Justin Welby appoints a Director of Reconciliation

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From here (my emphasis):

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is delighted to announce the appointment of Canon David Porter as Director for Reconciliation at Lambeth Palace. Canon David will work part time on the Archbishop’s personal staff, seconded by Coventry Cathedral where he remains Canon Director for Reconciliation Ministry – bringing first-hand knowledge of the Cathedral’s eminent and longstanding reconciliation work to Lambeth Palace and the wider Church.

The focus of Canon David’s role will be to enable the Church to make a powerful contribution to transforming the often violent conflicts which overshadow the lives of so many people in the world. His initial focus will be on supporting creative ways for renewing conversations and relationships around deeply held differences within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

It’s early days for Justin Welby so, while I’m prepared to give his ability to sort out the Anglican Communion the benefit of the doubt for the moment, I find it hard not to agree with much of what was said about this at Stand Firm.

Coincidentally, yesterday was the five year anniversary of St. Hilda’s joining ANiC and tomorrow is the anniversary of the Diocese of Niagara’s dumping wads of legal documents on our office desk, demanding our keys, freezing our bank accounts and inhibiting our rector.

What, in that conversation is there left to say, let alone renew? What divides us are not “deeply held differences” that can coexist within the Christian faith: ANiC and the ACoC adhere to different religions, believe different creeds and answer to different masters.

The only thing I can think of to say to the Anglican Church of Canada’s hierarchy is: repent before it is too late. But that is not much of a conversation starter.

Why does social justice always have to be so conspicuous?

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St. Matthews, Abbotsford presents an extremely large cheque – well, a physically large cheque – to a food bank:

 

Food Bank 006

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matt 6:1-3

 

Koran control

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Since a Koran wielded by the wrong person kills, perhaps it is time to start background checks on potential purchasers to ensure none fall into the hands of the mentally unstable. Considering the second paragraph in the quote below, even those that are sold should have a page capacity limit of 10.

Incidentally, when I grew up in the capital of Wales, Cardiff, not even the police carried Korans.

From here:

In the summer of 2010, mourners lined the streets of Wales’s capital city to pay tribute to a seven-year-old boy killed in a house fire. In fact, Yaseen Ali Ege was brutally beaten to death, and then set alight with barbecue fuel. By his mother. For failing to learn the Koran. Over the preceding months, Mom had used a stick, a rolling pin, and a hammer on her son, but, despite these incentives, he had memorized only a couple of pages. And so she killed him, and subsequently declared she felt “100 percent better.”

[….]

Of course not all Muslims brutalize their families — although the ten-year-old daughter of Asia Parveen of Stoke Newington was treated for 56 injuries after being beaten for not reading enough verses of the Koran, and Hesha Yones of west London had her throat cut by her father for being too “Westernized,” and a five-month-old baby in Halmstad, Sweden, was beaten to death with a Koran

 

Diocese of New Westminster closes church with 35 people

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No, no, not St. John’s Shaughnessy, they have 40 people and that extra five makes all the difference. Apparently, “[t]he minimum standard …. for sustainable and viable ministry is being able to afford a priest”. Is the diocese paying for St. John’s priest because Michael Ingham would look too much like a dog in a manger if he didn’t use the building he fought so hard to keep for something that at least bears a passing resemblance to a church – albeit a nearly empty one?

Much better to mothball St. Mark’s which, ironically, is a diocesan appeasing “inclusive community” which is “grounded in social justice” – neither of which prevented Ingham giving them the chop:

From here:

Pam Martin married at St. Mark’s Anglican Church. She was baptized and confirmed there, as were her children. But at month’s end, the 52-year-old and the rest of St. Mark’s congregation won’t be allowed to use the church building at 1805 Larch St. anymore.

The Diocese of New Westminster owns the property, and Bishop Michael Ingham told St. Mark’s it couldn’t hold services after Feb. 28, although the building isn’t being closed.

Membership at St. Mark’s is stable but small – about 35 show up for Sunday worship. It’s been able to support only a quarter-time priest for years. Martin is upset about not being able to use the building, which she considers her spiritual home.

 

Anglican Church of Canada does the Stations of the Cross

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Here is the production for Station 1, Jesus is Condemned, in which the Rev. Scott McLeod sees a homeless man and overhears another passer-by say: “They should just gas them all”.

The worthy McLeod, having rashly jumped to the conclusion that the remark was directed at homeless people rather than ACoC clergy, was filled with self-righteous anger and moved, not so much to help the homeless man but to congratulate himself on not being as other men: a sinner.

Droning on sanctimoniously about the sins of others is an odd way to begin the church season in which one should be pondering one’s own sins and how they resulted in the sacrificial death of God Incarnate.

At least the video is true to its liberal, social justice roots: monotonous and boring.

At the mention of sin, NDP leader has an attack of the vapours

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THOMAS-MULCAIRThe CIDA funding for Crossroads’ work in Uganda is back on again. Upon hearing this, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair was overcome by a paroxysm of indignation:

“It’s shocking to hear Minister Fantino defending the indefensible, standing up today and defending a group that on its website is attacking something that’s recognized and protected by Canadian law,” Mulcair said after question period.

“It goes against Canadian values. It goes against Canadian law. And he can’t defend that.”

What exactly has Crossroads done that Mulcair thinks “goes against Canadian law”? Crossroads has said that, according to the Bible, “pedophilia, homosexuality and lesbianism, sadism, masochism, transvestism, and beastiality [sic]” are sinful – perversions of what God intended when he invented sex.

Before he became a politician, Thomas Mulcair was a lawyer; obviously not a very good one since he is blissfully unaware of the fact that calling something sinful is not illegal – even in Canada. Not yet.

The transformation of Lent

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This is what Lent used to be:

The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer—through prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of Holy Week, marking the death and resurrection of Jesus, which recalls the events of the Passion of Christ on Good Friday, which then culminates in the celebration on Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

During Lent, many of the faithful commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence.

Now, it can be anything from a windmill tilting extravaganza of combating anthropogenic global warming to the Diocese of Niagara’s invitation to have another shot at building a collectivist utopia :

Diocese of Niagara - Lent–

Crossroads Christian Communications targeted by homosexual lobbyists

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Crossroads is in Uganda helping to “dig wells, build latrines and promote hygiene”. CIDA has given Crossroads $544,813 of taxpayer money to help with the effort – a rare case of the effective application of foreign aid.

Now, Crossroads is a Christian organisation – a real one – so it regards homosexual activity as sinful, making this donation of taxpayer dollars a paradigm of political incorrectness, a heinous atrocity of cosmic proportions.

Who cares that Crossroads is doing a good job and is actually helping Ugandans? No-one in the mainstream media, it seems because the horror of calling homosexuality a sin is a far bigger outrage than an African without clean drinking water. In the deranged little world of liberals, LGBT crusaders and mainline church sympathisers, this is known as social justice.

The time is coming when to be a Christian in the West will amount to being a pariah, persona non grata – as welcome as a leper in a kindergarten. Perhaps the time has already come: the question is, will our society – and Ugandans – be better or worse off for it?

From here:

An evangelical organization that describes homosexuality as a “perversion” and a “sin” is receiving funding from the Government of Canada for its work in Uganda, where gays and lesbians face severe threats.

The federal government has denounced virulent homophobia in that East African country and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has condemned plans for an anti-gay bill that could potentially include the death penalty for homosexuals.

Nevertheless, the federal government is providing $544,813 in funding for Crossroads Christian Communications — an Ontario-based evangelical group that produces television programming — to help dig wells, build latrines and promote hygiene awareness in Uganda through 2014.

Until Tuesday, the organization’s website carried a list of “sexual sins” deemed to be “perversion”: “Turning from the true and/or proper purpose of sexual intercourse; misusing or abusing it, such as in pedophilia, homosexuality and lesbianism, sadism, masochism, transvestism, and bestiality.”

Lower down the page, the group asks sinners to “repent.”

“God cares too much for you (and all of His children) to leave such tampering and spiritual abuse unpunished,” according to the group’s website.

Just hours after The Canadian Press contacted the group to ask a spokesperson about the site, the page in question disappeared from public view.

[….]

Steve Foster, president of the Quebec LGBT Council, said the federal government should stop funding groups like Crossroads.

For those interested in the Crossroads page that vanished, here it is, unexpurgated, complete with the indescribable abomination of Bible references:

Sexual Sins

 

Sexual Sins Include

Immorality – Moral behaviour that is contrary to God’s standards.
Perversion – Turning from the true and/or proper purpose of sexual intercourse; misusing or abusing it, such as in pedophilia, homosexuality and lesbianism, sadism, masochism, transvestism, and beastiality.
Adultery – Sexual activity with a person other than your spouse.
Fornication – Illicit sexual activity when you aren’t married.

Sexual sins are committed because of lust (1 John 2:16; Galatians 5:19-21). When you allow improper sexual drives to control you as a Christian, an inner tension will result in your mind, emotions and will. You will want to be spiritual, but find yourself being a slave to sensuality. The result is what the Bible calls double-mindedness (James 1:8), which leads to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:28).

Diocese of Niagara: 2013 budgetary woes

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bird-speakIn September 2012 there was some fanfare when St. Luke’s Palermo broke ground for a new church-community centre amalgam.  The mayor and Halton regional chairman were there, along with various and sundry clergy; the bishop spoke and the project’s financial partner, the CEO of Diversicare, pronounced his secular blessing on the enterprise. The plan was:

to build a retirement residence (in partnership with FRAM/Diversicare) on land to the west of the church.

Alas, it seems that the financial arrangements with Diversicare have fallen through, leaving the diocese to foot the bill.

St. Luke’s, Palermo support – there are a lot of numbers that pertain to Palermo. The joint proposal with Versa Care [I am relatively certain that this should say Diversicare] is no longer financially viable, St. Luke’s will continue with the project without partnership and the Diocese is assisting financially to complete the Parish Centre.

A few other budgetary highlights:

There has been a 60% reduction in staff at the Synod Office since Bishop Bird was elected….

If some churches don’t have the money to pay the DM&M then how can the Diocese spend when they won’t be getting all they budget for?

If incomes increase so will the DM&M and how can we manage this with an aging congregation and declining attendance?

Parishes are delving into line of credits and investments, it’s a cascading affect that maybe we can’t afford to do

And my favourite – mainly because it is prime Anglican bafflegab:

We need to balance scarcity with abundance.