Tag Archives: St. Alban’s

All Saints Anglican Church in Ottawa sold

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From here:

The historic All Saints Anglican Church in Sandy Hill has been sold, and will gradually be developed as a mixed-use building for meetings, weddings and neighbourhood-scale businesses.

The Gothic Revival church on Laurier Avenue between Chapel Street and Blackburn Avenue was listed for sale at $1.7 million. The purchase price hasn’t been disclosed.

What makes this interesting is that, in 2011, the Diocese of Ottawa moved the congregation of All Saints into St. Alban’s, a church which had been vacated by an ANiC congregation as part of a negotiated settlement with the Diocese of Ottawa. The diocese, having ejected the ANiC  congregation, were eager to create the impression that they had a use for St. Alban’s, so they announced:

This has left All Saints without a viable congregation, so it has been sold.

The faux-new St. Alban’s congregation takes pride in not defining doctrine in a single confession, in encompassing a diversity of views  –  other than the diverse view that Christians who set a high value on a diversity of views have lost the thread – and in – Pride.

Here are a few of them, along with their rector, in the Ottawa Pride March:

On the occasion of a Baptism and the Re-Naming of a Transgendered Person

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St. Alban’s in Ottawa used to house a congregation that, in 2008, aligned itself with ANiC. Negotiations with the Diocese of Ottawa resulted in the ejection of the resident congregation and the installation of a transplanted congregation, an oft repeated ACoC strategy to create the illusion that it needed the buildings. It’s the ACoC version of church planting: Potemkin Planting.

Since then, interesting things have been happening. For example, in September, a baptism service was accompanied by a Liturgy for the Re-Naming of a Transgendered Person.

Apparently, such renaming liturgies are not as uncommon as the naive might suspect. The House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, “a group of folks figuring out how to be a liturgical, Christo-centric, social justice-oriented, queer-inclusive, incarnational, contemplative, irreverent, ancient / future church”, has one. When I read the article below I assumed that a re-baptism had taken place – something that was considered by the CofE – but, it seems the liturgy is merely a renaming.

In the interest of complete inclusion, the originator of the renaming liturgy – Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber – also offers an annual liturgical blessing for bicycles.

Even in the face of all the evidence, some clerics are still genuinely shocked that a common secular view of the church is that it spends much of its time plumbing the depths of the absurd.

From here:

On the occasion of a Baptism, and the Re-Naming of a Transgendered Person

Eliot, you too will be anointed today, just as you were anointed at your own baptism many years ago.  You continue to bear the name of Christ, the anointed one, beloved child of God.  We re-affirm that today.  That has not changed.  But some things do change.  Often our faith journeys can take twists and turns as we live and grow into the people that God created us to be.  Today you take on a new name as a testimony to the person you have become and as a testimony to the God who welcomes us as his children, loves us through all the twists and turns of our life journeys, and promises to make all things new.
[…..]

The truth is, I may never be able to understand what it’s like to be a non-binary gendered trans person.  I don’t even know if I said that right.  But, at least in our better moments, by the grace of God, we are able to be generous by offering our support to a fellow traveller who bears the name of Christ on their faith journey.

Soon, we will turn to Davis and we will pledge to do all in our power to support him in his life in Christ.

Then not long after that we will turn to Eliot and pledge as follows:

“Eliot, we will walk with you.”

All Saints Sandy Hill, Ottawa may be for the chopping block

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From here:

July 16, 2011 — All Saints Sandy Hill is a parish of about 120 people, more than half of whom you will find worshipping together in our lovely sanctuary on a Sunday morning, and nearly half of whom are regular, generous, identifiable financial supporters.

Now, in 2011, we are nearing a tipping point.

The responsibility to maintain and improve our century-old building and hall, constructed for a congregation twice our size, is beyond the capacity of the congregation. Engineers tell us millions of dollars will be needed over the next decade to conserve our buildings.

Meanwhile, the desire to get on with our mission as an inspired and active Christian community in the heart of Ottawa has never been stronger. Therefore, the people of All Saints Sandy Hill are in an active state of discernment.

[….]

Even in the face of these uncertainties, you may rest assured that it will be worship and action as usual at All Saints until Christmas, and possibly until
Easter 2012.

Funnily enough, The Sandy hill congregation are currently meeting in the recently vacated St. Alban’s, left more or less empty by the ANiC congregation’s recent departure – the result of an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Without the All Saints influx, the diocese has a lot less than 120 people with which to convince onlookers that they really needed the St. Alban’s building, yet the building in danger of closing is All Saints, not St. Alban’s.

Perhaps Face Saving has become the sixth mark of mission.

Anglican Potemkin congregation alert

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The Diocese of Ottawa’s version of St. Alban’s in Ottawa is obviously having a little difficulty placing bodies in the pews now that the ANiC congregation has vacated the premises.

To create the illusion of an active parish, the diocese is importing the congregation from All Saints’ Sandy Hill – and closing it for part of the summer:

 

Enquiries on this Anglican congregation shell game may be directed to what appears to be an abbreviated email address: assh@on.aibn.com.

Grabbing some wine at St. Alban’s

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Today, the Diocese of Ottawa’s version of St. Alban’s in Ottawa had its first service in the building that used to be the home of an ANiC parish. It has an odd way of advertising the Communion service. Here it is from Twitter:

Grab some wine before brunch on your way to the Market. Eucharist @ 10am. Daly & King Eddy.

Is this a desperate attempt by the author to conceal with a veneer of trendiness his embarrassment at believing in antediluvian, recondite rituals? Have they actually opened a wine bar in the narthex? – some churches have a Tim Hortons, so it’s only natural that Anglicans would have a wine bar. Is the author of the tweet likening the Blood of Christ to an incidental diversion while en route to the important business of the day – brunch?

Or is the Diocese of Ottawa merely confirming to the ANiC parish that it made the right choice when it left the diocese?