An issue on which Anglican Church of Canada and TEC bishops, for all their justice posturing, are silent.
Here, on the other hand, is Archbishop Foley Beach:
Abortion: the greatest moral issue of our time
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Justin Welby wants to wipe out AIDS by 2030
Read and watch here.
There is nothing particularly surprising about this since the Anglican church seems to have an obsessive interest in making broad declarations about things over which it has no control or influence. When Anglican leaders are not parading their impotence by Making Poverty History or demanding justice on behalf of the climate, they are, with no medical knowledge whatsoever and a diminished confidence in the efficacy of prayer to heal, trumpeting that AIDS is to be banished by 2030. But why AIDS?
As you can see from the following chart, heart disease kills five time the number of people as AIDS. Even diarrhoea kills as many people as AIDS. Why isn’t the Archbishop of Canterbury telling us what a great privilege it is to be invited to give a message on the fight against diarrhoea?
The reason, I suspect, is that, in a similar vein to Romans 1:18-32, as the church’s interest in eternity has waned, so its interest in sex – homosexual sex in particular – has increased, attracting a disproportionate number of homosexual clergy.
Although AIDS can be spread through heterosexual contact, the preferred way to contract it is still through homosexual activity. As this article points out, homosexual men are “more severely affected by HIV than any other group in the United States.”
So for Anglican leaders, combating AIDS is a species of group self-interest.
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March for Life, Ottawa 2016 – more photos
See more here.
The service before the March:
Anglicans for Life and Silent no More:
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March for Life, Ottawa 2016
I have just returned from the annual Ottawa March for Life. I’ll publish more photos in a later post.
Estimates of how many attended vary between 20,000 (march organisers) and 4,000 (mainstream media). Estimating the numbers in a large crowd is tricky but I think the number of people on the hill was closer to 20,000 than 4,000.
Some of the Anglicans for Life attendees:
The march was shorter than previous years because protesters against the march had blocked the road, so we were rerouted. Typically, those campaigning for freedom of choice quail at the prospect of anyone making a choice at odds with their choice and resort to the tactic commonly used by communists, fascists and over-sensitive bishops alike: try to suppress the free expression of the opposition. Here are the protestors being held in check by police:
Some Anglicans for Life clergy:
Some of the peaceful opposition:
We have much better signs:
And off we go:
Anglicans tire easily. After the march:
These two were keeping an eye on things from the top of the parliament building:
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All Saints Sandy Hill Ottawa now a mosque on Fridays
When St. Alban’s voted to join ANiC in 2008, one of the consequences, as Justin Welby might call it, was that the Diocese of Ottawa acquired the church building and the congregation had to find a new home.
To fill the empty pews and created the illusion that the diocese had a use for the building, the congregation of All Saints Sandy Hill was imported into St. Alban’s.
This, of course, had the unfortunate consequence of setting All Saints adrift as an Anglican Marie Celeste. I expect the diocese hoped no-one would notice.
Now All Saints is being rented out as “the kind of space that reflects Canada’s fabric today”. That means that on Fridays, it is a mosque.
From here:
On the December day they took possession of a 115-year-old church in Sandy Hill, Leanne Moussa and some others climbed up a spiral staircase and rang the church bells.
Those tolling bells, which at least one person mistook for a call to worship, represented both the joy they felt for saving All Saints church and their excitement about its new life as a multi-use community centre. The former Anglican church is now home to several different religious congregations, a small café, artists’ studios, event space for classes and conferences, and there are plans for future redevelopment that could add offices for NGOs and new housing units.
[….]
The deconsecrated nave will soon serve many functions — mosque on Fridays, synagogue on Saturdays and the spiritual home of two different Christian groups on Sundays. The 300-seat space can also be used for weddings, concerts, book launches and lectures, Moussa said.
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How to get around the marriage canon vote
The motion to change the marriage canon to accommodate same-sex couples is unlikely to pass at the Anglican General Synod in July, so liberal Anglicans are looking for ways to circumvent the vote.
Michael Coren, who may or may not have inside information on the machinations of the post-Christian contingent of the Anglican Church of Canada, has elucidated in this article a hitherto unexplored way of twisting Scripture to justify the unjustifiable:
In Canada, the most plausible hope is probably some sort of creative compromise where the canon is amended to allow for a marriage liturgy that would include same-sex couples, based around a theology inspired by Acts 10. This is the passage where the Roman centurion Cornelius is accepted by St. Peter, who says, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” The Kosher laws are no longer required; God’s plan extends to all. Applied to sexuality, God’s love is for all: Jew and gentile, straight and gay.
It’s far from ideal, but the reality is that equal marriage simply won’t be achieved in the short-term. If an amendment satisfies enough people and is purely optional it might, just might, be acceptable to all sides. As such it could enable the Canadian church to avoid the treatment handed to the Americans.
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Diocese of Montreal enters a new mission field: Debt Collection
Parishes in the Diocese of Montreal owed the diocese $519.758.72 at the end of 2015. Matthew 6:24 notwithstanding, Mammon is near and dear to the heart of the Anglican Church of Canada, so parishes that have not paid their protection dues will receive a visit from members of the Diocesan Overdue Account Management team who will encourage them to develop a viable strategic plan. That way, no legs will be broken.
From here (page 6):
Outstanding accounts receivables owed by congregations to the Diocese for diocesan-paid parish stipends, assessments, insurance, and benefits stood at $519.758.72 at year end of 2015 with an outstanding balance remaining for 2015 of $338,898.76 as of March 31, 2016.
This is in addition to the year-end diocesan deficit and other categories of outstanding diocesan receivables. Often, the same four or five parishes account for the majority of these repeated unpaid invoices over several years, indicating that strategic planning assistance is required in these cases.
Therefore, as a further measurement of when diocesan intervention is required, the Diocesan Council also adopted a new policy for Diocesan Overdue Account Management.
This policy essentially requires a congregation, in consultation with Diocesan leadership, to develop a plan for repayment of its outstanding accounts, including a strategy for future mission and sustainability.
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Anglican church converts to Buddhism
The Anglican Church of Canada hasn’t converted to Buddhism in its entirety – not yet, at least, and not that it would make much difference – just St. Aidan’s in Kelowna, BC.
From here:
Anglican church to be reincarnated as Buddhist cultural centre
KELOWNA – St. Aidans church, a small heritage building in Rutland, should soon see new life under an adaptive reuse agreement with the Okanagan Buddhist Cultural Society.
Staff are recommending three parcels near Mugford and Rutland Road North be rezoned and consolidated, then sold to the society along with a memorandum of understanding about the church’s preservation.
Plans are to relocate the historic Anglican church, opened in 1933, to the centre of the consolidated site where it will be restored under a heritage revitalization agreement with the city. The society will build a new entranceway, church hall and develop the old church as a cultural centre.
Built by volunteer labour on donated land, the original church was designed by Enoch Mugford, superintendent of the Black Mountain Irrigation District and local developer Hector Maranda.
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Archbishop Peter Jensen in Burlington, Ontario
The General Secretary of GAFCON, the Most Rev Dr Peter Jensen, spoke in Burlington today.
Audio from his talk can be found below; the quality is not the best but, of the January Primates’ meeting, the Archbishop can be heard to say, quite clearly: “The January meeting has already been shown to be a complete failure”.
An itinerant minstrel opens in worship:
Bishop Charlie’s introduction:
Archbishop Peter Jensen:
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Bosom buddies: the two Mikes, Coren and Bird
