A Vancouver transsexual has filed a human-rights complaint, alleging discrimination on the basis of sex, age, and disability after she was evicted from a downtown social-housing complex. In an interview with the Georgia Straight, Pamela Burge said she was thrown out of the Wellspring, which is at 415 Nelson Street, at the end of June. This came after the society that manages the complex claimed that she owed $1,355 in outstanding rent.
Burge, once a well-known broadcasting executive who went by the name of Tim Burge, has alleged that the real reason she was evicted was that the building administrator, Joanne Graham, did not like her because she is transsexual. Burge, 65, claimed that she did not owe any back rent, and that the society refused to acknowledge receiving her documentation of her income from social assistance and the Canada Pension Plan.
“I could never imagine this happening to me as a middle-class man or even as a regular woman,” she said.
Burge has named Graham, the 127 Society for Housing, and the Diocese of New Westminster as respondents in her complaint to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. The Anglican church has supported the society and its name is on a plaque outside the front door of the building, but Burge said that it has absolved itself of any responsibility for her eviction.
The prospect of seeing Bishop Michael Ingham being hauled before the Human Rights Tribunal for evicting a transsexual from her apartment is an irony more delicious than any that could be concocted by the most fertile imagination. I wonder if the Anglican Journal will cover the story?
Anglican Church of Canada Worship Returns to Abbotsford
Diocesan-led worship begins at St. Matthew’s
Anglican Church of Canada worship at St. Matthew’s Abbotsford began again on Sunday, August 29th at 8am. The diocesan-led service was a said eucharist from the Book of Alternative Services. Rev. David Price was the celebrant and the Ven. Stephen Rowe, Archdeacon of Fraser was also present to greet worshippers and hand-out the order of service.
A theatrical event; breaking open deep truth and asking big questions.
Roots Among the Rocks, is a brand new play about life, faith, religion and our relationship with the church. It is written, directed and performed by a talented group of young Anglicans and Lutherans from across Canada and it’s coming to Vancouver this summer
Warning: Roots Among the Rocks is a show written for the whole church. In it, the cast confronts issues of identity, community, trust, and forgiveness.
It does not contain: violence, swearing, nudity, smoke effects, reality TV hosts, strobe lighting, an obligatory kiss scene, or robots.
It does contain: confession, dance, poetry, drug addiction, humour, cancer, biblical stories, St. Augustine, an irreverent tribute to Sunday morning worship, human sexuality, rocks, prayers, hopes, dreams and rap.
We think anyone age 12 and over will enjoy it.
I saw this at General Synod and it would be churlish of me to say I didn’t enjoy it because the young actors were very talented and presented their point well. But what was the point?
The play was an elegy to the Christianity of I’m OK, you’re OK, gay is OK. If that’s the message you would like your 12 year old to hear, go and see it.
Update: it seems that some spoilsport in the diocese has taken this item off the site – perhaps out of embarrassment. It hasn’t been up long enough to be caught in Google cache but you can see I didn’t make it up – I have a fertile imagination, but not that fertile – by looking here, where you can see it’s the top hit. And for the pathologically sceptical, I’ve reproduced the original from my browser cache. Yes, I know I *could* have Photoshopped it – but why would I – really, as if I didn’t have better things to do.
I’m not sure why this would be news, but the Diocese of New Westminster reports that a Suspicious Man attended one of its meetings:
Suspicious Man Attends Church Meeting
Unknown man with empty briefcase appears unannounced at Church Meeting
A suspicious middle-aged man attended the Diocese of New Westminster’s Report from General Synod Evening at Christ Church Cathedral, Tuesday, June 29th. He arrived clutching a 1970’s style briefcase that he kept very close to his person during the meeting.
Security personnel were notified and asked him to reveal the contents of the briefcase. The mystery man opened the briefcase revealing that it was absolutely empty, he than grabbed the briefcase and vanished out the door into the summer evening.
If anyone recognizes this individual please do not approach as he seems unstable. Immediately notify the church police.
Reports that he was there to apply for the job of bishop have not been substantiated – so far.
Without appealing to the trappings of organised religion, Lost dealt – albeit less than coherently – with good, evil, sin, redemption and the immortality of the human spirit; so it could legitimately claim to be “spiritual, not religious”, the title, coincidentally, of a conference sponsored by the Diocese of New Westminster:
Our keynote speakers understand the spiritual and religious culture of this region in a way that few people do. It is an example of the bridge building that this group is talking about. The book Cascadia explains how we are a distinctive bio-region and the argument in the book is that it is the geography – the mountains, the fish, the rivers, the continental divide – that has created who we are and has helped shape us spiritually. We are different here, largely to do with the fact that we are at the end of the continent and we have this amazing geography.
It looks suspiciously as if the writers of Lost may have drawn inspiration from the meanderings of this obscure and largely defunct corner of dessicated Canadian Anglicanism: Lost was also about a distinctive bio-region, an island, and the effect that it had on those who lived on it. Lost was not specifically Christian – although one could argue that it had a firmer grip on the human condition than the Diocese of New Westminster, since it acknowledged the reality of sin.
Over time, Western Anglican Christianity has become more preoccupied with spirituality, mystery and arcane ritual, and less with truth; consequently you find a speaker at the conference sponsored by the Diocese of New Westminster saying,
“In South American shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies I’ve surrendered to the pulsing heart of the green world and immersed in Jewish Sabbath and high holy days gatherings with friends. I’ve probably taken too many workshops on a wide array of psycho-spiritual and body-oriented healing arts. Some people might say I’ve eaten too many vegetables! My root-meditation practice is inspired by the Buddhist tradition. For 45 minutes each morning I sit and breathe in loving-kindness, a focusing practice that strengthens the heart’s innate capacity to open, accept and forgive.”
This has descended from mystery to muddle – where it cavorts with the spirituality of Lost in which, had you watched it, you would have discovered:
The island has a “heart” of light kept glowing by a stone cork plugging a hole;
Human guardians of the island live thousands of years after drinking anything – from wine to muddy water – given to them by a previous guardian;
A man who fell down the corked hole can – and does – turn into a plume of smoke at will;
Electromagnetism from the corked hole is lethal to humans – apart from one;
A sequence of doomsday numbers keeps reappearing: their significance is never adequately explained;
The island can move through time when an antique wheel is turned.
This goes on and on and none of it makes much sense, scientifically or metaphysically.
Of course, Lost, unlike the Diocese of New Westminster, isn’t pretending to be a church and endless unanswered mysteries (well, some were answered) are good for ratings; moreover, Lost has accomplished what it set out to do: make lots of money for everyone involved – it has been a resounding success. It even entertained a few people along the way – something the Anglican Church has never been able to manage.
It now means “dilution”. Bishop Michael Ingham enlightens the faithful at the 2010 synod of the Diocese of New Westminster:
Mission simply means ‘being sent.’ Put it another way – it’s where God already is and we are sent to help. There is an old view of mission that saw the world outside the church as a godless place, mired in darkness. Christians were to take the light of Christ into the darkness. But we no longer hold that triumphalist view. Many of us would agree with something the Persian poet Rumi wrote eight centuries ago: “we are all different lamps, but the light is the same.” In other words, the light is all around. All light comes from God. We have to find ways to join our light with those of others so we can illuminate the world with a great brightness, a great hope. This is our mission….
But the missional church is about much more than numbers. Alan Roxburgh is trying to teach us to get out of our buildings and find out where the light of God is already shining in our neighbourhoods. The purpose is not to grow the church but to join the light. That can mean forming partnerships with social service agencies, schools, hospitals, community organizations, other Christians, and other people of faith like Jews, Sikhs and Muslims. Mission is first and foremost about imagination. It’s a mindset. It’s about seeing God already in the world and joining in willingly to help.
According to Ingham, the view that Christ has something unique to offer – salvation, for example – is “old” and “triumphalist”. The enlightened Anglican should throw his lot in with those who are outside the church – it doesn’t seem to matter much who – to “join their light”, whatever that means. It’s hard to believe that anyone could fall for such twaddle; why was there no outcry, no mass walkout, no booing? The only explanation I can think of is that the delegates were all sound asleep.
Michael Ingham would like us all to believe that African Bishops such as Akinola and Orombi are mere puppets of sinister “elements” in the US that are, for their own nefarious, colonial and probably profit-inspired motives, opposed to sodomy. Such is the miasma currently wafting from the Twilight Zone:
There are definitely those in Africa who believe that the constant references to issues of human sexuality are the hobby horse of a handful of bishops. There are also those who can tell when an African voice delivers a message that has been crafted in the “west.” Many African bishops feel that a few of their colleagues are being used by elements from the United States to continue an American agenda. They are increasingly frustrated by this colonial dynamic.
Bishop Michael Ingham and Dean Peter Elliott would like to sell some buildings – probably not to ANiC congregations though:
The institutional form of churches is changing,” says Peter Elliott, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver. He says the study’s intent was not to mourn the local church but to determine the future of Anglican churches to best “serve God’s mission most effectively.”
Some churches may merge or close because of a shift of populations from urban to suburban areas but new churches may be started, officials say.
The diocese’s Bishop Michael Ingham has said the Anglican Church has church buildings where they don’t need them, that there are too many close together in West Vancouver and not enough in Surrey.
The Anglican diocese hasn’t sold a building in 13 years, Elliott says, but it doesn’t rule that out in future if the money could then be used for the church ministry.
St. Laurence Anglican Church, which proudly trumpets its permission to bless same sex unions, sees the solution in exploring South American shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies, surrendering to the pulsing heart of the green world, and avoiding putting too much emphasis on beliefs and doctrine:
“In South American shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies I’ve surrendered to the pulsing heart of the green world and immersed in Jewish Sabbath and high holy days gatherings with friends. I’ve probably taken too many workshops on a wide array of psycho-spiritual and body-oriented healing arts. Some people might say I’ve eaten too many vegetables! My root-meditation practice is inspired by the Buddhist tradition. For 45 minutes each morning I sit and breathe in loving-kindness, a focusing practice that strengthens the heart’s innate capacity to open, accept and forgive.”
Given his near-encyclopedia spiritual history, what did the Banyen Books owner want the Christians to do?
Certainly not copy him. What he did urge the Christian audience to do, however, was to avoid putting too much emphasis on Christian “beliefs” and “doctrine.”
Meanwhile, an unlikely source of inspiration comes from Statistics Canada who note:
[T]he latest numbers available from Statistics Canada, more conservative evangelical churches exploded by 130 per cent in B.C., and Catholic Church populations in B.C. grew 12 per cent and led to the recent building of a church in Abbotsford and the rebuilding of at least two parishes in Vancouver.
That remedy is probably a little too obvious for the enlightened theological mavens of the Diocese of New Westminster.
Yes! You’ve guessed it! Not the person who has won the most souls for Christ, but the Diocese of New – we have a heretical bishop – Westminster’s Business Administrator.
Diocesan Business Administrator and St. Christopher, West Vancouver parishioner Rob Dickson will be one of five recipients of this year’s Anglican Award of Merit. The award is the Anglican Church of Canada’s highest award available to laity and is presented to those who have contributed with distinction and dedication to the work and life of the church at the national and international level.
I’m sure Rob is a lovely bloke and has done a fine job administering the…. er… business.
Bishop Michael Ingham reported that New Westminster diocesan council expressed concern that the Covenant could be used in a punitive way against member churches who have taken actions to which other provinces object.
Ingham is more than happy to exercise punitive measures against his own clergy – the most notable being J. I. Packer – but doesn’t seem to be too keen on being on the receiving end of such measures.
With Rowan in charge this isn’t particularly likely, but Ingham still plays the aggrieved victim just in case. Bishop Michael Ingham, bully and poltroon.
