Tag Archives: Bishop Dennis Drainville

Retired Bishop Dennis Drainville running for Green Party

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From here:

Dennis Drainville, retired bishop of the diocese of Quebec, is re-entering politics by running for the Green Party of Canada in this fall’s federal election.

Drainville, who retired as bishop in 2017, announced June 5 he would be running for the Greens in the riding of Gaspésie-Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, which covers a swathe of the Gaspé Peninsula as well as the Magdalen Islands.

Drainville, who served as a member of Bob Rae’s NDP government in Ontario 1990-93, says he’s been involved in politics in some capacity his entire life, so that returning to it feels second-nature to him. His decision to re-enter now, he says, was spurred by a realization that the coming vote, scheduled for Oct. 21, will be “an election like no other,” because it will require momentous decisions to be made on how to deal with the twin threats of climate change and unethical government.

Drainville was Bishop of the Diocese of Quebec between 2009 and 2016 during which time around two thirds of the parishes were closed, sold or amalgamated. I don’t think this was all the bishop’s fault but it’s hard not to look at this as an example of reverse evangelism.

Following this ecclesiastical success, he is setting his sights on something easier: solving climate change and reforming unethical government.

The Occupy Movement (remember that?) reveals where Drainville’s political sympathies lie: with the 99% (we) and against the 1% (they) even though, on a bishop’s salary, he was almost certainly in the 10% category and consequently had more than a toe in the “they” camp. Perhaps he will find people to Occupy all the empty churches in the Diocese of Quebec.

The Occupy movement has created a focused public debate on economic and political institutions and provided “a new and powerful critique” of them, says Bishop Dennis Drainville of the diocese of Quebec.

Invited to speak at various events Sept. 28-30 sponsored by Occupy Nova Scotia and churches in Halifax, Drainville noted that the anti-capitalist movement that spread around the world in 2011 has brought new awareness to the notion that ‘They are the 1 per cent and we are the 99 per cent,’ ” Drainville told those attending his lecture at the Atlantic School of Theology. “This formula underlines the structural inequalities of our political and economic system and highlights the collusion between the corporate and political elites,” he said.

Bishop Dennis Drainville to take medical leave

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Drainville is the bishop of the Diocese of Quebec, a diocese which has been on the verge of collapse for some time now. This article in the Journal gives more details.  One of the things that struck me about it was Drainville’s comments about his leadership team; their main job, it seems, has been to close unprofitable parishes. He tells us that he has never worked with such a committed team before. The comedy intrinsic in waxing eloquent on the diligence of a team whose commitment is to dismantling their own organisation escapes him, needless to say.

Drainville said, however, that in the overwhelming majority of cases, decisions in the diocese of Quebec are made by consensus among members of the leadership team. The team rose to many challenges facing the diocese during his episcopacy admirably, he said. “They are the finest team I have ever worked with in my life. And I don’t expect I’ll ever see a team that is as good and committed and engaged.”

Bishop of Quebec uses Orlando murders to justify same-sex marriage

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The Bishop of Quebec, Dennis Drainville, reluctant to allow an atrocity go to waste, has issued a pastoral letter on the Orlando murders in which he makes the grotesque comparison between the injustice of murdering someone and the “injustice” of not marrying them in a church:

The atrocities perpetrated by the lone gunman in Orlando are not just a grievous act of violence against the LBGTQ community but an attack on every citizen in the world community. As such, it is imperative that we speak out directly and forcefully against this monstrous act.
[…..]
The discussions that we in the Anglican Communion have had over the last 30 years regarding the ordination of Gay persons, the blessing of same gender partners and the current debate regarding the nature of marriage are in actuality our own attempt finally to bring about justice for the members of the LGBTQ community. God’s gift of human liberty cannot be made hostage to any philosophy, religion or sectarian attitudes. I call on all people who believe in peace and justice to encourage friends, family, neighbours and co-workers to take a united stand with the LGBTQ community. Let us work together to ensure Love, Hope and Faith are shared freely among all of God’s precious children.

Diocese of Quebec, R.I.P.

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The Diocese of Quebec is on the verge of extinction not, you may be surprised to learn, because of global warming but because Anglophones are departing Quebec and those that are left in the churches are ageing. The diocese enjoys focussing on things like greening your parish’s liturgy, so the positive way of looking at this is that, very soon, there will be grass growing where the churches used to be: the ultimate in parish greening.

From here:

Anglophone migration out of Francophone Canada has decimated the Anglican Church with the number of members of the Diocese of Quebec falling almost in half over the past two years, a document released on the diocesan website reports.

“A Thumbnail Sketch of the Diocese” published on 14 Sept 2015 in preparation for the election of the 13th Bishop of Quebec reported: “There are 69 congregations, serving an overall Anglican population of approximately 1800 souls.” Statistics published in a report released in early 2014 by the Task Force on Mission Ministry and Management reported the diocese had 3000 members in 52 parishes with 87 congregations.

[….]

Diocesan leaders have warned Anglicanism was facing extinction in Quebec. An essay posted last year on the diocesan webpage stated 64 per cent of congregations would close or be amalgamated with other parishes in the next five years. The 2014 Task Force on Mission Ministry and Management paper stated “42% of congregations have fewer than 10 regular services a year and 76% have fewer than 25 participants at services. In 31% of the congregations the age range begins at 50 and in 13% at 70.” The report further reported that a “staggering 83%” reported minimal or no activity outside of worship.

Bishop Dennis Drainville has an ingenious scheme to resuscitate the Diocese of Quebec

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According to Bishop Dennis Drainville his diocese, the Diocese of Quebec, is dying:

The Rt. Rev. Dennis Drainville said his diocese was “teetering on the verge of extinction” according to an account given by the church’s official newspaper.

Of the diocese’s 82 congregations, 50 were childless and 35 congregations had an average age of 75. These graying congregations often had no more than 10 people in church on Sundays, he said. “The critical mass isn’t there, there’s no money anymore,” he said.

In a flash of brilliance rarely seen illuminating the dimly sputtering synapses of a Canadian Anglican bishop, Drainville has decided that the answer to replenishing his childless congregations is to start blessing homosexual couples. Because their couplings produce so many offspring.

Same-sex couples in the diocese of Quebec will soon be able to receive a blessing of their civil union, according to the Anglican diocese’s newspaper, the Gazette.

[….]

In his charge to synod, Drainville expressed his intention to provide a rite of blessing and pastoral support for persons living in “committed, same-gender relationships.” This blessing is not a marriage, he emphasized, but rather “the blessing of civil union that has already taken place.”

The Church and politics

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I’m firmly convinced that when Jesus said “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” he was, among other things, formulating a recipe for how the church and state should relate to each other: they should stay out each other’s business. That is not to say that those in government cannot be guided by Christian principles or that churchgoers should not hold political opinions; it is to say that as institutions, although ultimately they report to the same boss, they should conduct their affairs separately.

But when the church tosses out the transcendent to replace it with the temporal, it ceases to be a religion and all it has left with which to busy itself is politics: such is the condition of the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada.

Unhappily for the church, even an establishment as spiritually obtuse as the Canadian government has noticed that mainline denominations are more interested in utopia now than heaven later; why should they not pay taxes like everyone else? At least, then, they would be completely unencumbered by otherworldly pietistic pretentions and could fulminate on the misdeeds of Israel to their heart’s content, unfettered by any vestigial impulse to being non-partisan.

Some bishops have caught wind of this and are recoiling in horror: remember, bishops delight in redistributing other people’s money, not the church’s money. Bishop Dennis Drainville thinks making the church pay tax is an “attack on the churches” by “Harperites”; you would think he would welcome a conservative government’s foray into wealth equity.

So what is the solution? If the church wants to play politics, let it pay taxes; it could raise plenty of money by selling all its  properties lying idle.