I am a happy returnee to Anglicanism after many years away. My reconnection occurred while going to the magnificent Washington National Cathedral to hear Archbishop Desmond Tutu preach. His message of peace and reconciliation was truly inspiring.

During the service, I found myself praying for the first time in 20 years ”” for my sick, aged father, languishing in a veterans’ hospital in far-off Toronto. I returned to the cathedral weekly, finding that praying for him gave me a connection to him that was very real.And, of course, the Episcopal liturgy and worship was as familiar and appealing as it was when I was a young parishioner at St. Simon the Apostle in Toronto.

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The Diocese of New Westminster today asked the Supreme Court of Canada to bring an end to a lawsuit brought by the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) that has dragged on since September of 2008.

In a Brief filed with the Court today, it is asking that the court decline to hear the Appeal initiated by ANiC so the Anglican Church in the Vancouver area can stop spending money on lawyers and devote more resources to ministry for its people and those in need.

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The Anglican Church of Canada is taking steps towards a green revolution it hopes will sweep across 1,700 parishes nationwide.

The Partners in Mission and Eco-justice (PIMEJ) of General Synod will launch a national database this year to provide information on eco-friendly and energy-efficient Canadian Anglican parishes, including how they became green. It is hoped that sharing their stories will help other parishes to do the same.

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On Feb. 27, St. Paul’s Bloor Street, diocese of Toronto, will celebrate Black heritage in the Anglican Church of Canada with a unique annual service. This year””which the United Nations has declared International Year for People of African Descent””marks the 15th anniversary of the special Anglican service, planned by the diocese’s Black Anglicans Coordinating Committee and held every February during Black History Month. Each year, hundreds of Anglicans, many of them Blacks, come to give thanks to God for the rich heritage of Blacks in Canada and for the many gifts they share. Always in the presence of a Toronto-area bishop, this inspiring service of prayer and praise to God includes story-telling, drumming, dancing and preaching.

As a baptized member of the Christian church and as a Black Anglican priest in the diocese of Toronto, I view this milestone occasion as an opportunity for theological reflection. I invite all my sisters and brothers to join me in conversation.

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Speaking on behalf of the GAFCON Primates of Uganda, Rwanda, West Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Southern Cone ”” none of whom went to Dublin ”” Bishop Venables said that the meeting “had ignored the difficult issues that divide us.

“There was a denial of the serious­ness of the crisis facing the Communion which led to the absence of Primates representing two-thirds of the Anglican Com­munion, and there remains a com­plete lack of trust, which every day is getting worse.

“The Dublin meeting has just made things worse, as they did not deal with the reasons why people stayed away, or the causes of the divisions in the Anglican Church.”

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As he waited at London’s Heathrow International Airport to fly back to Toronto, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, spoke to Anglican Journal staff writer Marites N. Sison about the primates’ meeting, held Jan. 25 to 30 in Dublin. A total of 13 of 38 primates were absent. This included seven who boycotted the meeting to protest issues around the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of a lesbian bishop by The Episcopal Church in the U.S. last August. What follows is an excerpt of Sison’s interview with Archbishop Hiltz….

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The Rev. Dr. Robert Crouse, one of the most influential Canadian theologians of his generation, died Jan. 15 in his rural childhood home on Crouse Road, Crousetown, Nova Scotia, where his family had lived for more than 200 years. He was 80.

He had left the house 70 years before to attend King’s Collegiate School in Windsor, Nova Scotia, where he would later be judged the most brilliant student in its 263-year history. Academic distinction followed, with degrees from King’s, Tübingen, Toronto, and Harvard; and teaching posts at the universities of Harvard, Toronto, Bishop’s (Lennoxville), and Dalhousie. He taught for 32 years at King’s College.

A world authority on Augustine and Dante, he was in great demand internationally as a lecturer. For many years he served as the first non-Roman Catholic visiting professor at the Augustinianum of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. With James Doull he established a school of thought concerning the theological tradition of the ancient and medieval worlds that now has an international following.

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There’s a dynamic of divergence in the Anglican Communion. It is absolutely clear to most people in the Anglican / Episcopal churches in North America that the gospel demands the full inclusion of gay people. It is absolutely clear to those who speak for most churches in the developing world (though not all) that this inclusiveness merely dilutes the gospel. It provides evidence that the churches in North America ”“ and the UK is under intense suspicion as well ”“ are falling into a decadent decline. They just can’t be trusted; the only thing to do is to change the whole structure radically, either from within, or through a totally new structure. The first is preferable of course, as it means you inherit the resources; but either is preferable to the status quo.

The thing which is the obvious gospel imperative for one side is for the other side an equally obvious sign of the opposite. Blessing same-sex relationships is an unavoidable call of faith ”“ or a clear rejection of Christian values. Planting new churches is mere obedience to the call to proclaim the good news ”“ or an obvious rejection of the body of Christ in the churches already present.

No wonder a moratorium can have no effect. But what can anyone then do? Maybe giving up blaming the ”˜other’ would help: no-one can be asked to act against their conscience, however misguided any of us might think it is….

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I’ve often wondered what happened to the high-profile 1990s church-led protest against expanded gambling in B.C. and the rest of Canada. It turns out some religious leaders,including Vancouver-area Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham, have joined with academics and others over the past several years to fight the fight, raising issues about problem gamblers. But with litte effect in B.C.

I received this letter today from one of those who has been pressing the B.C. Liberal government to address the issue of compulsive gamblers, who experts believe make up about six per cent of those using government-sponsored casinos….

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Closed churches in View Royal entered the new year in limbo.

The Anglican Diocese of B.C. disestablished All Saints church in June and St. Columba’s in November, leaving the town without the presence of a faith community.

The small congregations of both churches were encouraged to join the St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s parish in Esquimalt. But what will become of the vacant buildings remains undecided.

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A large West End church will soon be home to a 24-unit apartment complex that will ensure its survival.

St. Matthew’s Anglican Church on Maryland Street, which can seat more than 1,000 people, measures Sunday service attendance in the dozens.

For years, its congregation has been praying to turn the church into a multi-use building that would include a housing component. It appears those prayers have been answered.

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The 38 primates, representing Anglicans in 164 countries, will be asked to share their thoughts on two questions: What do you think is the most pressing challenge or issue facing the Anglican Communion at this time? What do you think is the most pressing challenge or issue facing your own province?

Rather than seeing this process as an attempt to sidestep the issue of sexuality, which has deeply divided Anglicans, Archbishop Hiltz sees it was a way forward. “If there’s any hope of some sense of renewed relationships with one another, it’s through conversations like these,” he said.

Reports that some primates with more conservative theological views are planning to boycott the meeting “does nothing to model for the church what it means to try and live with difference,” he added. “To simply say, ”˜I refuse to come’ is anything but exemplary of the office and ministry to which we are called.”

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A group of dissidents who split from the Anglican Church of Canada over same-sex marriage blessings has appealed a court decision awarding their Vancouver-area houses of worship to the mainstream church.

Members of the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) filed an appeal Friday to the Supreme Court of Canada, after two lower courts ruled their churches– St. John’s, Church of the Good Shepherd, and St. Matthias and St. Luke’s in Vancouver, as well as St. Matthews in Abbotsford — belonged to the Anglican Church in Canada. The properties are worth more than $20 million combined.

Cheryl Chang, special counsel to the ANiC, said allotting the properties to the Diocese of New Westminster means they may sit empty or be vastly underused.

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Breakaway members of Anglican churches in B.C. opposed to same-sex blessings want to take their battle over church buildings and bank accounts to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Earlier this week, the group filed an application for leave to appeal to the high court.

The group has lost at the two lower court levels in British Columbia, but its lawyer, Cheryl Chang, said there remain many questions for the Supreme Court to answer.

“If any congregation splits over theological differences, the question that we’re raising for the Supreme Court of Canada is, what do you do in this post-modern, secularized environment?” Chang said.

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[Friday].. the Trustees of four Vancouver-area Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) churches filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, the BC Court of Appeal decision (November 15, 2010) which removed their right to use their church buildings and awarded the church properties to the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) Diocese of New Westminster. The four churches are St John’s (Shaughnessy), St Matthews (Abbotsford), Good Shepherd (Vancouver), and St Matthias & St Luke’s (Vancouver).

The Anglican Communion is in the midst of a worldwide split due to deep and profound theological differences between the more liberal and conservative (or orthodox) member churches. ANiC members, while in the minority in Canada, are theologically aligned with the worldwide majority.

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The Reverend Professor Robert Darwin Crouse died in his sleep at his home in Crousetown, Lunenburg, Friday night. He had been very ill for several years but he played the organ for the Liturgy at St Mary’s Crousetown the Sunday before last.

It is a passing so momentous for so many, including all of us in the Department, that I can say nothing more at present than to express my thanks to God as Professor Crouse’s perpetual student for all He did for us through this great scholar, spiritual father, saintly exemplar, and unsurpassable teacher.

A student of James Doull, with him he refounded the Classics Department, giving it the character which it now has and which has made it so exceptionally successful. No student of his ever ceases to hear him and so
to walk in the presence of the Logos.

Dr Wayne J. Hankey
Carnegie Professor and Chairman
Department of Classics with Religious Studies
Dalhousie University and Kings College

Dwindling attendance will result in the closure of a second Anglican church in Sarnia in less than a year.

The century-old St. John’s Church on Devine Street will close it doors Feb. 1, following hard on the decision to shutter St. James The Apostle Church on Lansdowne Avenue last year.

Archdeacon Richard Salts said it was a tough call, but in the end the members of each congregation voted in favour of amalgamation with other area Anglican churches.

“As with most mainline churches there has been a certain amount of decrease in numbers,” he said. “The critical mass is not always there.”

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….Dr. Radner takes issue with our description of a consensus: that a few should not be able to prevent an action representing the wish of the vast majority. He seems to imply that the conscience of the few should count. If so, then what does he make of those people, priests, Dioceses and Provinces who cannot go along with the supposed “virtual unanimity” in the communion? His claim validates positional authority, vested in the current Instruments of Communion, to override the eddies underneath the surface. We acknowledge that the Christian tradition has opposed homosexual relationships of any kind. It is a strong tradition which must have its respected voice. From our pastoral engagement, however, we realise that the received tradition on homosexuality no longer holds sway over significant number of people in our Diocese. We respect that it still has authority over many among us, and within a vast majority of Anglicans in the world whose contexts are not ours. But what of those who in good conscience, like the homosexually inclined person described by Rowan Williams, do not agree with it? They, too, are caught between holding together their loyalty to their conscience and their loyalty to the Communion, and in parts of Canada and elsewhere, loyalty to their bishop. This is certainly a difficult tension, but hardly a new or an impossible position in which to be. We ask again, but will they be given the same protection and freedom customarily extended to theological minorities in the Diocese of Toronto and is extended again clearly in the Guidelines? All too often majority is invoked to force compliance. When that happens we are not talking about authority, only power, and it frequently backfires. When the majority fails to listen to the real needs and pains of the minority, and when they do not help work out a legitimate way to accommodate, the minority often act inappropriately. We, as bishops of Toronto, by these Guidelines aim at foreswearing coercion and are willing to live in the tensions created while continued discernment is engaged. We appeal to others to do the same.

But neither will we be coerced. This can come from many directions, from those who believe we are too timid and from those who believe we are too bold. In the end, those who have power in the Communion will decide what to do with Dr. Radner’s accusation and do with us what they will, or not. We on our part are happy to maintain the bonds of affection with all members of the Communion, and eager to collaborate in Christ’s mission with any who are willing. We are also eager to continue the dialogue and listening that Professor O’Donovan commends and have committed ourselves to those processes across the Communion. While ready to make an account of our actions, we do not make a habit of answering every charge in public, but a person of Dr. Radner’s stature warrants an exception.

Read it all and note that Dr. Radner has responded to their response.

On New Year’s Day, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada outlined the church’s priorities for 2011. They include enlivened worship, biblical literacy, renewed commitment to indigenous ministries and strong leadership in environmental advocacy.

“I envision a Church in which worship, while grounded and rooted in tradition, will be enlivened to meet the needs of our diverse membership,” said Archbishop Fred Hiltz in his traditional New Year’s Day address at Christ Church Cathedral, in Ottawa. Texts will be revised, he said, but they will be “in accord with sound liturgical principles, sensitivity to the many languages and cultures within our Church, and an unabashed drawing of resources from around the Anglican Communion and the ecumenical world.”

The Gospel will be proclaimed in various media, including drama, while Anglicanism’s choral tradition “will be complemented by the simplicity of Taize and spaces for deep silence before God,” said Archbishop Hiltz.

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A growing group of dissident Anglicans who broke away from the Anglican Church of Canada over opposition to same-sex blessings amassed nearly $6 million in donations in the last fiscal year.

And 22 per cent of those donations were made specifically to the Anglican Network in Canada’s (ANiC) legal defence fund, to bankroll the dissidents’ continuing battle with the Diocese of New Westminster over who owns the church buildings.

According to financial statements filed with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) by the ANiC, the registered charity received $5.9 million in donations in the 2008-09 fiscal year, the most recent data available.

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Social media…, Web 2.0, is far more interactive. A blogger says something in her post; I respond with a comment, someone else chimes in. I post a link to a website on my Facebook page; someone comments on it, and the conversation continues. Someone makes a video about how a church might be more welcoming; someone else makes another, and posts it as a video response on the original video’s YouTube page, and the comments weigh the pros and cons of each approach.

If the question facing us is only, “How does social media form a part of the marketing strategy of the church?” then the suspicion and concern with which it is clearly viewed by some is understandable. (Mostly this criticism is from those who are not themselves participants in that world, and it is unclear to me whether the lack of participation bred the suspicion or vice versa.) Social media is free flowing, radically democratic, unpredictable, impossible to control. In this sense, it is far more like the children’s talk than the sermon, more a conversation than a professorial lecture. More the realm of the Holy Spirit, one might say, than the purview of the levitical priesthood.

The social norms in our culture are known to most of the members of that culture. We don’t, for the most part, say hurtful or abusive things to one another. We respect one another’s points of view, even when we disagree. These norms, for the most part, also exist in the online world. Perhaps without the element of face-to-face connection, it is easier for some to breach those norms, but we all know of people who simply seem unable to cope with externally imposed norms regardless of context.

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State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), one of the world’s leading providers of financial services to institutional investors, announced today that it has been appointed by the General Synod Pension Plan of the Anglican Church of Canada to provide custody, fund accounting, securities lending and foreign exchange services for CAD $600 million in assets.

The General Synod Pension Plan of the Anglican Church of Canada is a multi-employer Pension Plan registered with the province of Ontario and has been in existence since 1946. The General Synod Pension Plan of The Anglican Church of Canada provides pension benefits to clergy and lay employees of the Anglican Church of Canada and related organizations.

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In November, the British Columbia Court of Appeal upheld a 2009 Supreme Court of B.C. decision that ruled the Anglican diocese of New Westminster should retain possession of four Vancouver-area church properties.

But this week, the congregations that filed the original lawsuit have announced they intend to file an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

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Creator God, whose hands holdeth the storehouses of the snow and the gates of the sea, and from whose Word springeth forth all that is: We bless thy holy Name for the intrepid witness of thy missionary John Horden, who followed thy call to serve the Cree and Inuit nations of the North. In all the places we travel, may we, like him, proclaim thy Good News and draw all into communion with thee through thy Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

The crumbling state of the churches is a physical embodiment of the state of religious observance ”“ and the phenomenon is hardly limited to Quebec. From British Columbia to Newfoundland, places of worship of all mainstream denominations are falling victim to dwindling attendance, rising land values and maintenance costs too onerous for congregations to bear.

The United Church, the largest Protestant denomination in Canada, closes one church a week, and has shuttered more than 400 in the past decade. The Anglican Church, which said in a report this year it was hemorrhaging members, has seen eight churches close on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, and placed another six on a one-year watch list.

Yet as churches are shuttered, there are despairing questions about their fate. The twin steeples of Saint-Nom-de-Jésus dominate the brick and stone row-housing in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, and a grass-roots campaign has sprung up to save the building and its pipe organ.

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St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Abbotsford is among four parishes that are filing an appeal with Canada’s highest court.

Trustees from the four churches have instructed their legal counsel to file an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, in response to a B.C. Court of Appeal decision reached on Nov. 15. The application must be submitted by Jan. 14.

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The congregation of St. John’s the Evangelist in Calgary voted in late November to enter into serious discussions with the Roman Catholic Church about becoming a part of its Anglican Ordinariate in Canada. It is the first parish of the Anglican Church of Canada to move toward becoming a part of the Catholic Church since Pope Benedict XVI announced the creation of the ordinariate just over a year ago.

The news was announced in a letter from Anglican Bishop Derek Hoskin of the diocese of Calgary to clergy in the diocese: “This is a step in a spiritual journey which St. John’s has been on for a number of years and is in response to the announcement on Nov. 4, 2009 of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus by Pope Benedict XVI.”

Bishop Hoskin said that he and the St. John’s clergy have agreed not to comment further before the ordinariate is in place, those wishing to join have received an invitation, and parishioners and clergy have individually decided what they will do.

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