every day.

From here:

Tim Hortons has apologized for blocking a gay and lesbian news website from its free in-store Wi-Fi networks.

The popular Canadian coffee chain was facing an online backlash Friday after it was revealed that it restricted customers from accessing Dailyxtra.com, the online home for the free newspaper Xtra that’s distributed in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

When the publication asked that the site be unblocked, assuming it might have been blacklisted in error, it received an email stating the site was “not appropriate for all ages viewing in a public environment.”

“We try to ensure that all of our guests can enjoy a safe and pleasant experience when visiting us. We look at all of these types of requests in detail in order to provide the most latitude we can while keeping our restaurants a friendly environment,” reads an email from the address timhortonswifi(at)timhortons.com, which Daily Xtra forwarded to The Canadian Press.

“While there is no way to change this decision, we can assure you that it was not an easy decision to make.”

On Friday afternoon a few hours after Twitter users began promising to boycott Tim Hortons, spokeswoman Michelle Robichaud apologized on behalf of the company and blamed a third-party service provider for the error and the resulting miscommunication.

Dailyxtra.com “shouldn’t have been blocked. In fact, we’re working on unblocking it. It may already be unblocked. It should’ve never been blocked in the first place,” Robichaud said in an interview.

 

Rev Tittle from Ponsonby steals the limelight

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After Rev Glynn Cardy refused to marry a same-sex couple, another vicar has out-liberalled him by offering to perform the ceremony.

Rev Tittle from Ponsonby will officiate for the delighted winners of the ZM Fabulous Gay Wedding Competition.

No, I’m not making this up – eat your heart out, Monty Python.

From here:

A vicar has stepped in to marry a gay couple as part of a radio station competition after an Anglican parish was unable to host the ceremony.

Reverend Dr Matt Tittle of the Auckland Unitarian Church in Ponsonby will officiate at the wedding of the couple that wins ZM’s Fabulous Gay Wedding competition.

The broadcaster had hoped to hold the event – on August 19, the day legislation allowing same sex marriage comes into force – at St Matthew-in-the-City parish in central Auckland.

Soggy Anglicanism

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As if a cardboard cathedral were not a sufficiently apt metaphor for the state of western Anglicanism, we now have the soggy cardboard cathedral; nothing to worry about, though, “it’s just cosmetic”:

Sections of an innovative New Zealand cathedral being made from cardboard have gone soggy in the rain, but the project will still be completed next month, the Anglican Church said Friday.

The structure, which has walls made from cardboard tubes, is a temporary replacement for Christchurch’s Anglican cathedral, which was destroyed in a February 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people in New Zealand’s second largest city.

[…..]

“It’s nothing to be worried about at all. The builders anticipated this would happen. It’s just cosmetic.”

The Anglican Church of Canada should check its own shtreimel

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The Anglican Church of Canada delights in excoriating Israel – the only free and civilised democracy in the Middle East – while turning a blind eye to Palestinian villainy: Palestinian foibles such as its support of terrorism, its unrepentant refusal to recognise Israel’s right to exist and the calls for Israel’s annihilation by its more extreme elements.

Israel is not perfect but then, neither is the Anglican Church of Canada as the last five years of punitive law-suits against orthodox Christians, the financially motivated snatching of buildings for which it has little use, and the inhibiting of recalcitrant clergy will attest.

Incidentally, since Intel manufactures the core i-series computer processor chips – both Ivy Bridge and Haswell – in Kiryat Gat, Israel, I am looking forward to the day when Canadian Anglican clergy divest themselves of their tainted computers, all of which depend on these chips to run.

As this article notes, the ACoC should check its own shtreimel:

First the good news: The just concluded General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) did not call for a boycott of companies doing business with Israel, as did the United Church of Canada a few weeks before.

Now the bad news: Instead, the ACC urged members to “explore,” “educate,” and “enable awareness” about all the terrible ways in which Israel behaves.

We guess Jews should be grateful. And we’re all for exploration and education. So in the spirit of cooperation, we would like to aid this church to achieve its goals.

● The Anglicans are urging their faithful to “educate the church about the impact of illegal settlements” on the West Bank. We politely urge their faithful to “educate the church” on the illegal occupation of territory now called Canada. Today, the Indigenous people – the original inhabitants of the land – reside on a mere 0.2 percent of Canadian territory. As ACC members become “educated,” they will learn that very few of the Indigenous spoke French or English. They should heed the call of Bishop David Parsons, during the floor debate: “Are we prepared now to call upon all of Canada and all of the provinces to move off of aboriginal land which they have legal entitlement to?” We will applaud the ACC as it deeds back the land on which its churches stand and its members cede their houses to some “refugee” Indigenous. To be practical, they should aim to do it all in a single day. Soon.

● ACC resolution A172 calls for “deeper church-wide awareness of and response to the call of the Kairos Palestine document” which casts the creation of a Jewish state as a theological sin. May we urge “deeper church-wide awareness” that Kairos refuses to condemn Palestinian terror? It strips the Jewish people of any connection to the Holy Land. It rewrites history to place all blame for the Middle East quagmire on Israel. Speaking of awareness, if the ACC is really serious it will question where Kairos Palestine inexorably leads. It will learn that the American Kairos Palestine group’s last “response to the call” explicitly denied the right of existence of a Jewish state of Israel, and embraced the right of the use of terror.

● The resolution calls on ACC members to “explore and challenge theologies and beliefs, such as Christian Zionism, that support the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories,” as well as “theories and beliefs that deny the right of Israel to exist.” We should all explore complex issues, but we wonder why the pro-Israel arguments are called “theologies” while the anti-Israel ones are called “theories.” Will there be ACC members who will have the courage to challenge those who have taken up once again Replacement Theology; who in the zeal to deny Jews any stake at all in the Holy Land – and to counteract the Christian Zionism they hate – are once more preaching that the Jews of the Hebrew Bible have been tossed out and rejected, replaced by the New Jews?

And who among the ACC will educate Rev. Naim Ateek of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center (a Kairos Palestine partner) who calls the Palestinians the new Jesus on the Cross, with Jews once again crucifying the innocent – reviving the theological doctrine of deicide which motivated the murder of untold numbers Jews though the centuries?

Memo to the explorers: Why do Palestinians serially deny the 3,500-year connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel? Did Jeremiah preach in Gibraltar? Did Isaiah prophesy in Ireland? Did not Jesus, himself a Jew, walk the length and breadth of the Holy Land?

● Anglicans, according to the resolution, are supposed to unravel “the complexities of economic advocacy measures.” We respectfully urge the ACC to explore and challenge the punitive anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns that help not a single Palestinian; they hurt them and their Jewish neighbors economically. Churches, do you want to help? Reflect on positive investment in the Palestinian economy and in joint Israeli-Palestinian ventures that will not only improve living conditions for Palestinians but also create momentum toward genuine reconciliation and peace

As rabbis, we would be out of character in trying to help our Anglican friends if we did not tell a story. A couple of chassidic newlyweds spent their first Passover with the bride’s family, which was not as well to do as that of the groom. The husband was horrified when he saw, in the soup bowl placed before him, pieces of grain swimming in the hot liquid, apparently turning into forbidden chametz. He screamed about what kind of terrible family this must be and threatened to dissolve the marriage. His wife could not calm him; in time, he agreed to take his grievance to the town rabbi.

After the rabbi heard his tale of woe, the sage asked the newlywed to remove his shtreimel, the round fur hat worn on important occasions by chassidim. The rabbi took it and shook it vigorously. This dislodged many more pieces of grain, left from those the congregation had showered upon him as a blessing for a bountiful future when he had been called up to the Torah before his wedding a week before.

The great Maggid of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shalom Schwadron, wonderfully distilled the moral of the story. Before you criticize others, check your own shtreimel first.

Even if you are Anglican.