A year ago, Pope Benedict invited traditionalist Anglicans to return to the fold of Roman Catholicism. Calgary’s St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church is the first parish in Canada to accept his offer.

The 70-member congregation held meetings for 10 months, conducted research, prayed, and discerned about the decision. A vote was held Nov. 21, with 90 per cent in favour of rejoining the Catholic Church.

“The pressures to leave have always been there within the Anglo-Catholic movement,” said Father Lee Kenyon, pastor at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Parish.

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For longtime Anglican Richard Harding, switching to the Catholic church feels like coming home.

Last month, Harding and other members of the St. John the Evangelist congregation in Calgary became the first Anglican parish in Canada to accept an offer from the Pope to rejoin the Catholic church.

Harding said they are excited about the change.

Only two members of the parish in Inglewood, one of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods, voted against the move and a few others abstained.

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Deep in the woods of the lower Laurentians, tucked into one corner of a gravel road that goes nowhere in particular, in a place so remote as to be without power lines, there is a church. Rather, there was a church.

St. John’s Shrewsbury, built in 1858 and the last remaining building of a village that vanished decades ago, was an Anglican church until Saturday.

Shortly before noon that day in what is now part of the municipality of Gore, St. John’s was deconsecrated in a ceremony that also involved the sprinkling of holy water in its cemetery to cleanse the grounds of all traces of “the craft of Satan” or human malice.

Witches, waves of misguided ghost-hunters and self-proclaimed spiritualists, along with common vandals, have swarmed the church in recent years.

“This is the only church that I know of that has been brought to its knees by people … pursuing some sort of desire for supernatural experiences,” Archdeacon Edward Simonton said during the deconsecration service.

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A congregation of conservative Anglicans in Calgary has become the first in Canada to accept an offer from the Pope to rejoin the Catholic Church.

Members of the St. John the Evangelist Anglican parish voted in November in favour of the change after a year of talks with Catholic Church officials.

“We accept, unreservedly and with humility and gratitude, the invitation of His Holiness Pope Benedict to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church,” reads the motion the congregation approved.

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It is a given of our time that every parish should aim to celebrate the Eucharist every Sunday. This in significant measure grows out of the liturgical movement of the latter half of the 20th century, of which the Book of Alternatives Services is a fruit. We should be grateful for this witness that the Supper celebrating the Lord’s death and resurrection is paramount for a Christian congregation, especially on the weekly day of His resurrection.

Still, it is worth recalling how recently, namely a generation ago, communion once or twice a month was the practice in many parishes. We do well to note some of the unforeseen consequences of that custom’s eclipse. The disappearance of Sunday Morning Prayer means a greater clericalization. Every congregation needs a priest every Sunday. We might offer, by way of contrast, the example of the Anglican Church in the rapidly growing parts of Africa, where a parish priest might oversee a dozen congregations with catechists leading Morning Prayer on Sundays. To be sure, communion usually is celebrated somewhere in an African parish every Sunday. But the priest might not arrive for communion in any particular village more than once every couple of months. Such occasions are filled with anticipation and excitement. Their ministry is more weighted toward lay leadership and catechesis. What if we, like they, had an order of catechists? How might this help us to know our faith better, and help some struggling missions to survive?

There are other unforeseen consequences….

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The possibility of creating a civil society on the basis of the revolution of the 1950’s no longer exists. In the presence of a multi-religious new immigrant society with a variety of cultural and ethnic roots, the presence of a significant secular minority which wants to rule out the active role of religions in the new developing Quebec society which is challenged by a plurality of those who wish to maintain its Christian roots and here I include Protestants and jews outside of the ultra orthodox the dream that French language alone is capable of creating a civil society is questionable at best.

So what does this have to with our long standing commitment to the sin business? Well, we have to acknowledge that the conversation in which we are involved is between good guys. We have to present our nation and its values in a language which is able to go beyond the terms and posturing that I want to call missionary. Those coming as immigrant[s] must be made aware that their move is not geographic but will require a re-examination of their cultural identity and practices. The church, here in the inclusive sense I just mentioned, must be prepared to step back to the extent its vision is of a multi-religious society and stated in a way which makes clear its role in the flourishing of the human enterprise. It needs to affirm the triumphant secularity of the founders of the revolution which I would add in an historical note is dramatically similar to that of the founding fathers of the United States. We need to accept that our belief in social values involves commitment and discipline that the sin business used to promulgate but can no longer deliver. We need to listen to the cries coming from multitude of quarters from those concerned that the current state of affairs is not sustainable….

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Nicholas Sparks donated land in 1832 for Ottawa’s first Anglican church thinking it would help sell his new subdivision. Almost 180 years later, Christ Church Cathedral plans to develop the hilltop parcel he granted.

The green-themed project features two towers — a condominium building and an office building that are 15 to 17 storeys tall — as well as townhouses. It doesn’t touch the cathedral itself and preserves two church heritage buildings; Roper House and Lauder Hall.

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You think your heating bills are high?

Be glad you aren’t in charge of the St. Chad’s building in Regina, where thousands of dollars were spent last winter to keep things toasty.

The Anglican Diocese of Qu’Appelle was paying $2,000 a month to keep the chill away from the 98-year-old Regina building, although thanks to some renovations, the bills are expected to be lower this winter, according to archdeacon Rob Hardwick.

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Father Lee Kenyon said his parishioners at St. John’s are not leaving out of anger.

“We didn’t vote to leave the Anglican Church of Canada, we voted to accept the invitation of the Pope,” said Kenyon, who will be ordained as a Catholic priest despite being married with two children.

Many elements of the conversion must still be negotiated — including what will happen to the century-old church, which still belongs to the Anglican diocese.

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The Holy Trinity Anglican Church, built in 1842 in Georgetown, P.E.I., will almost certainly be demolished next year.

With a mould-filled basement, a crumbling tower and its need for a new roof, the church is just too expensive to keep.

“It’s a big part of our history, and we’ve exhausted every avenue I think to keep it here,” Georgetown Mayor Lewis Lavandier told CBC News Friday.

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Throughout his presentation, [Michael] Valpy referred to articles written by McGill University professor Dr. Margaret Somerville, discussing her views on the need for greater religious input into public policy.

Somerville has written extensively about the importance for the moral and ethical teachings of the church to have a place in the public sphere.

He said Somerville believes that “Canadians wrongly have given religion a pink slip. Abandoned from the arena of public discourse, dismissed religious voices and views from the public sphere, public square over the last 20 years.”

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While many honoured the memories of Canada’s fallen soldiers this month, the city of Montreal was issuing a demolition permit for what long has been known as the city’s church for soldiers.

The Centre hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal will use that permit to demolish the former Trinity Anglican Church, which has stood at thecornerof St. DenisSt. and Viger Ave. since 1865.

The church -rechristened Eglise St. Sauveur after the First World War -is to be torn down starting thisweek by St. Pierre Excavations, which will kick off the destruction by levelling four adjacent greystones that used to house tourist rooms and apartments on the block bounded by Viger, la Gauchetiere St., St. Denis and Sanguinet St. to make room for the superhospital.

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Action on climate change is becoming so urgently needed that even ”¨scientists trained not to make value judgements see it as a moral”¨ issue.”¨”¨ What’s more, we may be “running out of time,” says Dr. John Stone, adjunct”¨ research professor, geography and environmental studies, at Carleton”¨ University in Ottawa.

“Climate change has now become such a threat ”¨to our society, economy and environment that some of us find it difficult,”¨ if not irresponsible, to remain within our [objective] disciplinary domains,” ”¨”¨he told a Nov. 14 workshop at The Church of St. John the ”¨Evangelist (Anglican) Church here. “We have defined the problem, now we need to put all our efforts”¨ into developing and implementing solutions.”

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The five pages of guidelines advise clergy on how to plan an act of worship, including offering those in “stable committed same-gender relationships” the option of a eu­charist. The guidelines specify that there should be no exchange of consents, or signing of a register, and that no prayers of nuptial blessing from any marriage liturgy used any­where in the Anglican Com­munion should be said over the couple.

The Archbishop of Toronto, the Most Revd Colin Johnson, said that he expects that between five and ten parishes will wish to move towards using the guidelines for same-sex blessings. Consensus will need to have been reached in the parishes before permission to carry out bless­ings will be granted.

The Archbishop said: “Not all will welcome this development: some because it goes too far, some because it is not nearly enough. You will note that there are strong affirmations in these guidelines assuring a con­tinued and honoured place in all aspects of diocesan life for those who do not agree with this res­ponse.”

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The British Columbia Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals of a November 2009 Supreme Court of British Columbia decision. The decision had ruled that the Anglican diocese of New Westminster should retain possession of four church properties in the Vancouver area.

The legal dispute arose after four congregations voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada to affiliate with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). The disagreement was focused on the issue of same-sex blessings, which have been performed in some parishes in the diocese of New Westminster for several years. Churches in ANiC do not allow the blessing of same-sex relationships.

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Neither side in a long, bitter war over Anglican Church property in Vancouver and Abbotsford expects any Christmas services will have to be moved elsewhere this December.

But Vancouver-area Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham began moving Tuesday to replace the dissident priests at four congregations that have failed to obtain legal control of Anglican Church properties valued at more than $20 million.

Since the conservative priests have already resigned from the Anglican Church of Canada to work for a breakaway Anglican organization, the diocese said in a statement, those clergy “will need to continue their ministry in other locations.”

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Many things have already been said in the public arena about the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant. As Provinces around the world continue to discuss this important document I think it worth clarifying some points about it. I am not arguing here for or against the Covenant, merely pointing out that it should be debated fairly, with an accurate reading of the text….

The point of the processes outlined in the Covenant is precisely to encourage one part of the Communion, when seeking to respond responsibly in its own context in mission, to consider how that will affect other parts of the Communion It is not that one Province would exercise a veto over another, but that there would be collaborative discernment. In a globalised world, it is no longer possible (if it ever was) for one church to act entirely for itself; decisions have ramifications, and the intention is for these to be explored together.

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Even though the B.C. Appeal court ruled in favour of the Anglican Church of Canada, the judges hinted that pursuing an action that would further alienate parishioners was not without consequence.

“[The] Bishop and the Diocesan Synod of New Westminster have chosen to pursue the matter to the extent they have ”” despite the opposition of many of their parishioners,” the judges wrote. “Presumably [they] have chosen to take the risk that the policy allowing same-sex blessings will indeed prove to be ”˜schismatic’; or that clergy in the Diocese will for the foreseeable future find themselves ministering to vastly reduced or non-existent congregations. That, however, is their decision to make.”

Lawyer Cheryl Chang, the special counsel to the Anglican Network in Canada, the umbrella group for conservative Anglican parishes, said there has been no decision yet on whether there will be an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“I am disappointed that the court concluded Anglican ministry is ”˜as defined by the ACC,’ despite the evidence demonstrating the ACC, in the view of the majority of the world’s Anglicans, have erred in their definition of Anglican doctrine, and in our view, breached their own Solemn Declaration or constitution in the process,” Ms. Chang said.

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In a decision released today, the BC Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by four Anglican Network in Canada churches in the Vancouver area. The four parishes ”“ St John’s (Vancouver), St Matthews (Abbotsford), Good Shepherd (Vancouver), and St Matthias & St Luke’s (Vancouver) ”“ had appealed a November 25, 2009 decision of Mr Justice Stephen Kelleher awarding beneficial ownership of church properties to the Diocese of New Westminster in the case involving the split in the Anglican Church. The Diocese of New Westminster’s counter appeal of Mr Justice Kelleher’s decision granting a sizeable bequest to the ANiC congregation of the Church of the Good Shepherd was also dismissed.

The appeals were heard in the B.C. Court of Appeal September 13-16, 2010, before Madam Justice Nicole Garson, Mr Justice P D Lowry and Madam Justice Mary Newbury.

“Obviously, we are deeply disappointed by this decision which is currently being reviewed by our legal counsel,” said Cheryl Chang, Special Counsel for the Anglican Network in Canada. “We are awaiting their advice before any discussion about an appeal can take place. The congregations have always said that if they are forced to choose between their buildings and their faith, they will choose their faith. That position remains unchanged.”

Dissident conservative Anglicans in Vancouver and Abbotsford have no right to hold onto four church properties valued at more than $20 million, the B.C. Appeal Court ruled today.

As a result of the decision, more than 1,000 Anglicans who oppose same-sex blessings and reject the authority of Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham will likely be expected to vacate their historic church buildings.

Dismissing the main argument in a costly appeal by the conservative Anglican congregations, Justice Mary Newbury said the dissidents “cannot in my respectful decision remove themselves from their diocesan structures and retain the right to use properties that are held for purposes of Anglican ministry in Canada.”

The B.C. Appeal Court decision, which has hinged on disagreement over whether to bless homosexual unions and how to interpret the Bible, is the culmination of a theological and legal war that exploded in the Vancouver-area diocese in the mid-1990s.

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To repeat the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury: “But again ”˜pastoral response’ has been interpreted very differently and there are those [”¦] who would say: ”˜Well, pastoral response means rites of blessing’, and I’m not very happy about that.” The Archbishop is not alone in his feelings. But the bishops of the Diocese of Toronto have decided to pour more fuel upon the smoldering flames of that unhappiness.

Interestingly, the Toronto Guidelines tell us that parishes can go forward with requesting to be designated as places where same-sex blessings can be performed only when some kind of “consensus” within it has been found on the matter. This is further explained as follows: “Consensus is not total agreement; however, every effort should be made to reach a decision where everyone feels heard and is willing to live with the wider body’s decision.” This is explicitly qualified in this manner: “The way forward should not be achieved or prevented by a few taking an opposing view to the vast majority”.

An obvious question arises in the face of this definition of consensus and its requirements: is there in fact a “consensus” of this kind in the Diocese of Toronto around the motives, meaning, and substance of the new Guidelines? The process for putting the Guidelines together precluded such a consensus, and the implementation of the Guidelines moves forward without it. How should those within, but also those outside of the diocese interpret this failure to discern consensus? For we should also ask another and related question: where do the bishops of the Diocese of Toronto stand vis a vis the “consensus” of the Communion’s bishops and her “consultative organs”, a consensus that in fact is equivalent in this case to a unanimity? Do they stand with the “vast majority”? Or do they stand with “a very few taking an opposing view” that is thereby seeking to “prevent” a “way forward” towards the healing of the Communion? Does this matter to them?

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The bishops have described both actions as pastoral. But in fact they affect the doctrine of the church. The ordination of a person in a same-sex marriage hallows that marriage and names it the ideal, a worthy example for all to follow, properly belonging within the Christian definition of marriage. This is to challenge the marriage canon of the Anglican Church of Canada. This is an act, that is, with concrete legal and doctrinal implications.

Likewise, to bless a civil same-sex marriage in a service complete with scripture readings, hymns of the church, and (if the couple wishes) a Eucharist, is to declare this a Christian marriage. There is no distinction between a civil same-sex marriage blessed in a church and a civil heterosexual marriage blessed in a church. To be sure, the guidelines prohibit the exchange of marriage vows and rings; but the couple has already exchanged vows and rings before a magistrate. If the nuptial blessings currently printed in the prayer books cannot be used, what of that? A new blessing can be written.

If the couple is not civilly married, then we are blessing sex outside of marriage. Whatever the current social mores regarding sex, this is a formal innovation in the church’s ethical teaching and practice.

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The strain caused by differences of opinion about matters of sexuality appears to be evident among primates of the world’s Anglican churches. This could affect a primates’ meeting planned for January, says the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.

“There is a lot of tension within the group,” Archbishop Fred Hiltz said last Sunday in his address to the Oct. 22-25 joint meeting of the Anglican House of Bishops and the Lutheran Conference of Bishops in Montreal. Some primates seem “unwilling to come to the table with everyone present,” he said. This suggests that some primates strongly opposed to same-sex marriages would not be willing to attend with primates of more favourable or nuanced views.

Archbishop Hiltz said the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams may try to deal with this problem by arranging prior meetings of smaller groups of like-minded primates.

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Diocesan Diversity ”“ The Diocese of Toronto honours and appreciates the diversity represented in its parishes and clergy. This diversity will continue to be reflected in the selection and appointment of clergy, and in the membership of committees and councils of the diocese. We recognize there are theological and cultural differences across our diocese and within parishes which are strained by both the limits and permission represented in blessing same gender relationships.

–All congregations and individual Anglicans are called to exercise pastoral generosity one to another.
–Permission to participate in blessings of same gender commitments will be extended only to those parishes and clergy who fulfill the requirements noted above and are granted permission by the diocesan bishop.
–No clergy nor parishes will be required to participate in the blessing of same gender relationships.
–Clergy who object to blessing same gender relationships will be asked to exercise pastoral generosity by referring same gender couples seeking a blessing, if requested, to the Area Bishop.
–Clergy who support blessing same gender couples will be asked to exercise pastoral sensitivity to those in their parish who are not in agreement with the parish designation.

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(Anglican Journal) Canadian Lutheran churches appear to be faced with many of the same problems known to Canadian Anglicans.

These include shrinking congregations and an increased interest in weekly eucharist.

According to Susan Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), this is leading Lutherans to look at such measures as the use of ordained pastors as “circuit riders” bringing the eucharist to a number of parishes. Speaking here at the Oct. 22-25 joint meeting of the Anglican House of Bishops and Lutheran Conference of Bishops, she added there has also been pressure to revive a practice of permitting lay people to preside at the sacrament, as some Lutheran churches did at one time.

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Parishes and priests not on board with the openness of the diocese of Montreal and its bishop to the blessing of same-sex unions may get access in the new year to spiritual guidance from a bishop more in tune with their views.

Bishop Barry Clarke told delegates to the annual diocesan synod October 15 that he will make a formal presentation to the diocesan council in January on “shared episcopal ministry.” The proposal would permit parishes to have “episcopal oversight” from a fellow-bishop. He emphasized that this episcopal ministry would be shared with his own.

“This does not mean that I am abdicating my responsibility as the diocesan bishop to those clergy and parishes,” he said in his opening address to the synod. “I emphasize the fact that it is a ”˜shared’ ministry with a fellow bishop. This is a pastoral response to a particular need at this time in our church. The clergy and parishes that may be involved in this shared episcopal ministry will still have to meet their full responsibility to live within the canons and the constitution of our diocese and of our church.”

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Edna Mitchell has sat in the same pew at St. Matthias Anglican Church every Sunday for the past 85 years, first with her parents and now next to the people she thinks of as her “church family.”

It’s the place where she has sung carols at Christmas, celebrated Easter each spring and taught children the stories of the Bible for more than 50 years.

“It’s my home,” she said….

But the majestic brick building on Chebucto Road in Halifax may be sold once the congregation joins the parish of St. Philip’s, as the number of parishioners steadily declines….

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I rushed off to attend the press conference at Queen’s Park officially launching the campaign to ask the government to give a $100 healthy food supplement to each adult on Social Assistance. There was a small crowd but only a single reporter with a few camera people in the audience to hear the three panellists with me speak about the campaign and our experience. Breakfast had been instant oatmeal with milk ”” bland; and a small juice box. No coffee. I was tired and beginning to get cranky. …

The diet on offer is meagre. By noon I was hungry and tired. A photographer was going to snap pictures as I prepared lunch. It was more complicated than I thought. I had planned on soup with some milk and a tuna sandwich, eating half my allotted can. The milk had turned sour, so a package of microwavable noodles substituted. Just add boiling water, cover and wait. I added 1/4 of my one onion to the tuna but there would be no mayo or vinaigrette to moisten it, and no butter and lettuce for the bread. And what to do with the leftovers that I needed to save for Wednesday. If you can’t afford food, you won’t have plastic wrap. I took the groceries out of the bag and used that to cover the tuna and onion mix. I had planned to add cooked rice to stretch it out a bit and perhaps help moisten it. There was no way (or time) to cook the rice. I hadn’t planned it right. And there was no point in adding salt. The noodles alone contributed 58 per cent of the daily recommended sodium intake …

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