In C. S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce, a clergyman in Hell wanders in circles muttering banalities to an audience that does not exist. In this life, the Niagara Anglican is a training ground for such a perpetuity of solipsism. The Rev. Ian Dingwall is an acolyte in the peddling of meaningless drivel masquerading as Christianity; the medium is the Niagara Anglican paper, the audience is almost all gone and the message is a swirling feculence making its way down the plug-hole of eternity:

Hospitality is the main business of the Church wherever it is. And that is so because it is the chief work of God. God is the Host of the Universe and God’s family encompasses all of life: human, animal, environment, the whole of Creation.

We are not a factory whose goal is to “Make Christians” and stamp them with the mark of Religion or Church. It is to welcome all people as Guests who deserve the best hospitality we can offer. Inclusive of all: no fences or walls or barriers of separation. All this is because God is the Great Host of the Universe and we are all one in his Home of Hospitality.

Andy Kalbfleisch from the Diocese of Niagara’s mission strategy committee is pretending that buildings aren’t important:

The status quo is no longer good enough. How many times have we heard or read that phrase? Perhaps so often that it is now a snoozer. If it has become that, then it is indeed time to wake up and move out of our comfort zones and look at things with new eyes and hear them with new ears.

Did you know that in September 2009 the Hamilton Meeting Houses had an average attendance of 843 per Sunday— Ancaster with 565 and East Mountain 278? How many of our ‘real’ churches can boast this level of attendance? Wake up folks it’s not about the building. The status quo is no longer good enough.

I’ve got news for you Andy; have a little chat with your bishop, Michael Bird and see how important buildings are to him. Try and convince him to give the 4 ANiC parishes the buildings they paid for, worship in and use for ministry. Good luck.

Some friends were at a meeting in Oakville that included local churches from all denominations. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how better to help the poor in Oakville – astonishing as it may seem, there are poor people in Oakville. A member of an evangelical church opined that we should not just be feeding people, but sharing the gospel of Christ with them, that he is way, the truth, the life and the only way to the Father. Whereupon the representative of Oakville’s Diocese of Niagara posh Anglican parish stood up and said: “we don’t believe that; we believe there are many ways to God”.  I know this is as surprising as saying the sun rises in the east, but the evangelical church representative was a little taken aback.

After my friend identified her church as “St. Hilda’s ANiC”, Rev Cheryl Fricker – the once diocesan priest-in-charge at St. Hilda’s – planted herself firmly in front of my friend displaying a ghastly smile; she didn’t have “we won” written in indelible marker on each of her teeth, but she might as well have.

As the DoN website says:

In Vancouver, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has ruled against four parishes who have broken away from the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster and had filed suit seeking to keep the church buildings. The four are part of a wider radical group, including four parishes in Niagara, who left the Anglican Church of Canada. This is very good news.

We are now anticipating moving this legal case forward here in Niagara and to have this matter settled so that we may continue in our mission and ministry.

I can almost hear Michael Bird purring.

The Diocese of Niagara had its synod on Friday and Saturday; the budget was contentious – so contentious that it was not passed and is no longer on the diocesan web site.

The budget called for a 32% cut to St. Matthews House and a 33% cut to campus ministry. Apparently, “there is no money in the budget beyond salaries. In 6 weeks a third of our total revenue will disappear. We will not be able to pay salaries in 6 weeks.” Note: I have had some clarification of this statement from someone who was at synod and the “salaries” that are being referred to are those of the people working on the university campus, not of people working for the diocese itself; I am cancelling the party and putting the champagne away – for the moment.

The budget was sent back to the budget finance subcommittee and a synod will be held no later than March 31^st 2010 to vote on the new budget; assuming the budget finance committee is still employed at that point. I am reassured to see that Michael Bird has not volunteered a cut to his $105k per year salary; after all, you have to pay if you want the best.

As Bishop Michael Bird pointed out, this is called “Living the Vision” (he really did – look near the bottom here).

Contains this:

On September 1st of this year we took one of those important steps on the long road that we have travelled in dealing with issues of human sexuality and I am grateful to all those who have seen that journey through to this important moment in the life of our Diocese. At the same time, I am grateful to those among us who are in disagreement over the issue of same-sex blessings but continue to honour our communion in the Lord Jesus Christ and remain within the diocesan household.

Which would be somewhat more accurate if the last sentence read:

At the same time, I am grateful to those among us who are in disagreement over the issue of same-sex blessings, keep quiet about it and continue to honour our communion in the Lord Jesus Christ and remain within the diocesan household.

As it is, a priest who audibly voices objections to Michael Bird’s schemes for elevating homosexual activity to the status of something that can be blessed in an Anglican Church, is first made to feel persona non grata and is eventually driven out of the diocese.

And then we have:

During my first week in the role as your Bishop, in the midst of court proceedings, media scrums and intense and momentous decisions that needed to be made, my one regret was that I hadn’t had more experience in the job before we were faced with these challenges.

This tears at the heartstrings – or it would if it hadn’t been Bird that instigated the court proceedings by suing ANiC parishes to “share” their buildings so as to house diocesan congregations that don’t exist.

Well, almost. He is organising an event that, according to Rick Jones, will resonate down through the ages – no, he is not playing his bagpipes – and cause our grandchildren to say “where were you when the Diocese of Niagara had its 135^th Synod”:

It was 40 years ago this year that Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, and I was watching on a black and white TV in my parent’s home. The world changed and would never be the same. When I heard about 911 I was on my way to a clericus meeting. One of our clergy had a son who worked right beside the towers, and we waited and prayed together until she got word her son was okay; he had joined the hundreds walking away from the disaster. Many mother’s lives changed forever that day, just as the world changed and will never be the same. Last summer I had the privilege of watching my granddaughter learn to ride her bike at the cottage. Her inner and outer world changed and expanded, and will never be the same. On Saturday November 21, at the Hamilton Convention Centre, I plan to be there, with so many others who love our Church, to see the Spirit change us forever. Will you be there?

I notice that one of the speakers is Gary Nicolosi, chair of the Diocese of BC Parish Termination Squad Diocesan Congregational Development Team, so it really could end up being more interesting than the normal day of unrelenting synod monotony.

The early days are a little hazy, but I remember:

AIM: Anglicans In Mission: that was inflicted on us  during  the Bothwell/Asbil oligarchy, I believe.

Survive and Thrive: a concoction of Ralph Spence. People would keep referring to it as Strive and Thrive, though.

The victims of these schemes – parishioners – eventually caught on to their true significance:

However, now, under the expert guidance of Bishop Michael Bird, we are in the era of pursuing excellence and – crusading to raise $750,000 in order to keep suing fellow Christians. Such is the march of progress.

An article in the Niagara Anglican (page 3) by Michael Burslem maintains that we need a new Christian creed: thus we have the Apostles’ creed, the Nicene creed and now the Burslem creed.

The new creed begins, Allah Achbar! – God is great. The only problem is, this is not the Christian God: it is the god invoked by – among others – Hamas torturers: here they scream his name while beating someone senseless:

c/p the AEC Blog

The Diocese of Niagara is distributing a letter entitled, “Passion for Justice” in which it is appealing for $750,000:

A few observations about the letter:

This “Passion for Justice” appears to be little more than a ploy to raise money to pursue further litigation against ANiC parishes; it is being directed at those who believe so-called “justice” will be served by blessing  same-sex marriages and, presumably, suing those who don’t agree. The flavour of the letter is similar to that of the appeals one sees on PBS or TVO, interrupting episodes of Inspector Morse: the lines are open; we only need a few more donors to hit the $750,000 mark – call now.

Of the $750,000 in “unbudgeted costs” the “significant legal costs” for the diocese after the last costs settlements were around $211,000, supposedly leaving $539,000 in  “lost revenue from the four parishes…. [and] costs to provide spiritual, pastoral and operating support, loss of investment income”.  In fact, the actual final legal costs for the diocese will be much higher than $211,000 since the costs that can be recovered in the courts are always significantly less than actual legal costs.

There has been lost revenue from the four ANiC parishes, but this is hardly a cost as the letter states and a diocese with four fewer parishes should cost less to run.

The remaining cause of diocesan impecuniousness is put down to a “loss of investment income”. Perhaps the diocese should find a new investment advisor.

Both the lost revenue and investment losses pale beside the amount the diocese has paid and will have to pay to continue their legal assault on the four ANiC parishes.

I presume the small group of extremists are the parishioners in the four ANiC parishes. “Extremist” seems an odd way to describe parishioners who simply wish to hold true to the Gospel as it has been understood by Christians for the last 2000 years; particularly since the activities of the ANiC parishes have not impeded any ministry of the diocese. It is the diocese that feels compelled to evict ANiC parishioners from their buildings and kill their ministries, not vice-versa. The diocese has pursued the ANiC parishes in the courts with animosity and vindictiveness. When a case cannot be made based on rational arguments, the last resort is often what we see here: name calling.

Much is made of this: “Niagara is a Diocese which includes all the baptised” (unless you happen to be a God-fearing bible believing Anglican, in which case you must be sued) as if lesser dioceses do not. I can’t imagine any Christian church excluding anyone, baptised or not; I can imagine a Christian church that includes everyone and encourages them to try and follow God’s standards as revealed in the bible – I attend one.

In summary, it seems clear that the main purpose of this letter is to raise money for the diocesan legal fund to enable them to continue litigation against ANiC parishes, not to “pursue excellence” or promote justice.