Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, met with General Synod staff today to discuss major infrastructure changes made to achieve a balanced budget for 2011.

Fourteen staff positions have been affected. Ten positions have been eliminated. Six people received lay-off notices, while others have been offered different or new jobs. Further details about how the cuts will affect each department will not be made public until the staff involved have had time to decide whether they want the new position they have been offered”¦or the severance. Every General Synod department has been affected to some degree.

The cuts are in keeping with a 2009 decision that deficit budgeting be eliminated by 2012. While cost-cutting measures over the past two years have included staff layoffs, the biggest reduction remained to be articulated in 2011, with an estimated $1.1 million to be cut from the General Synod operating budget.

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Anglican Bishop Sue Moxley is determined to get more people into church, even if she has to go out and get them.

Moxley, leader of the Anglican church in Nova Scotia and P.E.I., handed out invitations to passersby on the Halifax waterfront Wednesday morning. In full bishop’s regalia, she certainly stood out.

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[My second reason for being uneasy]…is due to the outcome of the discussion groups on the blessing of same-sex unions. The “indaba” process was very well run, and it did allow everyone to speak and be heard. However, I do not feel that my own voice and most of the voices in my discussion group were recorded. I had the feeling that there was an orchestrated effort to avoid public controversy. As a consequence, there really was no likelihood that a decision would be made. The final resolution seems to say that the local option is allowed for pastoral reasons, but we are nevertheless going to refrain from legislating anything. My fear is that our reluctance to commit ourselves has left The Episcopal Church even more isolated in the Communion….

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An Ottawa pub has refused to host an Anglican church group’s film night, fearing the movie’s debate over the existence of God may offend religious pub-goers.

The Heart & Crown pub says it decided to pull the plug on St. Alban’s Anglican Church’s showing this week of the movie Collision ”” a documentary featuring well-known atheist Christopher Hitchens and evangelical theologian Douglas Wilson ”” after seeing a pamphlet advertising the film.

“We made the decision to cancel the reservation because, bottom line is, we just think that our business isn’t the forum or the environment for that type of movie,” said Heart & Crown Pubs spokesman Alex Munroe, who admitted he hadn’t actually watched the film.

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The size of the congregation more than met expectations. Some in attendance were visitors whose homes are not in Abbotsford. The service ended at 8:45am. At this initial service of renewed diocesan worship at St. Matthew’s a post service coffee time in the parish hall had not been planned, but members of the ANiC congregation which use the St. Matthew’s church building had thoughtfully set-up tables for a post service coffee time and had made the kitchen available. 17 of those in attendance at the service did go for breakfast/coffee at a nearby restaurant. Organizing and on-site “Coffee Time” will happen in the near future.

The ANiC leaders representing their community were cordial and cooperative and did an outstanding job of setting up the Parish Hall for worship. The ACoC congregation were not required to replace chairs or re-organize the space. Arrangements for future Sundays may differ. The ANiC leadership agreed to the use of the piano to add a musical component to the worship and that may come to pass in future weeks.

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Women have been denied opportunities for development and participation in all spheres of life, including the religious. This has had negative impacts on men and women.

Slowly, painfully, we have been learning to set our sexual stereotypes and prejudices beside the challenges of the Gospel. We are called to a life of justice, compassion, intelligence and patience that takes us beyond our own comfort and interests. While women have always played significant roles in Anglicanism (we are, after all, a Church to which definitive shape was given by a woman — Elizabeth I!), it is only in the last few generations that we have discovered how life-giving it is for them to be involved in leadership and ministry in every order and level of the Church. We can no longer make invidious distinctions between “women in the Church” and “the Church.”

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The first of six large group gatherings kicked off the four-day event with a live band, drama troupe, a “parade of Bishops,” and keynote speaker ”” The Rev’d Canon William Cliff, Rector of The Collegiate Chapel of St. John the Evangelist at Huron University College and parish priest for Huron University College and the Anglican Community at the University of Western Ontario.

“I want scripture to come alive for you,” exclaimed Cliff as he laid out three ground rules for the youth to follow for his presentations during the gathering and for when reading scripture in general. The rules included: The Gospel is always astonishing; The Gospel is never fair ”” “because the Gospel is about grace”; and God always acts first. “We are going to find the most unfair, grace-filled, astonishing reading in which God acts first,” declared Cliff.

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The Episcopal Church’s decision to proceed with the consecration broke one of three moratoria outlined in the Communion’s Windsor Report. The report requested a period of “gracious restraint” during which there provinces would not proceed with the ordination of gay or lesbian people as bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions, and cross-border interventions by bishops outside their own province. In June, Canon Kenneth Kearon, general secretary of the Anglican Communion, wrote to members of The Episcopal Church to inform them that as a result of the Los Angeles consecration, their membership on committees for ecumenical dialogue had been withdrawn.

But the standing committee did not go further in that direction. Commenting on the meeting’s results, Archbishop Hiltz, said, “For lots of people, it’s very encouraging because there was a lot of anxiety”¦,” said Archbishop Hiltz of the standing committee’s decision. “”¦ It’s pretty clear, in spite of a request that the Episcopal Church be [asked] to leave, that that was one voice and everybody else said, ”˜No, that’s not the way forward.’ ”

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An Anglican church in Canada has caused an outcry after a dog was given holy communion. The Revd Marguerite Rea gave a consecrated wafer to an Alsatian-cross breed named Trapper, at St Peter’s, Toronto, last month.

It was the first time the dog and his owner, Donald Keith, had attended a service there. The Bishop of York Scarborough, the Rt Revd Patrick Yu, who oversees St Peter’s, emphasised that it was against the policy of the Anglican Church of Canada. “I can see why people would be offended. It is a strange and shocking thing, and I have never heard of it happening before.”

He said he believed Ms Rea was overcome by “a misguided gesture of welcoming”. He has received assurances from her that it will never happen again. The matter was now closed, he said, as “we are, after all, in the forgiveness-and-repair business.”

On Sunday, Ms Rea apologised for her action, which had been a “simple act of reaching out”.

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A new faction of the Anglican Church is to open today in Victoria, a third offshoot in the fractured church.

St. Mark’s Traditional Anglican Church is to have its first service at 5 p.m. today at St. Ann’s Chapel on Humboldt Street, with its own church location to be announced within the next month.

Just how many people will show up at the service and be part of the congregation isn’t known. But with several local Anglican churches in the region closing and the rift in the church over the episcopal constitution, which was announced last October, there are Anglicans looking for a home, said Canon Stanley Sinclair of St. Mark’s.

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St. Peter’s Anglican Church has long been known as an open and inclusive place.

So open, it seems, they won’t turn anyone away. Not even a dog.

That’s how a blessed canine ended up receiving communion from interim priest Rev. Marguerite Rea during a morning service the last Sunday in June.

According to those in attendance at the historical church at 188 Carlton St. in downtown Toronto, it was a spontaneous gesture, one intended to make both the dog and its owner ”“ a first timer at the church ”” feel welcomed. But at least one parishioner saw the act as an affront to the rules and regulations of the Anglican Church. He filed a complaint with the reverend and with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto about the incident ”“ and has since left the church.

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Injustice is all around us: oil spews into the ocean, and people live in poverty around the world and in our own backyard. It seems like everything we buy is built at someone else’s expense. Where is truth found? Often, it’s in the most unlikely places. Young Anglicans will explore that quest for truth at this year’s Outreach Conference youth program, taking place Oct. 16.

The youth will listen to hip hop and read children’s stories, hear from each other, and connect their reflections to the parable of the talents. They will then learn about practical ways of responding to issues such as poverty, environmental destruction and corporate responsibility.

Meanwhile, the regular conference program will be highlighted by a keynote address by Ched Myers, a gifted author, theologian and justice advocate. Re-reading the Bible in light of concrete struggles against violence and oppression is a key focus for Mr. Myers. “I believe that the Judeo-Christian sacred story is the older, deeper and wiser tradition that has the power to transform our lives and our history ”“ but only if we can overcome its domestication under the dominant culture,” he says.

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William Temple, the former Archbishop of Canterbury said: “The church exists mainly for those who are not its members.” All parishes should concentrate on attracting people who are not Christians or churchgoers. Whether or not they are living out of wedlock up with someone ”” of the opposite or same sex ”” is immaterial. The hope, though, would be that their perspective and lives gradually change as they become followers of Christ in his Church.

I would much rather attend a church with a high percentage of un-churched gays who are honestly seeking to live according to the Gospel than one with a high percentage of straight cradle-Anglicans who are not. And I don’t think that this would necessarily be unappealing to a gay or straight non-Christian. To say, “we believe in trying to live according to Biblical principles, even though we all may fail to varying degrees” has, I suspect, a more honest ring than the note of desperation in, “come to our church and do or believe what you want”.

St. Hilda’s has always attracted more than its fair share of single mothers, misfits, waifs, strays and assorted eccentrics ”” especially artists; the more the merrier. Many have passed through gaining sustenance along the way and some have made it their home. Sometimes it is chaotic: the pious have likened it to a circus. But unwelcoming? Never.

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A rift in the Anglican Church, whose long history in New Brunswick reaches back to the Loyalists, is fuelling the expansion of a new Anglican movement in the province.

The Anglican Network in Canada, a breakaway group from the Anglican Church of Canada, has established a church in Moncton and is setting up satellite congregations in Sussex, Miramichi and Saint John.

Rev. Don Hamilton, minister at the newly-established Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, said in an interview Tuesday the network provides a safe haven for worshippers who are uncomfortable with the more worldly direction of modern religion.

“We can no longer follow the Anglican Church of Canada because of their increasingly unbiblical theology which we are witnessing in many ways – the moving away from the authority of scripture,” Hamilton said.

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(Anglican Journal) A prominent Canadian senator and retired general has challenged world religious leaders to offer a vision of what the world can be, saying political leaders are simply reacting and “swimming in the complexity and ambiguity of our time.”

The world hasn’t seen statesmanship in this era of “new world disorder,” said Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, widely known as the commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in 1993 that tried to stop the genocide in Rwanda. “What world leaders are doing is leadership by crisis management”¦We are not shaping the future but reacting to it.”

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The first national event of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) concluded Saturday night with Justice Murray Sinclair, TRC chair, expressing satisfaction that it had been a “special, excellent start.”

During the event held June 16 to 19, more than 1,000 residential school survivors spoke privately to TRC statement-takers and in some cases, during sharing circles witnessed by the public. The event achieved “remarkable acts of reconciliation,” Sinclair told a crowd gathered for closing ceremonies at the Oodena Circle of The Forks National Historic Site. “We know that this journey is far from complete.”

More than 40,000 people visited the site and took part in various activities during the event, said Sinclair. “We are told this is unprecedented….”

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eneral 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 Archbishop Hiltz, adding, “That’s an action.”

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One of the notable things about this synod was who wasn’t there. There was little interest from the secular press, visitors were sparse and blog comments were at nothing like the levels seen for the Synod of 2007. Even big name Anglicans like Katherine Jefferts-Schori (from the US Episcopal Church) attracted only a motley bunch of specialty Anglican journalists. For the most part, the secular press was absent.

The church is trying to use social networking to spread its message, so it had a twitter account where a dedicated tweeter typed in endless 140 character messages to edify the curious. There were 114 followers, a half of which were probably already attending synod. To put this in perspective, Stephen Fry has 1,550,779 followers ”“ and he doesn’t even talk about sex all the time.

Why is this? It’s because most people no longer care what the Anglican Church does ”“ whether it is blessing same sex marriages or demanding an end to global warming. The Anglican Church spends much of its time questioning the faith that has shaped not only it, but the last 2000 years of Western civilisation. To fill the void, it has idolatrised “inclusion”, thereby alienating to the point of exclusion many who are determined to hold fast to orthodox Christianity. The church’s quest for relevance has become an accommodation to secular culture and it now finds itself in a market where it cannot and never will be able to effectively compete.

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Canadian Anglicans took a step forward in considering the Anglican Covenant with the passing of resolution A137: Anglican Communion Covenant at General Synod 2010 on Thursday, June 10.

Bishop George Bruce, chair of the Anglican Committee Working Group provided an introduction to the work of the committee, which has participated in the process of reviewing and providing feedback to the draft. A General Synod 2007 decision affirms the Anglican Church’s involvement in the process of drafting “A Covenant for the Anglican Communion”.

“There have been lots of changes since the Nassau document,” said Bishop Bruce, referring to a previous version of the covenant that was met with concern. “The text is a significant approval over that drafts. Virtually all Canadian concerns have been addressed.”

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The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States have both spoken of their “concerns” and “distress” at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s plans to impose sanctions on provinces that have breached the moratoria on gay bishops, same-sex unions, and cross-border interventions (News, 28 May).

Dr Williams announced the sanc­tions ”” which amount to excluding provinces from ecumenical dialogues and stripping them of some decision-making powers ”” in his Pentecost letter to the Anglican Communion. He took the action in response to the consecration of an openly lesbian bishop, the Rt Revd Mary Glasspool, in the Episcopal Church in the US last month (News, 21 May).

As part of the follow-up to the Pentecost letter, the secretary general of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon, announced on Monday that he has written to members of the Episcopal Church serving in the inter-Anglican ecu­menical dialogues, “informing them that their membership of these dia­logues has been discontinued”.

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The Anglican Church of Canada has failed to put the debate over gay marriage to rest once and for all.

On the second last day of General Synod, a tri-annual gathering of clergy and lay leadership aimed at setting church policy, members essentially agreed to disagree on the fractious issue that’s torn the church apart in recent years.

At the end of the day, the church resolved to continue to “engage in theological and scriptural study of human sexuality” and to include the “voices of gays and lesbians” in those discussions.

But after numerous discussions, which were conducted in small groups throughout the nine-day event in Halifax, the church ultimately decided not to make a “legislative decision” on the issue of same-sex unions.

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The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada went on record expressing “deep concern” regarding the interception by Israeli Defence Forces of relief ships from Turkey and Ireland. The ships were attempting to disrupt the Israeli blockade of Palestinian ports to deliver relief supplies to Gaza.

Nine people were killed May 31 after the Israelis boarded ships heading toward Gaza. On June 4, an Irish Gaza-bound aid ship was forced to head towards the Israeli port of Ashdod instead.

The synod passed the motion by a show of hands after a short debate. “It’s not for us to declare to the nation of Israel how to defend themselves,” said David Parson from the diocese of the Arctic.

Bishop Dennis Drainville of Quebec argued that the synod was within its rights to object to what he considered an unjustified action. He quoted Martin Luther King as saying that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere.”

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On Thursday, June 10, members of General Synod 2010 passed resolution A115 ”” Affirmation of Sexuality Discernment. The resolution affirms a statement on the discussions that took place at General Synod on human sexuality and, “requests the General Secretary to forward it to the Diocesan Bishops with the request that it will be distributed within each diocese.”

Read it all and read the whole Sexuality Discernment report also.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has admonished warring Anglicans for creating “recrimination, confusion and bitterness” all round.

He has punished those who have broken the rules by removing them from the body that deals with dialogue with the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and other churches, and the body that decides matters of faith.

In his Pentecost letter, Dr Williams called for Anglicans to pray for renewal in the spirit of God.

And he bewailed the failure by liberals to stand by moratoria imposed on the consecration of gay bishops and on same-sex blessings, and the failure by conservatives to observe that on boundary crossing.

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Initial reactions from General Synod members to the first report synthesizing their small group discussions of the issue of sexuality indicate the process is working. Those who spoke to the Anglican Journal said the report was a fairly accurate reflection of what was said in their “discernment circles.”

The discernment circles varied in size from 15 to 24 people, and each group had a designated reporter who recorded their points of view and filed those reports to the members of the Faith, Worship, and Ministry Committee. This committee summarized all of the comments in those reports and produced a single document that was presented to members of General Synod for more discussion and feedback.

Bishop Linda Nicholls and Janet Marshall, chair of the faith, worship and ministry committee, worked into the night to weave together all of the information, working to synthesize the reports from the discernment circles. “The reporters were very clear about what they heard,” said Bishop Nicholls. “There was a lot of similarity among the groups which made it much easier to pull together.”

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So far the proposed disciplines within the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Pentecost letter have affected only the Episcopal Church, but the letter also has raised questions for the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion has informed two representatives of the Episcopal Church that they will no longer serve as members of the Anglican”“Orthodox Theological Dialogue. Those representatives are the Rev. Thomas Ferguson, the Episcopal Church’s interim deputy for ecumenical and interreligious relations, and the Rt. Rev. William O. Gregg, assistant bishop of North Carolina.

Episcopal News Service reported that the decision affects the Episcopal Church’s involvement in all ecumenical dialogues involving the Anglican Communion.

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Here are the circumstances and the answers:

*Synod passes a motion that approves same-sex blessings. This would break the moratorium.

* Synod passes a motion that allows dioceses to decide for themselves whether to conduct same-sex blessings. This would break the moratorium.

* Synod passes no motion, but continues to ignore dioceses that are already blessing same-sex unions and those who are about to start. This would not break the moratorium.

The distinguishing feature of the last option is that it is not “formal”; the fact that what should not happen is happening is immaterial so long as it is happening informally. A secular equivalent would be a loose association of astute crooks committing uncoordinated burglaries, emboldened by the certain knowledge that the informality of their crimes insulates them from prosecution.

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[Canon Kenneth Kearon]… said those who do not share the faith and order of the Anglican Communion should not be making decisions on matters in the Communion. “We’ve asked them to be consultants and we would hope that they would participate in the conversations and discussions,” he added.

Canon Kearon’s announcement looked beyond The Episcopal Church to Canada as well as to the Southern Cone in South America. Canon Kearon has written to Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, to ask whether or not the General Synod or House of Bishops has formally adopted policies authorizing same-sex blessings.

In his presidential address to synod last week, Archbishop Hiltz made it clear that the answer to that question currently is ”˜no.’ However, members of General Synod 2010 are still in the process of discussing the issue of same-sex blessings until the triennial meeting ends Jun. 11.

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Here in Nova Scotia the foundation for theological education were laid. Here ministries were supported by the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG). Here movements reflecting both the evangelical and the anglo-catholic traditions of the Church took firm root. Here Cursillo has grown and blossomed and borne fruit. Here Teens Encounter Christ ministry has had a tremendous impact on the lives of many young people, wetting their appetite for further experiences in faith development and calls to ministry of many kinds. The compassion of the people of Springhill and many other communities throughout the Maritimes in the aftermath of the mining disaster of October 1958 moved people all across the country to respond. And that response which was generous inspired our national church to establish the Primate’s World Relief Fund, now known as PWRDF, and its 50th year of practical witness to the compassion, mercy and justice of God.

Here with others across the country we’ve seen Anglicans in Mission, generating new resources to support the work of the church in the north and overseas. Here in recent years many of you have made a “leap of faith” in support of many new initiatives focused on congregational development, stewardship education, fresh start programs, and leadership development for a variety of ministries among all the baptized.

There is so much for which to be so thankful. We come praying that, after the example of our forbears in the faith, we will be faithful, diligent and generous in our witness to the Gospel.

In the spirit of David’s prayer for the people we pray “that our hearts will be set in God and our lives directed to the doing of God’s will.”

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Not wanting to avoid the tension that exists within the Anglican Communion, [Kenneth] Kearon stressed the importance that, “mission is damaged when Christians disagree and fight.”

Time on the agenda of General Synod 2010 for dialogue on the Anglican Communion Covenant has been allocated for later in the week, to which Kearon noted, “expresses our common heritage of faith in terms of our mission commitments.”

“We live in a complex world which challenges faith to demonstrate its relevance in transformed lives and changed communities,” he concluded. “In close co-operation with our ecumenical partners, the Anglican Communion has put the mission of God a part of all that we do, and I know that the same mission is at the heart of this Anglican Church of Canada.”

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