O Cannabis: Canada gone to pot

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Recreational use of cannabis became legal in Canada yesterday.

It was an election promise of Justin Trudeau’s liberals; we voted for him (well, not all of us) and so, as a nation, we have received what we asked for, what we deserve: big dope, big government, big stupefaction.

The Government of New Brunswick has a helpful website on bongs, blubbers, dab rigs and other paraphernalia to facilitate your consumption of cannabis and hasten you on your journey to psychosis and schizophrenia .

The Anglican Church of Canada, normally much inclined to giving its prophetic viewpoint on every contemporary societal lunacy, has been strangely silent on the matter. Perhaps they are waiting to see whether pot induced psychosis will lead the unwary into tottering in to one of its decaying churches, mistaking the whiff of incense for something stronger.

We have spent the last 60 years trying to stamp out tobacco smoking; here we go again.

From the Globe and Mail:

First, public health officials at all levels of government have been quite clear that marijuana remains a mind-altering drug, and that it has the potential to become addictive, impair judgement, and increase the risk of developing psychosis with heavy use. Some heavy pot smokers are even tormented by constant nausea.

Depending on how Canadians choose to consume the drug, there are also fears that it could lead to a renormalization of smoking. There are at least 33 known carcinogens in marijuana smoke and it’s been tied to cancer, respiratory problems and heart disease.

Meanwhile, students who use the drug regularly have been shown to suffer from poor health and tend to get lower grades. Experts have argued that setting the legal age federally at 18 (legal age will be 19 in most provinces) is a mistake, as the adult brain continues to develop until the age of 25 and too much pot may impede that development. (There are some studies, including one out of the University of Pennsylvania, indicating that concerns surrounding marijuana’s physical effects on young people may be overblown.)

One of the main reasons the government said it wanted to legalize marijuana in the first place was to cripple the black market and reduce access for young people.

On the other end of the spectrum, seniors are being told to be cautious if they are particularly frail, as pot impairment can have an affect on cognition and mobility. Children are particularly susceptible to consuming marijuana edibles (which are not legal yet) and these products should always be kept out of reach.

The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada warns that there is growing evidence on the harms of cannabis use during pregnancy. Risks that may be associated with pot use include low birthweight, preterm labour and stillbirth.

Canadians of all ages must also remain aware that synthetic marijuana, a compound that mimics the effect of THC, may continue circulating on the black market after legalization, and should be avoided.

Cornwall church holds its first Pride service

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Trinity Anglican Church in Cornwall, Ontario held its first Pride service this year.

The idea was to demonstrate a willingness to be “open and accessible to all”,  a quality that was apparently eluding them before September 9th, 2018, the date of the first Pride service.

Oddly enough, in spite of drawing the circle wider, the church was more than half empty, confirming my suspicion that the wider the circle, the fewer the people:

From here:

Drawing the Circle Wide
Cornwall September 9, 2018 marked the inaugural Pride Service held at Trinity, Cornwall. It came just a year after Trinity and the parishes of Stormont Deanery became the first ‘church’ group—of any denomination—to march in the Cornwall Pride Parade. The idea of a ‘Pride Service’ arose out of discussions with the presidents of Diversity/Diversité Cornwall, Stephanie Nadeau and Liz Quenville, and Trinity’s Assistant Curate Mary-Cate Garden. It marked the growing bonds between the LGBTQ2+ community in Cornwall and Trinity.

The church plans to have more Pride services in the “hope that these will become a sign that the Anglican churches of Stormont Deanery are welcoming places.” Or as a sign of a desperate church willing to try anything but Christianity to entice people through its doors, depending on your perspective.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has new inclusive language guidelines

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The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada has developed some inclusive language guidelines to help it proclaim the “good news” in “an increasingly pluralistic context”.

What is the ELCIC’s “good news”, you may be wondering. After plumbing the theological depths of the insights buried in this document, I am compelled to conclude that it’s the fact that the ELCIC has decided to use inclusive language.

For example, whatever you do, don’t refer to God as “He”; it may not upset Him, but it surely will upset the ELCIC:

It is preferable, then, to reduce to a minimum the use of gendered pronouns when referring to God, and to use ‘God’ as the pronoun for God. While this may cause some awkward phrasing, it keeps us mindful of how God transcends human gender. Avoid pronouns like ‘He’, ‘His’, ‘Him’ when referring to God. Consider varied and diverse pronouns as an alternative.

Getting around the inconvenient fact that Jesus was a man is a bit trickier, but it can be done:

In regards to the Second Person of the Trinity, while Jesus’ body was male in gender the incarnation’s significance is God’s connection to our humanity. It is preferable to minimize the use of the male pronouns for the Christ, so as not to connect the incarnation to maleness, but rather use names or titles when referring to the Second Person of the Trinity, e.g., Jesus, Christ, the Messiah, Saviour, companion or kin.

The document contains a helpful glossary of terms to enlighten those of us who hitherto have rested comfortably in a cocoon of indifference to the varieties of sexual deviation being gleefully explored by the ELCIC. Not all are new, of course: for example, promiscuity has been relabelled “polyamory”. It won’t be long before committed polyamorous ménages are pronounced “holy” and worthy of church blessings because promiscuity is now an orientation:

Polyamory (Polya): a term that describes a spectrum of people who have an orientation towards consensual non-monogamous relationships.

Thanks to this document, no one has the excuse of pleading ignorance to the meaning of the “+” in  “LGBTQ2+”: it means “unnamed identities”. Anything you can imagine and probably some things you can’t.

LGBTQ2 +: an abbreviation or umbrella terms for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning and Two-spirit peoples. The addition of the + recognizes the diversity of unnamed identities the abbreviation often comes to represent.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Anglican Church of Canada are in full communion; there are plans to hold joint synods and parishes are combining. Both denominations have the same understanding of Christianity and both are withering away at much the same rate.

As the trend to merge these two offerings of Plato’s Retreat re-imagined accelerates, I look forward to enjoying the spectacle of precision synchronised withering.

Bono meets Popo

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Bono, pseudonym for Paul David Hewson, recently met with Pope Francis, pseudonym for Jorge Mario Bergoglio, to discuss among other things the “wild beast that is capitalism”. Hewson knows quite a lot about this particular wild beast because, when not campaigning to murder babies in their mothers’ wombs, not only is he is the primary crooner – or screecher, depending on the fidelity of your hearing – of the richest band in Christendom but he is a master of tax evasion.

As Hewson mentions in this video, he is still hasn’t found what he is looking for: the “peace that passes all understanding”. He has to make do with nausea inducing posturing that surpasses all attempts to suppress it with Gravol instead.

play-sharp-fill

More here:

U2 frontman Bono said Pope Francis was ‘aghast’ about sexual abuse within the Catholic church, following a private meeting between the pair in Vatican City on Wednesday.

The Irish singer met at the Pope at the Vatican hotel and told reporters the pair discussed sexual abuse within the Catholic church, sustainable development and the ‘wild beast that is capitalism’.

Bono said that because Francis visited Ireland recently, they spoke about the pontiff’s ‘feelings about what has happened in the church’.

Michael Coren starts work at the Church of the Incarnation, Oakville

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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”?

How proud was my valley

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I last visited Wales in 1996. While there I drove to Llantwit Major (if you want to pronounce that, you have to be able to spit from both sides of your mouth simultaneously), not far from where I used to live. It was a pretty, sleepy little village on the coast of the Bristol Channel.

Here are a few photos I took in 1995:

Here is St. Illtud’s Church, one of the oldest churches in Wales, built in the 11th Century. Parts were rebuilt in the 13th and 15th centuries. If you climb up the bell tower, you can see the steps were replaced by headstones from the graveyard.

Time marches on, I fear. My grandchildren tell me, with a slight hint of condescension, that we are making progress; nothing will convince them otherwise.

Here we have, from the BBC, the latest manifestations of progress to be found in Llantwit Major:

The people of the Vale of Glamorgan gathered in Llantwit Major for the town’s inaugural Pride event on Saturday.

The rural town of about 9,500 people saw the streets adorned with rainbow flags as a parade marched through the streets.

St. Illtud’s Church did not escape the ravages of progress: it flew a rainbow flag:

Life is full of little ironies. Here is another photo of mine from 1995 of the church sign. Note the name of the rector (not me, I should add):

Sufi Wisdom in the Diocese of B.C.

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If Christianity leaves you wanting more, if the Son of God dying a nasty death on a cross to pay for your sins isn’t enough, then this is for you. The Diocese of B.C. is offering a retreat featuring early Christian and Sufi Wisdom.

For those who have no idea what Sufi Wisdom is, here is a snippet:

“Do not think that your magic ring will work if you are not yourself Solomon.”

J. R. R. Tolkien must have been on one of these retreats.

Pride parades are all about evangelism and family

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According to the Rev. Canon Greg Smith, Pride parades are about evangelism, family and witness. And nothing whatsoever to do with sex and nudity.

I do wish someone had pointed out to these fellows that they were marching in the wrong parade:

From here (Page 6):

Contrary to some uninformed assumptions, the parade is not about “sex and nudity” but is about the whole human family celebrating together as a witness to a way beyond hate and violence and prejudice.

For those Anglicans taking their place in the parade, it is an evangelizing testimony of the kind of Table to which we have been called in Jesus. Hopefully this is a testimony that will continue to grow.

Primate Fred Hiltz responds to Jacob Worley firing

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Rev. Jacob Worley was hounded out of the Anglican Church of Canada by liberal bishops. In retrospect, it might have been the best thing that could have happened to him since he is now rector of St. Andrew’s Church in the ACNA Diocese of Fort Worth.

Primate Fred Hiltz has responded to a request for an impartial inquiry into Worley’s firing. Here is the letter from Hiltz and the response from  Rev George Eves, which makes the point that Worley’s offence was a thought crime: he disagreed with Canon (IV.2) but was willing to abide by it. Definitive proof that, notwithstanding its claim to the contrary, the Anglican Church of Canada is unwilling to tolerate opinions that run contrary to its liberal ethos.

April 5, 2018
The Rev. Canon George Eves
30 Saunders Drive
Quispamsis, NB E2E 1J7

Dear Canon Eaves,

I hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter of March 6th and the correspondence urging Anglicans to write letters, to sign a petition calling for “an impartial inquiry into the Worley affair”, and to make a Love Offering for Mr. Worley and his family.

I have thought much about how to respond and I pray that what follows reflects the clarity and charity with which I was intent in writing.

As you know Canon Eaves, in the polity of The Anglican Church of Canada, the Primate has no jurisdictional authority anywhere. All such authority resides entirely in the hands of the diocesan bishops and the metropolitan archbishops of the ecclesiastical provinces.

You will know too, that the election of bishops is an entirely provincial matter. Each ecclesiastical province has its own Canon on The Election of Bishops. Within the said Canons, there is reference to the necessity of consent to an election.

In Canon 4 on The Election of Bishops in the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon, Section (b) reads as follows.

(b) Objection to the election of a Bishop may be taken on any of the following grounds:

  1. That the person elected is not thirty years of age.
  2. That he or she is not a Priest in Holy Orders of the Anglican Church of Canada or of some church in full communion therewith.

iii. That he or she is deficient in learning, training or experience.

  1. That he or she has either directly or indirectly secured or attempted to secure the Office by an improper means.
  2. That he or she is guilty of any crime or immorality.
  3. That he or she teaches or holds or has within five years previously taught or held anything contrary to the Doctrine or Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada.

In the case of The Rev. Jacob Worley, consent to his election was withheld on a matter of discipline, not doctrine. Mr. Worley’s view on marriage was not the issue. What was at issue was his view that it is acceptable and permissible for a priest of one Church of the Anglican Communion to exercise a ministry in the geographic jurisdiction of a second Church without the permission of the Ecclesiastical Authority of that second Church. Mr. Worley gave the bishops of the Province no indication of a willingness/readiness to change that view. That was the ground on which objection to his election rested. The section with respect to “objection” in Canon 4 (BCY) concludes with the statement, “The decision of the House of Bishops shall be final.”

Notwithstanding this decision, there was at a subsequent Electoral Synod, a move to place Mr. Worley’s name on the ballot and the Archbishop had to declare that the nomination was not in order.

With respect to the termination of Mr. Worley’s ministry in Smithers, it is a matter of public record that the Archbishop acted only after consultation with diocesan leadership. In a written statement to the diocese, he described the severance package offered by the diocese as “beyond the minimum requirement of the law”. I am not convinced that Mr. Worley was treated as unjustly as some claim.

I believe that in withholding consent to Jacob’s election, the bishops of the Province acted in the best interests of the Church; and that in terminating Jacob’s ministry in Smithers, the Archbishop and those in leadership roles within Caledonia acted in the best interests of the diocese.

Accordingly, I will not act on the call for an inquiry into these matters.

In closing, I want to address the claim that some are making that within our Church those who hold a conservative view on matters of doctrine and orthodoxy are being increasingly marginalized. Some claim that opportunities for ministry are discouraged or denied. I challenge that view on the grounds of the very spirit and ethos of Anglicanism. Within our tradition, there is a broad range of theological perspective on any number of matters of faith and order. That is our heritage. It is who we are. Within The Anglican Church of Canada conservatives and liberals, evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples strive in marvelous ways to embrace their unity in Christ. Within the household of faith, we all need to make room for one another. As St. Paul would say, we need to be “forbearing in love making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3) I see these kinds of efforts being made with integrity within our National House of Bishops, and I believe current work among the bishops is exemplary for the whole Church.

Grateful for your care and concern for our beloved Church, I assure you of my obligation and joy with you to lift its life heavenward, day-by-day.

With respect,
I am,
Sincerely in Christ,
Fred J. Hiltz
Archbishop and Primate

Here is the response:

The Most Reverend Fred Hiltz Aug. 27, 2018
Primate,
Anglican Church of Canada

Thank you for your letter of April 5, 2018 in response to mine of March 6.
I am sorry not to have gotten back until now but I will use a long absence from home as at least part of my excuse. I also wanted to wait until ample opportunity was given to all who wished to sign the petition.

I am attaching a list of the names and dioceses of those who did so. While I am disappointed at the numbers, it is somewhat heartening to know that support came from across the country. I have heard from a few that they did not sign the petition because they felt that further dialogue with the powers that be would be pointless.

To me this was even more disappointing!

Therefore, I appreciate your taking the time for a detailed response. Although it was indeed clear and charitable (for which I also thank you), I find that it almost completely fails to address my main concern. Perhaps this was  because, in part, I did not make myself entirely clear, hence I will try once again to do so.

You make it plain that you agree with the actions taken in regard to Mr. Worley both by the provincial House of Bishops in annulling his election and the Archbishop in dismissing him from his parish. These were taken, you affirm, “in the best interests of the Church” but you made no effort to explain why you think this to be the case.

According to all accounts, including your own, “the ground on which objection to his election rested”, was that “Mr. Worley gave the bishops of the Province no indication of a willingness/readiness to change his view” that it is  “permissible for a priest in one jurisdiction of the Anglican Communion to exercise a ministry in the geographical territory of a second Church without… the permission of that second Church”.

In other words, Mr. Worley’s election was annulled because he disagreed with a disciplinary Canon (IV.2). Although he committed to abide by this Canon, this was not enough for the House of Bishops (or yourself, apparently). It was demanded of him that he change his view as well.
In your letter you make much (and rightly so) of our Anglican ability to embrace a broad diversity of theological opinion. I myself have benefited greatly from this in my own career. However, Mr. Worley’s opinion on Canon IV.2 prevented his being acceptable as a bishop. No diversity allowed here.

In the case of Mr. Robertson, we have the opposite result in what seems to be a parallel situation. He was elected and confirmed, it being known full well that he did not agree with the present Marriage Canon, a matter of doctrine, no less. Objections were raised but swept aside as Mr. Robertson was deemed a “priest in good standing” (as was Mr. Worley) and his consecration allowed to proceed.

How can this not be clear evidence of a double standard? Why was it demanded of Mr. Worley alone that he both conform to Canon law and also agree with it? This is an extraordinary and unprecedented requirement, totally out of step with the Anglican way. It was clearly not required of Mr. Robertson regarding the Marriage Canon.

If the intolerant action of the House of Bishops in B.C. is allowed to stand unchallenged, unexplained, and, indeed, supported by leaders like yourself, reassuring words regarding our Church’s rich heritage of toleration will ring hollow.

To many they will instead sound like the death knell of a great tradition.
Yours truly,
The Rev. Canon George R. Eves

Bishop of Montreal and same-sex marriage: today the diocese, tomorrow the world

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VOL has an interesting article on the machinations underway to promote same-sex marriage in the Diocese of Montreal.

The author confirms that, lurking beneath the thin veneer of diocesan civility and impartiality, is a concerted determination to ram same-sex marriage down the throats of clergy and parishioners whether they like it or not.

To summarise: clergy who don’t support same-sex marriage have no future in the diocese (or in the rest of the ACoC for that matter); loyalty to your bishop supersedes loyalty to Christ; Anglican diversity is a hoax; Anglican preoccupation with homosexuality has reached the point where the diocese openly proclaims Christianity to be “queer”; diocesan youth are being indoctrinated with this nonsense; the bishop has delusions of grandeur; the second synod vote in 2019 on changing the marriage canon is meaningless.

Have I missed anything? Oh yes: the Diocese of Montreal is leading a charge into the abyss, with the rest of the ACoC panting queerly at its heels.

Read it all here:

Diocese of Montreal Bishop wants “Whole World” on board with Same-Sex Marriage

Same-sex marriage is a hotly debated issue in the Anglican Church of Canada. Especially now that the General Synod voted in favour of it in 2016 with the narrowest of margins and the advocates of same-sex marriage are getting ready to finalize the change of the marriage canon when the General Synod convenes again next year. Only if the changes are approved a second time will the marriage canon be changed.

Needless to say, the intervening period is marked by intense politicking. Most of the politicking is done by the advocates, as is demonstrated by the pervasiveness of those efforts in the Diocese of Montreal.

It is the position of Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson that she can’t wait “for the whole world to be on board with same-sex marriage” so she can and must act proactively. Her proactive approach is reflected on all levels. Of course, new priests to be ordained have to follow her lead on this because priests promise to be loyal to their bishops at the time of their ordination. Indeed, the Vicar-General of the said Diocese told me that opposition to same-sex marriage would be a “problem” with a view to ordination. He explained that, of course, the Diocese values diversity but implied that newly ordained priests cannot afford being diverse.