Anglican Mainstream

The Bishop of Montreal has just announced a same-sex blessing liturgy.  Is this a movement designed to resuscitate his moribund church?  If so, he may be disappointed.  At least parts of the ACC have been openly and unashamedly  pro-gay for years now, but instead of re-thinking what appears to be an obviously detrimental approach, there seems to exist a belief that more of the same will cure instead of kill. 

I am republishing a recent (12 04 09) article from George Conger and the CEN which describes the state of the ACC now in Quebec.  Note what its own bishop admits, and that in fact, 'many other diocese' will be sharing the same fate.     

'The Diocese of Quebec is all but dead, its bishop told the Canadian House of Bishop at their fall meeting in Niagara Falls, the Anglican Journal of Canada reports.

The Rt. Rev. Dennis Drainville said his diocese was “teetering on the verge of extinction” according to an account given by the church’s official newspaper.

Of the diocese’s 82 congregations, 50 were childless and 35 congregations had an average age of 75. These graying congregations often had no more than 10 people in church on Sundays, he said. “The critical mass isn’t there, there’s no money anymore,” he said.  Read the rest of this entry »

From Anglican Essentials Canada

Bishop Barry Clarke [right] is pressing ahead with a liturgy to bless same-sex unions in spite of the fact that General Synod in Halifax made no decision on the local option for or against. This rather confirms my suspicion that Synod’s indecision will be seen as a green light by dioceses that wish to proceed with same-sex blessings: in effect, the decision has been delegated down in an attempt to circumvent disagreeable sanctions from Canterbury. From the Montreal Anglican, page 1:

In response to a request from the Diocese of Montreal Synod in the fall of 2007, reaffirmed the next year, Bishop Barry Clarke has approved a liturgy for the blessing of previously solemnized civil marriages, tacitly including ones between same-sex couples.

He presented copies of the liturgy at the May meeting of the Diocesan Council. While the liturgy is already available in French and English, the bishop said that on his return from the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in Halifax in June he would be writing to clergy and parishes to explain the process. The liturgy is adapted from the Book of Occasional Celebrations produced by the General Synod of the national church in 1992.

Read here

Are you a young adult between the ages of 19 and 30? Do you enjoy gathering with your peers for worship, discussion, and friendship? Are you interested in the classical Anglican tradition of Christianity? The Cranmer Conference is for you.

By Lillian Kwon, Chistian Post

The Anglican Church of Canada agreed last week not to take any legislative action in response to differing views on same-sex blessings.

Rather, they chose to have "more conversation," said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

"That's an action," Hiltz insisted, according to the Anglican Journal.

Though the province, representing some 800,000 Anglicans, does not formally allow same-sex blessings and remains committed to the moratoria Anglican leaders worldwide agreed to in 2004, Canadian Anglicans acknowledged that a number of dioceses have already permitted the blessing of same-sex unions.

In 2003, the Diocese of New Westminster, one of 30 dioceses in the Canadian province, had heightened controversy in the global Anglican Communion when it approved the rite of blessing gay and lesbian unions.

Read here

From Episcopal Life Online

General Synod 2010 did not approve the so-called local option that would allow dioceses to grant same-sex blessings. Neither did it take a legislative decision on the matter.

It did, however, recognize that local option has been exercised by some and may be taken by others in future, even though "it's not local option approved by the national church," said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

"We're not ready as a national church to say, 'We're building this into our doctrine that we approve of same-sex unions,'" he told a press conference following the close of General Synod 2010 in Halifax. What synod did say was, "We need to have more conversation," confirmed Hiltz, adding, "That's an action."

The report on sexual discernment, finalized after a series of discussions by members, acknowledges "diverse pastoral practices as dioceses respond to their own missional contexts." The report also acknowledged "the continuing commitment to develop generous pastoral responses" to gay and lesbian members of the church.

Read here

TAP Interview: Kenneth Kearon, from Anglican Essentials Canada

As I mentioned here, my battery ran out in the Canon Kearon Press Conference, so my post was based mostly on memory. Sue Careless from the Anglican Planet kindly gave me her transcription for posting:

The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Communion held a press conference in Halifax on June 7th during the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. Kearon was clarifying the Pentecost Letter which the Archbishop of Canterbury had sent out days earlier. The Letter called on those provinces in the Anglican Communion who had formally broken one of the three moratoria called for by the Windsor Report and the last Lambeth Conference, to have their representatives removed from certain international commissions since there were concerns that they would no longer represent the mind of the Communion. (The moratoria called for were the cessation of: same-sex blessings, the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals, and cross-border interventions.)

Sue Careless attended the press conference for the Anglican Planet and has transcribed a major portion of it below.

Sue Careless, Anglican Planet: We’ve seen five dioceses in the Anglican Church of Canada allow same-sex blessings. If General Synod and the House of Bishops don’t take any further action, would just the dioceses breaking any of the moratoria affect say Primate Fred Hiltz sitting on an ecumenical dialogue?

Formally in a proper way, in an organized way by resolution where a national body such as General Synod or the House of Bishops has made a decision against the moratoria, that’s what the Archbishop of Canterbury is talking about in his Pentecost Letter. Read the rest of this entry »

From Anglican Samizdat

By Neale Adams, Anglican Journal

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has allied himself with the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Archbishop Hiltz repeated some of the objections made by the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, to the Pentecost Letter that Archbishop Rowan Williams sent to the Communion May 28.

Archbishop Williams’ four-page missive concerned the ordination of openly homosexual bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions. In 2004, a majority of the Communion’s Primates (Chief Bishops) decreed that a moratorium was to be placed on these acts, along with cross-border Anglican interventions.

Read here

From AAC

Dearly beloved in Christ,

Some of you may be aware that in addition to being the President and CEO of the American Anglican Council, I am also a CANA bishop, serving churches in several states. Recently, I visited the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where The Episcopal Church (TEC) has been closing mission chapels to save money. The people served by the chapels can often trace their spiritual ancestry back to The Episcopal Church's arrival in South Dakota in the 1860's, when the Santee Sioux were forcibly relocated from Minnesota. These parishioners have been loyal to TEC, though often questioning some of the new theological innovations.

Since TEC Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori has been running short of money (due in part to her incessant lawsuits against Anglicans who left TEC), funding that formerly was available to support mission work in the Dakotas has now been diverted to support lawsuits and other higher priorities. With many mission chapels in South Dakota now closed, questions are being raised by some tribal groups about what has happened to the land that the tribe gave to the chapels to support the work at each. Hundreds of acres at each chapel, and thousands of acres in total need to be examined to see if TEC improperly sold off chapel land to raise money. At a recent Black Hills Treaty Council meeting, there was a call for TEC to account for the land and where the money went, since there is some suspicion that it was funneled into non-reservation Diocesan use.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Thaddeus M Baklinski, LifeSite News

VANCOUVER, February 11, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A report prepared for the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia says that Anglicanism in Canada could disappear within a generation.

Citing a decline in Anglican church adherents of 11% per year since the 1960s the report states that Anglicanism is declining faster than any other denomination.

The report says Anglicanism has “moved to the far margins of public life” and that, with most Anglicans being 60 or older, the church is “one generation away from extinction.”

“The status quo is not an option,” the report says and recommends that "a culture change is necessary for the Church to continue."

The change recommended is "to immediately undertake to transform the Diocese’s organizational and operational framework and stop approaching this as a transactional exercise."

"The transactional approach is driven by a managerial mindset; it is tactical and can be effective if only incremental changes are required," the report explains and continues that, "The transformational approach is driven by a leadership mindset; it is strategic in nature and responds to situations where bold, radical change is needed."

Conspicuously absent from the report, however, is any mention of the large numbers of individuals and even entire congregations leaving the Anglican denomination due to its acceptance of beliefs that run directly contrary to historical Christian teaching – most recently on the issue of homosexuality.

Two years ago, St. John's parish in Vancouver voted to leave the Diocese of New Westminster en masse and align itself with the conservative Anglican Church of the Southern Cone based in South America, citing disagreement over homosexuality when the diocese began allowing its parishes to perform blessings for same-sex unions.

"Within the diocese we are called the dissidents, but looking at global Communion, the diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada are the dissidents," said St. John's senior pastor, Rev. David Short, at the time. "One of the key disappointments for orthodox Anglicans right across the country has been the failure of the [national Church] to address this properly."

Even Anglican bishops have left the Anglican Church of Canada in protest against the endorsement of homosexuality.

Retired Anglican Bishop Malcolm Harding of Manitoba and Bishop Donald Harvey of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador both aligned themselves with the Southern Cone, led by Archbishop Gregory Venables.

Read here

From CBC News

The Anglican Church of Canada may close 14 of its 59 churches on Vancouver Island and the southern Gulf Islands because of falling attendance.

Five other churches would be renamed and become so-called "hub churches," which would provide services in the areas affected by closures, Bishop James Cowan said in a report released Tuesday.

"We have the choice at this time to be able to make the choice for a transformational change, focused on mission and where we're going, rather than dwindling," Cowan – the top Anglican bishop in the province – said at a news conference in Victoria.

Parish churches need at least 150 members to stay alive, and the churches he recommended for closing do not have that many, Cowan said.

One church, with a congregation of about 45, has trouble paying its hydro bill.

"I would not say we are yet a church in crisis," Cowan said. "We are a church that is saying a crisis could come if we don't act."

Read here

By Leigh Anne Williams, Anglican Journal

The diocese of New Westminster has filed a cross-appeal of a November decision in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The cross-appeal was filed in response to an appeal filed by the trustees of four Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) congregations in late December.

The legal dispute arose after four congregations voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada to affiliate with the more theologically conservative ANiC. Churches in ANiC do not allow the blessing of same-sex relationships as the diocese of New Westminster has done for several years in a few parishes. Trustees for the congregation filed a lawsuit against the diocese to claim possession of the properties and assets for the congregations. But on Nov. 25, Justice Stephen Kelleher ruled that the diocese of New Westminster retains possession of all four properties. He did, however, decide that a $2.2 million bequest from a parishioner at one of the four churches should be held in trust for the building fund of the ANiC congregation.

Read here

From Anglican Samizdat

The Covenant also speaks about procedures for addressing controversial issues and actions by provinces that could be deemed “incompatible” with the spirit of the Covenant, and of “relational consequences” for that province and its place in the Communion. For some, the language of relational consequences is deeply disturbing, given that our relationships within the Anglican Communion are and should never be dependent or fixed on one issue only.

 

I maintain that in the midst of our differences over issues of sexuality we are called to model a capacity to live with difference and to do so with grace. It is precisely a lack of graciousness that has fired tempers and sparked words of condemnation and dismissal that have been so destructive to relationships within the Communion. I pray that our attitudes and conversations with one another be more and more centered in Him in whom, beyond our understanding, we are forever one.

• The ACoC is going ahead with the ”full inclusion” of homosexual Anglicans by blessing same sex marriages and ordaining practising homosexual clergy.
• Those that disagree with us on this have to live with it and do so with grace.
• Anyone who doesn’t do so with grace is destroying the Communion.
• If the Communion is destroyed it will be the fault of those who lack the grace to go along with the homosexual agenda of the ACoC.
• If the attitudes of those who disagree with the direction of the ACoC were more centred in Christ, we wouldn’t be having these problems.

As we prepare for conversations about sexuality at General Synod it is very clear that people favour conversation and discernment over resolution and debate. Many hope that our discussions will be marked by a capacity to hear one another’s perspective and to appreciate the diversity of settings in which the pastoral and sacramental ministry of the Church is desired. My own hope is that we will emerge from the Synod with an honest statement of where we are in our continuing discernment.

From Huron Diocesan Website (Hat Tip: Robert Lundy, AAC)

The Bishop of Huron has called for appropriate liturgies to celebrate the love, mutual fidelity and support that gay and lesbian Anglicans model every day for the church and wider community. This following liturgical resource is approved for use in the Diocese of Huron together with the following protocols.

Protocols

1. These celebrations are understood to be a pastoral response to same-sex couples in our communities. The rite is to be part of a Celebration of Holy Eucharist. It is noted that there is to be no exchange of vows, no exchange of rings and no nuptial blessing.

2. The clergy involved must seek the Bishop’s support and written permission a minimum of sixty (60) days before the proposed celebration.

3. Matters pertaining to the use of facilities, ceremonial planning and local arrangements will be made with the approval of the Rector of the parish in which the celebration is to take place.

4. It is required that at least one member of the couple be a baptized member of a congregation in the Diocese of Huron.

5. Appropriate pastoral support and instruction must be given at the local level in order to prepare the couple for the celebration and their ongoing Christian life in relationship.

6. As with all liturgical celebrations of the church, these events will be entered into the Parish Register (Vestry Book).

7. Clergy from beyond the Diocese of Huron shall obtain permission from the Bishop of Huron and their own Bishop.

8. Any member of the clergy may decline to preside at these celebrations.

Read here

By Leigh Anne Williams, Anglican Journal

Bishop James Cowan of the diocese of British Columbia has reversed a policy that prohibits clergy in same-gender relationships from serving in the diocese. As a result, he has been able to match up a parish looking for clergy, with “a fine, fine priest.” She had been on leave for eight years because she was in a same-gender relationship.

She had “been on the margins of the church,” said Bishop Cowan. “I didn’t see that there was reason to leave her on those margins any longer when her gifts and talents could be used.”

Bishop Cowan had followed the policy since being elected bishop 12 years ago. Then, at the 2008 Lambeth Conference, the decennial meeting of bishops from across the Anglican Communion, there was a lot of discussion about the Windsor Report, which had called for three moratoria on: the blessing of same-sex unions; the ordination of clergy in same-gender relationships as bishops; and cross-border interventions in the affairs of other provinces.

The moratorium on the ordination to the episcopate of persons living in same-gender unions caught Bishop Cowan’s attention.

“That wording said to me…[that] Lambeth is acknowledging that there are people in same-gender relationships who are priests who canonically would be eligible for election and consecration. “…The moratoria says we will not elect and consecrate,” he said. “But it [still] says that they are there.”

While at Lambeth, Bishop Cowan decided to test whether or not his reading of the moratorium was a valid one. So he asked other bishops, both Canadian and international, who were on both sides of the issue.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Marites N Sison, Anglican Journal

Niagara Falls, Ont.  The Anglican diocese of Quebec is “teetering on the verge of extinction” as parish finances continue to collapse and the number of parishioners dwindles.

This doom-and-gloom message was delivered to the recent Canadian House of Bishops meeting here by Bishop Dennis Drainville, who declared that he could possibly be “the last bishop of Quebec.”

Bishop Drainville urged the House of Bishops to have a “new vision” and to look at how “old relationships and structures” can be changed to respond to the needs of the times.

People are looking for three things in a church, he said: “a compassionate, caring community, a transformational relationship with God, and life-changing liturgy.” Although the Anglican church has these, “…we don’t know how to present this to society,” he said.

Quebec will not be the only diocese to falter, he warned. “There will be many other dioceses that will fail.” Bishop Drainville, who spoke at a session called “The State of the Church,” said in his diocese he has seen churches that were “unfocused, had difficulty in understanding the call of God,” and where clergy were “unengaged and felt directionless.”

He noted that a vast majority of Quebec congregations (50 of 82) virtually have no children, 35 had parishioners with an average age of 75, and usually had only 8 to 10 people attending Sunday services. “The critical mass isn’t there, there’s no money anymore,” and yet parishes want to function the way they always have. With no money coming in from parishes, “we have not paid our national assessment in church for two years,” said Bishop Drainville. “I have no pride in that.”

Read the rest of this entry »

By Douglas Todd,  Vancouver Sun

Packer recently left the Anglican Church of Canada because of what he considers its increasing liberal values, particularly the willingness some dioceses have been showing to bless same-sex relationships. He continues to attend St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church in Vancouver, which has also split away from the Anglican Church of Canada.

From Anglican Journal

The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled yesterday that the Anglican Church of Canada’s diocese of New Westminster retains possession of four church properties worth an estimated $20 million. Members of congregations in these churches, who voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and join the more conservative Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), claimed these properties were held in trust for them.

Justice Stephen Kelleher did, however, rule that a $2.2 million bequest from a parishioner at one of the four churches should be held in trust for the building fund of the ANiC congregation.

The congregation at St. John’s (Shaughnessy), the largest parish in Canada, as well as congregations at Parish of the Good Shepherd, St. Matthias and St. Luke in Vancouver, and St. Matthew’s in Abbotsford all voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada over theological differences, including objections to the blessing of same-sex unions and interpretations of Scriptural authority. In the ensuing dispute over who rightfully controlled the church properties, representatives of the parishes filed two lawsuits against the diocese. They claimed that parish properties are held in trust for the purposes of ministry consistent with historic, orthodox Anglican doctrine and practice, and that the Anglican Church of Canada had broken with that doctrine and practice, notably by allowing the blessing of same-sex unions.

In his judgment, however, Justice Kelleher wrote that “a trust which freezes doctrine at a point in history is inconsistent with the history of change and evolution in Anglicanism. For example, the ACC now permits the remarriage of divorced persons. The church ordains women as priests, and there are also female diocesan bishops in the [Anglican Church of Canada]. These developments are inconsistent with what many would consider historic and orthodox Anglicanism.” He also wrote that, according to resolutions passed at General Synod 2007, the issue of same-sex blessings is one of doctrine, but not core or fundamental doctrine, for the Anglican Church of Canada. “Accordingly, there is no breach of trust on even the terms the plaintiffs put forth.”  He concluded that the parish properties are “held on trust for Anglican ministry as defined by the [Anglican Church of Canada].”

Read the rest of this entry »

Stand Firm:

October 21, 2009

Today, the Roman Catholic Church released an “Apostolic Constitution” offering a way for some orthodox Anglicans to enter into a full communion relationship with the Roman Catholic Church while preserving some aspects of their Anglican heritage. This action recognizes how deeply broken the Anglican Communion has become as a result of the abandonment by some Anglican leaders of historic Christian teaching and discipline. Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church in North America – of which ANiC is a part – has also provided a means for those within North America to remain faithful Anglicans.

“We are encouraged to see the Archbishop of Canterbury working with the Vatican to make accommodate these Anglicans,” said the Right Reverend Donald Harvey, moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada. “We urge him to do the same for us by joining with the Anglican Primates who have already officially recognized and endorsed the Anglican Church in North America.”

The Most Reverend Robert Duncan, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church in North America also responded, saying in part, “We… thank God for the partnership that orthodox Anglicans have long enjoyed with the Roman Catholic Church… While our historic differences over church governance, dogmas regarding the Blessed Virgin Mary and the nature of Holy Orders continue to be points of prayerful dialogue, we look forward to an ever deepening partnership with the Catholic Church throughout the world.” [See Archbishop Duncan’s full statement here.] Read the rest of this entry »