The Diocese of New Westminster real-estate company is selling some more of its properties. The most expensive is St. Mark’s in Kitilano which they are hoping will fetch almost $12M. The one-time Christian denomination claims the money will be used for Anglican ministry, code for the panting hot pursuit of the latest cultural fad to assail the fevered imagination of its trendy clerics.
According to the diocese, the congregations are physically “moving elsewhere”, in much the same way as the diocese has, in relation to Christianity, theologically moved elsewhere.
At the last General Synod that I was unfortunate enough to attend, I remember one aggrieved soul bewailing the fact that the synod was being held on land stolen from its original Indigenous residents. The diocese makes much of its efforts to reconcile with the First People. I see no mention of giving back the land occupied by these churches, though; $12M is a lot of money, after all.
From here:
St. Mark’s Anglican Church, a 100-year-old facility in Kitsilano, one of B.C.’s most upscale areas, is up for sale at the steep price of $11,998,000.
Rev. Richard Leggett said Anglican churches in the Vancouver area are moving elsewhere due to, in part, the steep cost of housing.
Other Anglican properties up for sale include St. Margaret of Scotland in Burnaby and St. Monica’s in Horseshoe Bay.
“Housing prices in Vancouver have grown so rapidly and so high that the grandchildren of the grandparents who built the church are no longer living nearby,” said Leggett.