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….
Well gee, I thought that those pews would just be filled to bursting with all the new GLBT and GLAD folks coming in since the heresy…er…prophetic vision of rainbow inclusion beat out orthodoxy. Imagine that!
Yeah…..just like it was supposed to happen in New Hampshire, isn’t it?
This parish has not signed on to the “New Thing,” mentality.
The priest in charge is a long time member of Anglican Essentials and
it is a beautiful church in a good location, but in the current day and age, Halifax is highly saturated with Anglican churches, most with small congregations.
In fact, for a large Canadian city, Halifax has a large number of solidly orthodox parishes:
Trinity, Fairview is associated with the Network but has so far remained in the ACoC.
S. George’s, Round Church is a Prayerbook Catholic parish.
King’s College Chapel is a more advanced Anglo-Catholic parish, again solidly Prayerbook.
S. Paul’s is the oldest Anglican parish in the country, and another evangelical Prayerbook parish.
#3 Thank you for the insight, however I fear that the “brand is tarnished” despite the faithfulness of those that remain. I could be wrong. How are the Evangelical churches doing? Charismatics?
Trinity, Fairview, as far as I know is a is a traditional North Ending, surplice and tippet type of place.
S. Paul’s is more modern evangelical, with a catholic leaning rector. Not charismatic as far is I can remember.
There is even an Anglican Catholic Church of Canada pro-cathedral in the city, though it does not appear to have a large congregation, but the Bishop assured me, they usually have a congregation of 60.
Statistically, in the TEClub, the parishes doing the worst are the conservative ones in a liberal diocese. This probably translates to the great white north.