Archdeacon Michael Bird, 49, a married father of three whose interests include curling and playing the bagpipes, on June 2 was elected bishop of the diocese of Niagara.

He was elected on the fifth ballot at an episcopal election synod held at Christ’s Church Cathedral in Hamilton, Ont., the diocese’s see city. On the final ballot, he received 71 out of 110 clergy votes and 149 out of 243 lay votes, according to synod officials. The election lasted four hours and started with a slate of 12 candidates.

Bishop-elect Bird’s consecration as new bishop has been set for Sept. 30. He will succeed Bishop Ralph Spence, who has announced he intends to retire at the end of February, 2008.

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The Right Rev. Ralph Spence may be poised to step down from his post as spiritual head of the Diocese of Niagara but his influence remains strong here at home and across the Anglican Church of Canada.

Spence, who will play a key role at the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference in England next year, is one of two Canadian bishops behind a contentious pastoral letter from Canada’s Anglican bishops on same-sex blessings.

Released shortly after Canadian bishops met with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at a Niagara Falls retreat house in late April, the letter has drawn howls of protest from both sides in the 20-year-old debate on the legitimacy of blessing same-sex unions.

“We found that a lot of people in the middle really liked what we did and people at either extreme didn’t,” Spence said of the letter he penned with the Right Rev. Patrick Yu, suffragan bishop of Toronto.

“I think that in itself says we’re marching down the right road in trying to get people to speak to each other,” Spence said yesterday.

Read it all and there is more here.

The last groundbreaking for Iqaluit’s igloo-shaped St. Jude’s Anglican Cathedral drew Queen Elizabeth II and Sunday’s ceremony to launch its rebuilding was only slightly less illustrious.
On a gravelly dirt patch beside the Nunavut capital’s elementary school, hundreds of people formed a circle inside the perimeter of a bright yellow string where the walls will eventually go up.

Inuit and non-Inuit, usually divided for English and Inuktitut services, combined to sing hymns and read prayers in two languages.
“We are starting something bigger than a physical building, and that’s housing the spirit of God,” said Andrew Atagotaaluk, bishop of the Arctic diocese.
Premier Paul Okalik was invited to turn the sod, but was called away to Ottawa at the last minute. Many in Iqaluit thought it fitting that retired bishop Paul Idlout took the shovel instead. As he did so, the sun broke though the clouds.

It’s been a year and a half since fire destroyed Iqaluit’s only cathedral. On November 6, 2005, parishioners arrived for church, only to find yellow police tape around the door.

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The majority of the Anglican Diocese of B.C. representatives are in favour of the church blessing same-sex marriages, and have urged their delegates to the national conference that will decide the issue to approve the controversial topic which is splitting the church.

A survey of delegates today at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria comes at a sensitive time in the Anglican church worldwide. Schisms have developed between countries with large Anglican populations over whether the church should bless same-sex marriages.

One hundred and two delegates at a special session for representatives from Vancouver Island and Gulf Island churches said they are in favour of same-sex unions being blessed. They want the issue dealt with in Winnipeg June 19-25 at the national synod, an assembly of church leaders or delegates that discusses and decides upon church affairs.

“It’s clear the church is moving forward,” said Rev. Peter Elliott, a keynote speaker at the meeting here and the highest-ranking openly gay cleric in the Anglican Church of Canada.

“The Anglican Church is a big tent. We love and celebrate diversity, and people have the freedom of expressing their convictions.”

The 102 people who voted in favour of same-sex marriages being blessed and wanted the issue dealt with at the synod represented 51.7 per cent of the delegates.

Another 27 people voted in favour of same-sex unions being blessed, but thought the issue should wait.

A total of 45 people said they should never be blessed, and 19 delegates were unsure.

The survey was taken so the 10 delegates representing the area at the national conference would know local thought on the issue.

“It is useful for us to know the mindset of the synod delegates as a whole,” said Martin Henry, one of the delegates.

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“We simply don’t know,” said Archdeacon Paul Feheley, principal secretary to the church’s national leader, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison.

Even the head of a group that opposes same-sex blessings is taking nothing for granted, despite a May bishops’ statement that essentially rejected same-sex blessings.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Rev. Canon Charlie Masters, national director of Anglican Essentials. “The Anglican Church of Canada is at a crossroads.”

Delegates will be voting on a motion that would leave it to each diocese to decide whether priests will bless same-sex couples. Of Canada’s 30 dioceses, only the British Columbia diocese of New Westminster allows the practice.

“Both sides have their teeth into the bone and they’re not prepared to give it up,” said Chris Ambidge, president of Integrity Canada, an advocacy group for gay and lesbian Anglicans.

“As a gay man, I want a place in my own church and I don’t want to be downgraded to second- or third-class Christianity.”

Even if the motion passes, Ambidge pointed out that individual priests couldn’t be forced to comply.

“Every clergyman, in the Anglican Church anyway, always has the option of saying ‘no.’ If you really, really don’t like remarrying divorced people, and for that you can make a strong argument out of scripture, then Rev. Joe Blogs can say ‘no,’ ” Ambidge said.

“If this were to pass, it would never be the case of people being forced to marry people if they felt this were the wrong thing.”

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The Covenant process is, in practice, by-passing these questions, acting on the implicit assumption that we already have the answers ”“ that they are known and must be obeyed; so all we need to do is to set up the slow inexorable process of exclusion of those who question the traditional understanding of the answers. The Primates are demanding that ECUSA give assurances that they will cease giving any sanction to practices which go against Resolution 1.10 (Lambeth 1998) (Note 3), and the Archbishop of Canterbury in his letter to the Primates (5thMar 07) refers again to this requirement.

What has happened to the vital consideration of issues raised in the Windsor Report concerning ”˜essentials and non-essentials’ (”˜adiaphora’) ”“ core doctrines as opposed to other teaching? (Windsor paras 36f, 49, 87f). All this is in practice being put to one side. Why are we not, as a Communion seeking to find common ground regarding methods and principles of biblical interpretation, which are common to those involved in biblical scholarship across denominational boundaries? Or at very least clarify where we differ in regard to our hermeneutical criteria? Instead we are avoiding these crucial matters.

4) Covenant Design sets up procedures for exclusion
This is no exaggeration, because it must be known that ECUSA and the Canadian Province cannot be expected to ”˜back down’ from the convictions that they have come to over decades, in their understanding, in good faith, of how the Holy Spirit has led them in seeking answers to the above two fundamental questions. Yet Section 6 of the Draft Covenant makes clear provision for their exclusion if they fail to ”˜fall in line’: note the injunction “to heedthe counsel of the Instruments of Communion (para 4) and the reference to the Primates as giving direction (para 5.3). But far more specific is para 6, of this section: “where member churches choose not to fulfil the substance of the covenant as understood by the Councils of the Instruments of Communion, we will consider that such churches will have relinquished for themselves the force and meaning of the covenant’s purpose, and a process of restoration and renewal will be required to re-establish their covenant relationship with other member churches.” To what else can this possibly refer, but to excluding Provinces which believe they are called to affirm committed same-sex partnerships? And yet this is being proposed while avoiding any further rigorous theological and hermeneutical debate on the matter, let alone a serious listening to our gay brothers and sisters in the Communion who long to be affirmed in their committed partnerships.

5) The Communion needs to acknowledge the reality of a re-assessment of certain teachings
Concerning the two crucial questions which connect us all in this wrestling debate, there are two realities: there is the reality of the traditional teaching which the majority still hold to, and there is the reality of a reassessment of the traditional teaching which many believe to be prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is these realities which need to be respected. It is the challenge of the above two questions which need to be addressed. How can the Communion set in motion what is in practice a ”˜process of exclusion’ when the theological and hermeneutical questions are at best being shelved, if not being deliberately avoided.

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Updated with some great links re: Canada’s upcoming General Synod (June 19-25)
The guy who taught many of us Anglican bloggers (and upstart elves) all we know about blogging is back online following the recent death of his mother, Susan Jane. Good to have you back, Binks! Check out his latest Anglican Carnival post. You may THINK you’ve seen all the Anglican news and links on other blogs, but we guarantee that Binks will have some you missed! 😉

Oh, and Binks sharpened up the commentary pen too: he’s got lots to say about recent Anglican goings-on in Canada.

UPDATE: well, when Binky’s on a roll, he’s on a roll…! All of the above, and now a big round up of all the Pre-General Synod News from Canada

The other site to go to for Canadian General Synod news (especially live during Synod) is here, the Anglican Essentials Synod Live blog site.

And rounding up the links re: Canada’s General Synod (June 19 – 25): the Lent & Beyond team have been posting daily prayers for Canada of late.

[The] Rev. Stephen London is troubled that the Anglican Church of Canada may approve a resolution next month allowing for same-sex blessings.

London stressed that his opposition to a so-called “local option” resolution — allowing each diocese to decide for itself on the issue — is based on his concerns that it will lead to a split within the worldwide Anglican Communion.

“Most of the rest of the Communion has made its mind clear that this is an issue that goes to the heart of our bond together.

“And if it passes, it will break that bond eventually,” said London, who is rector at St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church in northeast Edmonton.

“It might not be the next day, but probably at the most within a year or two.”

London’s warning was sounded at a local forum to discuss the consequences — nationally and internationally — should the Canadian church approve same-sex blessings.

The forum, and a series of public consultations, are being held throughout the Diocese of Edmonton in the weeks leading up to the church’s General Synod in Winnipeg.

The final consultation will be held at Holy Trinity Anglican Church June 2.

The local option resolution is one of five related to the same-sex issue slated to go before the General Synod in Winnipeg from June 19 to 25.

London is an elected delegate to General Synod, the church’s highest governing body, which meets every three years. He’ll be among about 350 delegates representing bishops, clergy and lay people.

[The] Rev. Dan Ash is also concerned about the upcoming synod, although in his case, he believes greater harm will be done if the church fails to act. Ash favours the church saying “yes” to same-sex blessings.

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Eileen MacKenzie busily polished brass and silver “to make it sparkle a bit” at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church on Saturday.

It helped her and several other congregation members keep their minds off the fact that the church will close its doors today after more than 50 years due to dwindling attendance.

“It probably won’t hit us, the real sadness, until tomorrow when we’re going up to communion for the last time,” said Ms. MacKenzie, who has attended the church since it was built in this Pictou County town in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Anglicans have been worshipping in Trenton since at least the turn of the century at various locations. The existing building’s cornerstone was dedicated in 1949.

Ms. MacKenzie can remember a time when many of the pews were filled each Sunday, compared with an average of 15 who have attended weekly services in recent years.

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Asked whether the Archbishop of Canterbury ever considered not inviting Bishop Ingham, Mr. Kearon said, “no, it was never considered.”

Bishop Ingham, in a telephone interview, said Bishop Robinson should be invited. “If the archbishop wants to keep everyone at the table, then everyone should be invited. The unfortunate message this sends is that schismatic bishops and primates are welcome but openly gay bishops aren’t.”

Bishop Ingham also said he was surprised that the Lambeth invitations came out before the Canadian church’s General Synod in June, which will consider the issue of same-sex blessings, and before Archbishop Williams’ scheduled meeting with American bishops in September. “He’ll get a very warm welcome there,” he said, wryly.

Mr. Kearon also clarified that the Archbishop of Canterbury did not consider inviting Martyn Minns, the breakaway priest from the Episcopal Church who was recently consecrated bishop and head of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America CANA) by the primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Peter Akinola.

“He (Minns) wasn’t even being considered. He wasn’t eligible to be considered,” he said. “The principle in which he’s not being considered is because the Archbishop has decided that CANA and AMiA (another breakaway group called the Anglican Mission in America) are the same class.” He noted that at the time that AMiA consecrations took place in 2000, then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey said that “he couldn’t accept them as regular consecrations; that he would not regard himself as being in communion with the bishops concerned, and the primates agreed to that. The two bodies are in the same position.”

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Although disappointed that the Archbishop of Canterbury has decided to withhold an invitation to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Bishops from the only openly gay bishop in the Anglican Communion, members of Integrity Canada are relieved the invitations come before the June meeting of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada at which resolutions about homosexuality will be discussed.

“This certainly takes some of the pressure off the Canadian Church,” said Steve Schuh, president of Integrity Vancouver. “We’ve been threatened for years with the possibility that Canadian bishops might not receive invitations to Lambeth if the Canadian Church failed to uphold the traditional discrimination against gay and lesbian people. The invitation announcement suggests that supporting same-sex unions ”“ as has been done in Vancouver and many dioceses in the U.S. ”“ is no bar to making the Lambeth Conference guest list.”

“Delegates will still need to stand up against other bullying tactics and calls for delay if they want to allow parishes to bless covenanted same-sex unions,” Schuh added, “but now General Synod delegates can discuss same-sex unions and vote their conscience without the threat of exclusion from Lambeth hanging over their heads.”

Chris Ambidge, convener of Integrity Toronto, commented on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s snub of Bishop Gene Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, saying, “It’s shameful that an Anglican leader is willing to sacrifice gay and lesbian people to appease the most strident conservative voices. The Lambeth Conference will certainly be talking about gay people in the church, and yet the Archbishop is deliberately excluding the only gay voice.”

“Again, they’re talking about us, not with us,” he said. “Canadian Anglicans must oppose this.”