If she knows anything, Canadian author Jane Urquhart knows the influence of history and the power of place.
Her celebrated novels are shot through with it. She even lives now with her artist husband, Tony, in the 200-year-old house her parents once owned in this Lake Ontario town, between Cobourg and Belleville.
It’s little wonder then that Urquhart became a leading voice of a local group fighting against the controversial deconsecration of Colborne’s historic Trinity Anglican Church….
A sad article on so many levels – most of all, though, that there seems to have been (at least in the mind of the author of the article) any sense that the place should remain open as a witness to the love and power of God in the gospel.
“How they can say that God doesn’t live here anymore is beyond belief.â€
Well, quite. Pretty church, but Toronto Diocese needs to sell it to do some more gay stuff and to bribe the Uruguayans and Africans.
Just like TEC, when you think about it.
Meanwhile it turns out that also in the Diocese of Toronto, Fred Hiltz is busy collecting scalps:
[blockquote]the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, will conduct the marriage service for the Primate of Central Africa, Archbishop Albert Chama, and his childhood friend Ashella Ndhlovu, a resident of Toronto….Seventeen bishops from Africa, Canada, and U.S. met for prayer and discussion[/blockquote]
One trusts that this was a normal wedding rather than one of ACoC’s new ‘pastoral responses wedding services’ they do in Ontario. The residents of Trinity, Colborne will be heartened to know the proceeds of the sale of their church by the ACoC diocese will be put to good use.
Yup, much better to spend the proceeds of selling churches on flying in bishops from Africa for Indaba than doing all that boring Jesus Christ saves stuff.
You do understand that don’t you, Anglican Church of Canada members – your job is to keep the bishops going doing interesting things: flying about with their friends all over the place doing Indaba, ‘Listening’ and writing gay inclusive ‘pastoral responses’ stuff. Your job is just to cough up the dough or if you won’t to clear out of the way so your churches your communities built and donated can be sold off.
I hope the African bishops appreciate the sacrifice the church members have made to enable them to attend to ‘pray and listen’ with their Canadian bishop friends.
Does one detect an air of reckless desperation in the way TEC and ACoC liberal parasites are liquidating assets to finance the huge cost of of their PR campaign with the Global South to change the doctrine of the Anglican Communion, before the money in TEC and ACoC runs out and the host churches collapse? Pathetic end to two great churches, now being ruined and made useless, save to finance special interest group advocates. If you read what TEC is proposing in July a la Ian Douglas that is all they are about.
People from the Global South thinking of taking money from ACoC and TEC, should on no account think about the real cost of that money they will be taking, or hospitality they will be accepting to the Christians who have had their properties sold, their assets appropriated and the trust funds laid down for Christian mission in those countries raided by the bandit bishops who rule these churches.
I have noticed here in England that villagers seem surprised and taken aback that their churches may be closed. There is of course an easy solution to their preservation: attend them.
No 8, we run into that on Reservation churches here in South Dakota. They are not self supporting and many have few if any people attending on a regular basis, but once the bishop talks about closing them, there is a near riot.
Interesting list of attendees from outside North America to Hilz’ SSB “listening sesssion” linked to above
• The Rt. Rev. Johannes Angela, Diocese of Bondo, Kenya
• The Most Rev. Albert Chama, Diocese of Northern Zambia and Primate of Central Africa, Zambia
• The Rt. Rev. Garth Counsell, Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa
• The Rt. Rev. Julius Kalu, Diocese of Mombasa, Kenya
• The Rt. Rev. Sixbert Macumi, Diocese of Buye, Burundi
• The Rt. Rev. Mdimi Mhogolo, Diocese of Central Tanganyika, Tanzania
• The Rt. Rev. Trevor Musonda Mwamba, Diocese of Botswana, Botswana
• The Rt. Rev. David Njovu, Diocese of Lusaka, Zambia
• The Most Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi, Diocese of Matana and Primate of Burundi, Burundi
• The Rt. Rev. Anthony Poggo, Diocese of Kajo Keji, Sudan
• The Rt. Rev. Daniel Sarfo, Diocese of Kumasi, Ghana
• The Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, Diocese of Southern Malawi, Malawi
I would worship at Trinity Church while visiting family. How ironic that on the one hand Bishops of a church that would like to stay open don’t fight till their last breath to keep it alive but close it for lack of financial resources while across the country in Vancouver another member of the Canadian House of Bishop’s was willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight no holds barred to keep Christians at St. John’s from using their building for worship.
Does one detect a common theme in the liberal episcopacy? How pitiful to the advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we have situations in Canada and the US where it is perfectly acceptable for Bishop’s to relinquish to the secular world control of church buildings while depriving Anglican Christians who would like to use the Church the same privilege.
Perhaps if only a fraction of the money spent by the Bishop of New Westminster on legal fees was used to support mission and ministry at Trinity Church in Colborne there might still be two thriving congregations in beautiful Anglican houses of worship instead of none. Clearly Wormwood has been hard at work and no doubt Dear Uncle Screwtape has his pen in hand ready to compose a congratulatory note for devilish jobs well done.
What a wreck the bishops are making of the Church. They stand for their mad ideas and spend their wealth to endorse them, meanwhile chasing out the door the people directly in their care and to whom they should be serving the living Gospel. It all too clearly proves what is important to them and what is not.
It makes one question why the United Chuch has bothered to renew talks with the Anglican’s about union? They need only to wait for the abandoned parish buildings to be boarded up and offer the refugees some coffee and pie at their place of worship.