Whenever I see Dennis Drainville mentioned I am overcome by an overwhelming desire to make an unkind play on words using his name and the direction his diocese (Quebec) is heading; so far my will of iron has helped me resist the urge.
It seems that the bishop has been a “lifelong social activist”, a phrase almost completely devoid of any meaning other than as a label for people who like wandering around carrying placards containing phrases equally devoid of meaning. Like this:
Speaking of phrases devoid of meaning, Bishop Dennis Drainville has decided that the Occupy movement has provided the cosmic illumination that: ‘They are the 1 per cent and we are the 99 per cent.’ It doesn’t get much deeper than that. The bishop himself, by virtue of being in the upper echelons of an elitist church hierarchy and earning a typical bishop’s salary of over $100,000 per year, is probably in the 0.001 per cent.
As the bishop notes, “the gulf between the rich and poor is widening”; it’s almost as wide as the chasm between Anglican bishops and normal people.
From here:
The Occupy movement has created a focused public debate on economic and political institutions and provided “a new and powerful critique” of them, says Bishop Dennis Drainville of the diocese of Quebec.
Invited to speak at various events Sept. 28-30 sponsored by Occupy Nova Scotia and churches in Halifax, Drainville noted that the anti-capitalist movement that spread around the world in 2011 has brought new awareness to the notion that ‘They are the 1 per cent and we are the 99 per cent,’ ” Drainville told those attending his lecture at the Atlantic School of Theology. “This formula underlines the structural inequalities of our political and economic system and highlights the collusion between the corporate and political elites,” he said.
I would hope he consults with Trinity Wall Street on how well Occupy worked for them
Again another “stalking” of your former spouse…what has ANiC done for the poor and the 99%…all the poor in Oakville or Lowville?
I do street ministry in Ottawa. What do you do (other than complain, that is?) St. Hilda’s had thriving ministries to their neighbourhood before they were kicked out of their building – ministries which the Diocese of Niagara has not continued.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Savant.
Savant,
Why don’t you trouble yourself to get informed about ANiC’s ministries? Once you’ve crossed that threshold, then you can move beyond using questions as slander.
(Speaking of spouses, are you still beating yours?)
The reasons the Anglican Church is dying in Québec have nothing to do with the political stance of any Bishop.
In Oakville St Hilda’s ANiC delivers food to needy families every Thursday and we used to have a Garage give-away every spring (and will again when we have a place to do it) where items were given away. We also had Artists for Africa twice a year – the congregation is blessed to have a number of very talented artists who would sell their art and donate the money to World Vision to build homes for orphans of aids – this again will resume when we have a place.We kept a cupboard full of canned items, donated by the congregation each week, that people were welcome to help themselves to and many came in off the street to use this. We had a free lunch for the local high school each Friday. I could go on but hopefully this will help to answer Savant. By the way, most of these ministries have been interrupted by the Diocese seizing our building which now sits empty with cement blocks barricading it to make sure it is not used for any of these ministries.
As for the good bishop and his empty rhetoric, there are silk-stocking socialists, maybe he is a silk-robed socialist, and like all socialists desroying instead of creating.
As for St.Hilda’s and helping the poor, they took me in, one of the working poor, and feed me every Sunday, helping me contribute to society and to our faith, by building both up instead of tearing either down.
I do not “occupy”, although I have every reason to do so, but I do not , for I use the intelligence that God has given me add to our country’s prosperity with my work,as meager as that may be, add in tithe to my church, as meager as that may be, and grow in my faith with obedience to God’s word.
As for “stalking” a former spouse– balderdash! The writings of the faithful scribe are revelations for the ignorant, and admonishments to former Christians in the hope that they and others see the errors of their ways.
“like all socialists desroying instead of creating.”
Careful with the stereotypes, please. I know folks who do street ministry, who call themselves socialists, who are also good decent Christians who have not compromised their faith. The word ‘socialist’ has been applied to so many different philosophies as to have become fairly devoid of meaning itself.
I also can’t resist pointing out that ‘do justice, love mercy’ is part of Micha 6:8 – “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with your God’- although what putting that on a sign and walking down the street accomplishes is an open question….
The problem that I have with the “occupy movement” is that these people seem to be saying that it is not fair that someone else has more than they have. It comes accross as saying that everything should be more equally/fairly distributed. But such sentiment completely ignores the fact that the people who have worked and took risks and in so doing earned what they have. It also ignores that most of the people who have not have not worked hard and have not taken risks, and thus have not earned.
In our any economic system wealth is generated by work and investment. The capitalist system has shown and proven itself to be the system that produces the greatest amount of wealth. Also, because it produces the greatest amount of wealth more of it is distributed to more people. Additionally, our society does have what has been termed a “social safety net”, and through this the poor of our society are offered at least some economic assistance.
But I suppose that seeing how well our economic and social assistance systems have worked is too hard for some to see. That it is easier to see that someone else has something that I do not have, and to covet those things (might that be a sin?).
Yes – but that isn’t always the case. Some very wealthy people are wealthy because their grandfathers worked hard and invested well. Many people who work hard and take risks still don’t succeed. I don’t think the world is as black and white as you see it.
Hello Kate,
I do agree that the world is not so cut and dry. There most certainly are some people who have inherited there money, and also people who have worked incredibly hard and have little to show for it. Also, that there are some people who have so much money that it seems absurb.
But as I understand things the occupy movement is promoting a socialist economic system, which history has clearly demonstrated does not benefit the masses. This because a socialist economic system produces considerably less wealth to be distributed. It might be more “fair” because the gap between rich and poos is narrowed, but the poor are even more poor.
It is a bit concerning that the occupy movement is echoing much of what had been said by the socialist movement of the 1930’s. But as these socialist (and protectionist) policies were implimented the great depression only got worse.