Tag Archives: Fred Hiltz

Fred Hiltz plumbing the depths of understatement on the marriage canon

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Apparently, the ACoC’s impending change to the marriage canon is causing “a bit of anxiety.”

Fred Hiltz visited Justin Welby recently to talk about the proposed marriage canon changes; and reconciliation – an odd juxtaposition since adoption of the former will eliminate the possibility of the latter. Funnily enough, during his last visit, Hiltz cautioned Welby about recognising ACNA; we wouldn’t want to overdo the reconciliation charade, would we.

From here:

“The archbishop was interested in where we are with the marriage canon matter, and in the interests of transparency I took a copy of the resolution from General Synod, the resolution from Council of General Synod giving the commission a mandate,” said Hiltz, who met with Welby on Dec. 17. “I gave him an update in terms of where the commission was at this particular moment, and that was as much as I could do. I think he appreciated that.” The commission is looking at a proposed change to Canon XXI to allow for same-sex marriage.
[…….]
Hiltz also met with officers at the Anglican Communion Office and at Lambeth Palace, and noted that the question of the marriage canon came up more than once. “There’s a bit of anxiety in the Communion about what might happen here and the fallout that might come from that.”

The Anglican Church of Canada, social services agency

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The Anglican Church of Canada, having spent many decades trying to persuade us that man’s yearning for transcendence can be satisfied by installing a solar panel and buying a Prius, is continuing to transform itself into a social services agency by converting its buildings into apartments. The latest effort hails from Winnipeg where St. Matthew’s is, so we are told, excited by the fact that it worships in a small corner of the former church building. This must be what revival means in the ACoC.

Fittingly, Fred Hiltz was installed as Primate at St. Matthew’s; clearly he has taken St. Matthew’s decline to 80 parishioners as inspiration for the direction of the entire denomination.

From here:

The congregation at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church is excited to worship in what is only a small corner of the grand brick edifice that once was the largest Anglican church building in Winnipeg.

That’s because the remainder of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church has been converted into 25 low-income apartments, a $7.3-million project under construction for nearly three years.

For recalcitrant Anglicans who remain unmoved by these stirring tales of the Soviet style conversion of churches into apartments, there is this magnificent Hiltzian denunciation of all things not green. An unnamed source high in the Chinese Politburo – they are keen observers of ACoC policies – told me, on the condition of remaining anonymous, that the Standing Committee is so moved by this panegyric to renewing the face of the earth (heaven and hell having long ago been extirpated from the ACoC) that they immediately plan to stop building smog spewing coal fired power plants – currently expanding at the rate of two per week.

Anglican and Lutheran leaders meet to compare notes on who is in steeper decline

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The leaders of the North American Anglican and Lutheran Churches recently met in Toronto to discuss mission. With each denomination in dramatic decline – the Anglican Church of Canada had a pitiful average Sunday attendance of around 141,000 in 2007 – it only makes sense that they pool their survival strategies, known as “mission” in ecclesiastical parlance, to attempt to eke out an existence at least until the current generation of clergy start collecting their pensions.

This “renewed focus on mission” has created a sense of “renewed energy”, apparently; to paraphrase Dr Johnson, nothing concentrates the mind as effectively as the prospect of one’s imminent demise.

As part of the plan to demonstrate that the denominations are still relevant and to allay the suspicion that the meeting was entirely self-serving, the leaders have promised to issue a joint statement on climate change. Many of us have been waiting agog with anticipation for a joint Anglican-Lutheran statement on climate change: if that doesn’t fill the pews, nothing will.

Fred Hiltz is confident that conflict around same-sex marriage is not as all-consuming as it used to be. This shouldn’t be too surprising since most of those who disagree with the church’s determination to bless same-sex unions have either left, died or are too exhausted to argue any more.

four-wayFrom here:

When the heads of the Anglican and Lutheran Churches in North America met recently in Toronto, a common theme emerged when they shared developments in their respective churches: all felt a sense of “renewed energy” that they attributed to a “renewed focus on mission.”

One of the big things he heard, said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, was that, “We’re in a different place…Notwithstanding the fact that there’s still some tension within our churches around human sexuality, we could all say, ‘we’re in a much less conflicted place.’”

While conflicts around same-sex blessings and same-sex marriages remain, “it’s not all consuming compared to, say, a few years ago,” said Hiltz in an interview.

Hiltz, along with Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Bishop Susan Johnson, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton met in Toronto July 2 and 3. The meeting was the fifth of informal talks colloquially known as the “Four-Way” dialogue.

Fond memories of the first Earth Day

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As church leaders go through their annual propitiatory Gaia rituals, it is worth recalling the first Earth Day event hosted by Ira Einhorn. Such was Ira’s eco-fervour that after murdering his girlfriend, he composted her body in a trunk. Alas, he was arrested before being able to spread the contents on his vegetable patch. Compared to Ira, the faith of Anglican greenies is positively Laodicean.

From here:

Ira Einhorn was on stage hosting the first Earth Day event at the Fairmount Park in Philadelphia on April 22, 1970. Seven years later, police raided his closet and found the “composted” body of his ex-girlfriend inside a trunk.

An Earth Day message from Primate Fred Hiltz

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Having Easter with its embarrassingly fundamentalist insistence that Jesus rose bodily from the dead safely behind us, Primate Fred Hiltz has moved on to events of more cosmic significance. Easter is, after all, but a pale foreshadowing of – wait for it – Earth Day.

This year’s observance of Earth Day follows immediately on the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  In them we see movements from enmity to reconciliation, suffering to hope, and death to new life. They speak not only to humanity but also to the interconnectedness of all of creation.

The Scriptures tell us that our first vocation as human beings is to tend God’s creation.  An honest assessment of our diligence in that call inevitably leads us to confess “our waste and pollution of creation and our lack of concern for those who come after us.” (Ash Wednesday Liturgy)

Hiltz draws his inspiration from the IPCC, a fitting source since the IPCC is as lacking in credibility on climate science as the ACoC is on its corresponding neurosis, human sexuality.

Reports on the state of the environment as documented by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are increasingly alarming.

Hiltz wishes to learn from “global partners” – except, that is, the Global South whose views on human sexuality he studiously ignores.

We learn from global partners.  A call from the Anglican Communion Environmental Network to a deeper commitment to the fifth Mark of Mission shared by Anglicans worldwide influenced the Anglican church’s recent decision to have candidates for baptism make an additional vow “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and respect, sustain, and renew the life of the earth.” (An Act of General Synod, 2013).

Emissions must be reduced:

Our churches commend the UN effort to reach a global treaty in 2015 to secure a global agreement on a net zero emissions goal. Canada, with the second highest greenhouse gas emissions intensity per capita of the G8 countries, is expected to announce an emission-reduction target for 2030 that would be significantly lower than 2020 levels. While progress is being made, without new measures, absolute emissions in 2030 would be projected to reach 815 megatonnes — 81 megatonnes more than projected for 2020.

China, one the largest consumers of fossil fuels, will ignore any global emissions treaty; ironically, it is also one of the places where Christianity is flourishing most vigorously: 10,000 people per day are being saved – from hell, not pollution.

It’s just as well that no-one has bothered to tell Chinese Christians that their first vocation is not “make[ing] disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, but – gardening:

On this Earth Day, our hope is that we will rise up more conscious than ever of our first vocation as human beings caring for the Earth with the utmost respect for the Creator and the utmost regard for the generations of all those who come after us.

Welby and Hiltz discuss sexuality and reconciliation

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Read it all here:

When Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby met with the primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, he was “very interested” in the work of the Anglican Church of Canada’s commission on the marriage canon because of the reality that the Church of England will have to wrestle with the issue of same-sex marriage following its legislation in the U.K.

“Notwithstanding the declared position of the Church of England at this moment, he [Welby] is very conscious, of course, that there’s going to be a fair amount of pressure from within the Church of England to at least have some discussion around that [same-sex marriage],” said Hiltz in an interview with the Anglican Journal. “He hoped that we would stay in touch over the work of the commission, [because] inside the Church of England, they will need to have the same conversation.”

Here we have a rare example of a clear statement by an Archbishop of Canterbury. The Church of England will be following in the Anglican Church of Canada’s footsteps: conversations about same-sex blessings; decline in attendance; dioceses performing same-sex blessings; further decline in attendance; conversations about same-sex marriage; full steam ahead to extinction:

During their two-hour meeting April 8, Hiltz said Welby was interested in how the church has dealt with the conflict over human sexuality, in particular, how the 2010 General Synod in Halifax dealt with the issue in a non-parliamentary manner and how there has been “continuing conversation” about the matter. Hiltz quoted Welby as having said, “You’re actually on the frontline of where we’re going to be eventually. You’ve been on a journey; it hasn’t been an easy [one]— it has been conflicted at times, but you stuck with it.”

The Anglican Church of Canada has indeed been on the frontline of dealing with “the conflict over human sexuality”: it sues those who refuse to go along with it. I suppose this is “interesting”; the fact that Welby believes that that is where the CofE is “going to be eventually” should make orthodox CofE clergy very nervous.

Hiltz said he informed Welby about the Canadian church’s long history of “bending over backwards to hold people in dialogue, to create provisions for everybody to stay in the fold…”

Considering the number of defections from the ACoC to ANiC, these provisions have been spectacularly ineffective.

Overall, Hiltz described Welby’s visit as “good,” saying that he thought it provided the Archbishop of Canterbury “a sense of the commitment of the Canadian church to the Communion.”

Not sufficiently committed to pay any attention whatsoever to Provinces that are opposed to same-sex blessings.

Hiltz said that the dinner he hosted for Welby was an opportunity for him to meet “a host of people from Canada who are so deeply committed to the various works of the Anglican Communion…to get a sense [that they] have a broad, global view of the church.”

To invite ANiC church leaders would have been a diversity too far, of course.

 “One of the blessings of the visit is that he has heard things about all of us and says we’re very diverse, even within our church…,” said Hiltz. “He was leaving us knowing of our deep commitment to preserving the unity of the church as best we can, being prophetic as best we can, being committed to the life and witness of the Communion.”

To put it more plainly: the Anglican Church of Canada continues on a course of theological liberalism; it has no inclination to change direction but is willing to offer the  concession of a dense smoke screen designed to lure the unwary into believing that it cares about what those who disagree think.

Justin Welby to meet with Fred Hiltz

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From here:

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and his wife, Caroline, are expected to arrive in Canada on Monday, April 7, for a “ personal, pastoral visit,” with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The brief visit is a part of Welby’s personal commitment to visit the primates (senior archbishops) of the Anglican Communion, to meet them and learn about their provinces prior to the next meeting of all the primates.

If a prior meeting is anything to go by, what Welby learns from Hiltz is going to be slightly one-sided: the lawsuits, the attempts to intimidate conservative clergy, the inhibiting of clergy and the acquisition of buildings will, I am sure, all be glossed over.

[Welby] has said that his visits are aimed at fostering friendship and “mutual understanding.”

And here is the fundamental problem: there is already mutual understanding. Conservative Christians understand the Anglican Church of Canada so well that most of them have left. The Anglican Church of Canada understands that conservative Anglicans who have left are engaging in unfair competition by preaching the genuine Christian Gospel. What more is there to understand?

Primate Fred Hiltz on Dung Duty

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There is a rich satirical vein begging to be explored here, but current litigious exigencies prevent my going further than letting it speak for itself.

Fred-DungThe Anglican Church of Canada has published a new calendar:

The calendar also features “Aldo’s friends,” including Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. The month of May has Hiltz performing  “dung duty” with the Rev. Cynthia Patterson, co-ordinator of the national church’s suicide prevention program and the wife of Dennis Drainville, bishop of Quebec.

Drainville himself is the calendar subject for November, along with Aldo and his goat companion, Alli.

The only thing preventing the donkey and goat being ordained is fear of the stiff competition their theological insights would present to existing clergy.

Anglican Church of Canada does Christian unity

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From here:

Canadians prepared the resources for this year’s liturgy and daily reflections. They chose as a theme Paul’s rhetorical question in addressing divisions in the church in Corinth, “Has Christ been divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13). The question calls us to confess the scandal of disunity and it’s marring effect on the witness of the church catholic. This week always has about it a spirit of repentance and renewal.

[…..]

In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity let us be mindful of the great “Don de Dieu” the great gift of God’s peace and unity in Christ for us and for the world. And let us pray that as church leaders, church councils, and neighbours in faith we may embrace and embody that gift with passion and perseverance for the glory of Christ and the good of the world.

How should one respond to the Anglican Church of Canada, unrepentant fomenter of strife, litigation, worldwide schism and cosmic mayhem, celebrating Christian unity?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj6FEfmyVj0

Archbishop Fred Hiltz has a new year’s message

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And it’s all about unity. The emphasis is on unity between Anglicans and Lutherans, a swarming of likeminded lemmings, pooling their suicidal impulses in the hope that the first over the cliff may provide a soft landing for those who follow.

What Hiltz fails to acknowledge in his message is that for all the talk of unity, the Anglican Church of Canada under his leadership has been, along with TEC, the most effective instigator of disunity since the reformation. Millions of Anglicans have broken communion with the ACoC over its determination to remake marriage in the image of the unrestrained impulses of its homosexual clergy.

Conversations, are not going to solve this; only repentance will, but that appears to be an entirely alien concept in Western Anglicanism.

From here:

Hiltz also recounts how blessed the churches were to have guests from the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Council of Churches, and their two American sister churches at Joint Assembly.

“They reminded us of the challenge that our relationship holds,” says Hiltz, “and the hope and potential for similar conversations in other churches around the world… in the interest of Christian unity.”