Some flags are more equal than others

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As I mentioned here, for a brief period during the Ottawa March for Life, the March for Life flag fluttered valiantly atop the City Hall – until someone complained, prompting an embarrassed mayor to reassert his pro-abortion credentials and have it removed.

There is a good article defending flying the flag in the National Post.

Here is another article by Rev. Robert Lyon on selective flag flying.

Received via email:

Last Wednesday’s edition of The Record announced that all Waterloo Region public schools will fly the “pride” flag throughout June to mark “Pride Month”.  The Record quotes Board rep Nick Manning as saying that the Board wants to ensure that “public schools remain a welcoming place for everyone.”

“Welcoming” – and also “safe” – are indeed what schools should be.  Every person in a civil society, including those we disagree with, should be able to conduct his or her life without giving or receiving unkindness or abuse.  But Waterloo Region DSB’s “Pride Month” decision is hypocritical. Which makes it also unkind and abusive.

This is the same school board that decided the Gideons could no longer distribute New Testaments in the schools.  The “Pride Month” flag proclaims a particular value system to all and sundry, including those who find it offensive.  The Gideons, on the other hand, who also have a lawful value system to proclaim, sought to avoid giving offense by distributing their Testaments only to students who, with parental permission, would have requested them.  But for the Waterloo Board, even that wasn’t good enough.

The Board’s unequal treatment of these two special interest groups is flagrant.  The Region’s public schools are not “a welcoming place for everyone” – not, at least, for Christians, unless they keep their mouths shut.

“…it’s small acts like this,” Mr Manning said, “that will transform our community.”  They certainly will.  But it’s clear that the Board does not want truly authentic inclusivity.

Let’s suppose, for example, that Christians in Waterloo Region were to declare a “Jesus Month” to promote virtuous and pious living.  Would the Board fly our flag?  Orwell was right: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

So what’s to be done about it?  In his letter to the Christians in Philippi, Paul sends greetings from the brethren in Rome, significantly including “especially those of Caesar’s household.” Even on the staff of the imperial palace there were some who had become obedient to the Faith.  When Tertullian wrote to the Roman Senate a century and a half later, he noted that Christians had infiltrated every aspect of the life of the Empire: the towns, the country, the marketplace, the army, the courts – “and we have left to you only the temples of your gods.”  Where today are the bold, vocal Christians on our city councils and our school boards?

Pastors:  It’s time to encourage informed and capable Christians to run for public office, and for your congregations to support their candidacies.

Retired Bishop of Caledonia responds to the barring of bishop-elect Rev Jacob Worley

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Bishop William Anderson doesn’t think much of the Provincial House of Bishops’ decision to overturn the election of Rev Jacob Worley. The unravelling continues.

From the ACA:

In answer to our questions Bp. Anderson said that in his opinion the Provincial House of Bishops “conducted an unprecedented investigation that was predetermined from the outset.” He also said that the statement in their press release was at odds with Rev. Worley having “repeatedly stated that he had every intention of following the discipline and doctrine of the ACC” and that the questions asked by the Province “were crafted behind the scenes by the provincial and national chancellors and they were also involved in giving their analysis of Jake’s answers.”

Bp. Anderson continued,

“Furthermore they rejected him on the basis of a charge for which he has never been formally accused or disciplined by anyone.

“I think that the fact that they chose to override the electoral synod’s decision is appalling. There was a full month before the synod when all the delegates and the bishops had the CVs for all nominees and had the chance to raise concerns. Yet at the synod the archbishop and chancellor told the synod there were no canonical objections.

“This is a terrible development and should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that the much lauded promise of a conscience clause in the proposed new marriage canon is completely worthless.”

Diocese of the Arctic responds to the barring of bishop-elect Rev Jacob Worley

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As I mentioned here, the House of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC & Yukon has blocked the consecration of Rev Jacob Worley as bishop of Caledonia. The objection, based on a flimsy technicality was, with little doubt, made because Worley is theologically conservative and does not conform to the mold of galloping liberalism that tyrannises the Anglican Church of Canada.

Rt. Rev. David W Parsons, Bishop of the Arctic has responded to the House of Bishops. The letters that follow provide considerable insight into the ecclesiastical chaos that once was the Anglican Church of Canada. Click on the images for PDF versions:

Unhappily, I don’t have the emailed response to this. Here, though, is the reply to the email:

Objections to the election of the Rev. Jacob Worley as Bishop of Caledonia

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Rev. Jacob Worley has been elected bishop of the Diocese of Caledonia. He was to replace Bishop William Anderson, one of the few remaining conservative bishops in the Anglican Church of Canada and is probably a good fit for the position.

Provided the wolves don’t eat him first.

There aren’t many things a person can do or believe that would make him ineligible for a bishopric in the Anglican Church of Canada. Disbelief in the Resurrection, Virgin Birth or Divinity of Jesus is not a problem; being actively homosexual is probably an advantage; and being able to pull off a pitch-perfect impression of Marvin the Robot will catapult you straight to the top.

But Rev. Jacob Worley has managed it; he has unearthed the unforgivable Anglican sin – indeed, it may be the only sin left in North American Anglicanism: he holds

that it is acceptable and permissible for a priest of one church of the Anglican Communion to exercise priestly ministry in the geographical jurisdiction of a second church of the Anglican Communion without the permission of the Ecclesiastical Authority of that second church.

Worley was ordained in TEC, left to join AMiA and then ACNA. Therein lies the problem: during the North American Anglican realignment in 2007-2008, ACNA was associated with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and AMiA the Province of Rwanda. The purpose of the realignment was to enable Anglicans to remain part of a genuinely Christian Church, not be sucked into the vortex of heresy into which TEC and the ACoC were eager to hurl themselves.

In spite of all its trumpeting about inclusion, diversity and reconciliation, the Anglican Church of Canada is completely intolerant of this variety of geographical diversity and harbours bitter resentment against it; rancour rather than reconciliation swirls beneath the veneer of sanctimonious clerical piety.

It is an example of territorial bigotry.

So the House of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC & Yukon has registered its objection, Worley will not be consecrated and the diocese will have to vote for another bishop. Presumably, this will be repeated until a sufficiently liberal candidate is chosen.

The House of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC & Yukon in the Anglican Church of Canada has registered its objection to the episcopal election of the Rev. Jacob Worley in the Diocese of Caledonia. Their objection is registered under Canon 4 (b) vi  “That he or she teaches or holds or within five years previously taught or held anything contrary to the Doctrine or Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada.”

“The Bishops met several times as a Provincial House of Bishops since the ecclesiastic election in the Diocese of Caledonia, reviewed the materials before them, and met with the Rev. Jacob Worley,” said the Most Rev. John Privett, Archbishop and Metropolitan for the Province of BC & Yukon. In coming to this conclusion, the bishops reviewed the Rev. Worley’s past actions, what he has written directly to the House, and what he said when meeting with the Provincial House of Bishops.

“After many open and prayerful conversations, the majority of the House concluded that within the past five years the Rev. Worley has held – and continues to hold – views contrary to the Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada,” said Archbishop Privett. “The view he held and holds is that it is acceptable and permissible for a priest of one church of the Anglican Communion to exercise priestly ministry in the geographical jurisdiction of a second church of the Anglican Communion without the permission of the Ecclesiastical Authority of that second church”.

The question of his views arose from a review of his exercise of priestly ministry when he served in the Anglican Mission in America under license from the Province of Rwanda in the geographical jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church without permission of The Episcopal Church.

As the Provincial House has registered its objection, the Rev. Worley will not be consecrated bishop in the Diocese of Caledonia in the Anglican Church of Canada. As outlined in Canon 4 of the constitution and canons of the Province of BC & Yukon, “the decision of the [Provincial] House of Bishops shall be final” in these matters. The Diocese of Caledonia will now begin the process to hold a new electoral synod according to its canons.

“The Provincial House of Bishops of BC & Yukon ask for your prayers during this extraordinary time,” said Archbishop Privett,  “especially for the Worley family, for the Diocese of Caledonia and all those who worship and minister there”.

Ottawa City Hall removes March for Life flag

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To my surprise, for a short time on Thursday, Ottawa city hall flew a March for Life flag to coincide with the national march. What did not surprise me is that this provoked protests and the flag was promptly lowered, along with embarrassed officials denying responsibility and vowing not to affront the spirit of the age ever again.

In contrast, a gay pride flag fluttered on the same city hall for the entire duration of the Olympics in 2014. I don’t believe anyone dared to protest this; if they had no one would have listened.

From here:

The flag of an anti-abortion movement raised at city hall has come down Thursday afternoon after some city councillors expressed outrage and demanded it be removed.

The raising of the March for Life flag, which coincided with a major rally in Ottawa, angered many on social media and prompted seven city councillors to demand it be taken down.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson was widely criticized for allowing the flag to be raised, but he says the March for Life flag was not approved by him.

He said he is calling for a review of the city’s official proclamation and flag-raising policy.

The city’s flag-raising policy allows any charitable or non-profit organization to request that their flag be flown, with the caveat that the group’s undertakings or philosophy are not “contrary to City of Ottawa policies or bylaws, espouse hatred, violence or racism.”

City solicitor Rick O’Connor, in a memo to councillors, said the request to raise the flag came from an individual, and not a group, and therefore “did not meet the criteria.”

“When this was discovered, the flag was taken down under my authority,” O’Connor said.

LifeSiteNews.com tweeted a video of a March for Life flag being raised at City Hall as about 20 people looked on. No elected officials appeared to be present at the flag-raising.

In the video, a spokesman for the group said he was “so proud of the mayor and the [city] staff that they went along with this.”

Watson said he never personally spoke to anyone from the anti-abortion movement.

A spokesperson for his office said the mayor received an email on April 24 referencing the March for Life and that he politely responded that their feedback would be taken into consideration, but did not take any further action.

Watson said he did not support the raising of the flag and has publicly stated he supports a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion.

But when the flag first went up, some people did not see it that way.

Viva Vivaldi

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I am sitting in my living room streaming a Vivaldi recorder concerto from my computer through a miniBlink Bluetooth receiver, equipped with a Burr Brown PCM5102 24bit DAC, to a tube pre-amplifier and two Class A monoblock tube power amplifiers, ending up in a pair of bipolar tower loudspeakers that cheerfully reproduce a 16Hz low C pedal organ note: a thoroughly delicious amalgam of technology and the baroque.

If none of that made any sense, never fear: it is just the preamble to a joke I heard in Italy when visiting the house where Vivaldi lived. It’s this:

Vivaldi was the only composer who wrote the same concerto 400 times. An Italian told me that.

Prisons

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It’s been a few years since I wrote about St. Hilda’s ministry at a local youth detention centre.

Along with other churches, we hold a monthly chapel service for the inmates. Doing this kind of thing over a long period of time can be discouraging since there seems to be so much insurmountable darkness, darkness that would like to give the impression that it is utterly impervious to any spark of the Gospel. And it’s always hot there; I can’t help dwelling on the thought that it’s because the fires of hell are licking at the foundations.

Despite setbacks such as a cadre of would-be witches sitting in the front row and chanting curses while we attempt to worship – my part is the music – chairs being hurled, riots being suppressed and other less violent distractions, there is the occasional ray of light.

One of the children recently asked to be baptised. Before being baptised, he asked us to stay behind after the service because he wanted to confess and to be forgiven before his baptism.

To complicate matters somewhat, he a transgender youth.

Many of us were baptised as babies; it cost us nothing. To be baptised in prison by choice is much more costly.

After leaving the detention centre – with some relief, I must admit – I often muse about the fact that the inmates can usually acknowledge that they are burdened by the problem of innate sin in their lives – although they wouldn’t use those words – and how wrenchingly difficult it is for those of us living an easy life in supposed freedom to do the same.

There are two kinds of prison: the kind I visit once a month and the kind in which we, in the absence of God’s saving grace, willingly incarcerate ourselves to maintain a polite distance from the awful truth: “Behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

I’m not sure which is worse.

Sanctity of Life Sunday at St. Hilda’s

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May 7th is Sanctity of Life Sunday:

Vicky Hedelius National Director of Anglicans for Life Canada:

Bishop Charlie was with us. We are blessed to have a bishop who supports Anglicans for Life:

Gifts collected for the Hamilton Pregnancy Centre:

Of course there was cake:

We have many artists in the congregation; one of them makes icons:

I will be in Ottawa in the coming week for the National March for Life; I hope to have photos!

Canadian dioceses marrying same-sex couples

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There are presently three Canadian dioceses that have performed same-sex marriages and at least another three which plan to – assuming, after scouring the land, they can find some willing couples. Others will undoubtedly follow.

This is all happening before the vote in 2019 to finalise approval of same-sex marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada. If it seems chaotic, it is because it is: Fred Hiltz says he has no authority to prevent it, Michael Bird and other bishops have cheerfully declared they can proceed because no one can find anything in the canons that says they can’t and, even though synod has pronounced same-sex marriage a matter of theology, Bird et al. have effectively said, no it isn’t it’s pastoral.

Considering the energy, time and passion invested in this, and the ensuing mayhem, it would be reasonable for an outsider to assume that there are thousands or, at the very least, hundreds of same-sex couples clamouring to be joined in unholy matrimony in an Anglican church. But no: there have been eight so far.

Eight! That’s 0.000044% of the population; on the positive side, it a beautiful illustration of how effective the ACoC’s efforts to be relevant are to average Canadians.

Read it all here:

Since the first reading at General Synod 2016 of a resolution to allow for the solemnization of same-sex marriages, eight couples have been married in three Anglican Church of Canada dioceses—with more planning on walking down the aisle in the coming year.

Four weddings of same-sex couples have taken place in the diocese of Niagara, three in the diocese of Toronto and one in the diocese of Ottawa, according to the offices of the respective diocesan bishops. Toronto and Ottawa also noted that several other same-sex couples in their dioceses are in the process of preparation for marriage.

Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson, of the diocese of Montreal, said she is currently going through a discernment process with four same-sex couples considering marriage.

Bishop Logan McMenamie, of the diocese of British Columbia, announced at a diocesan synod in autumn 2016 that he will “move forward with the marriage of same-sex couples in the diocese” on a case-by-case basis. When the Anglican Journal contacted his office in March 2017, no same-sex couples had yet approached the diocese about the possibility of marriage.

Following the first reading of the motion to change the marriage canon (church law) of the Anglican Church of Canada to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples—which was initially, but incorrectly, declared as being defeated in a vote—several bishops publicly announced they would nonetheless marry same-sex couples.

Niagara Bishop Michael Bird, Ottawa Bishop John Chapman, Toronto Archbishop Colin Johnson, then Huron Bishop Bob Bennett and then Coadjutor (now diocesan) Bishop Linda Nicholls all stated that they would marry same-sex couples as a pastoral measure, citing an opinion by General Synod Chancellor David Jones, that the marriage canon as it stands does not actually bar same-sex marriage.

Following discovery of a voting error, which showed that the motion had actually passed its first reading, Bird, Chapman and Johnson said they would still go ahead with same-sex marriage. However, Bennett and Nicholls issued another statement, clarifying that their diocese was “committed to ongoing consultations” as required by the same-sex motion. At press time, no changes to diocesan policy regarding the marriage of same-sex couples had been made.