From the Halifax Daily News:
A Halifax reverend is disappointed the Anglican church continues to shy away from blessing same-sex unions.
Rev. Malachy Egan of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Spryfield said the Anglican church is a den of hypocrisy. “The Anglican church, in my opinion,” he said, “is very much a gay church.”
Last weekend, bishops, clergy and laity of the Anglican Church of Canada gathered in Winnipeg for a General Synod, part of which included a vote on the blessing of same-sex unions within the church.
The allowance of such blessings was lost by two votes, a decision that will not be revisited for another three years.
I always gag when I hear some member of the clergy say that all the morals of the Bible and Tradition should be flushed down the toilet because certain people deserve “pastoral care” as Malachy Egan opined. But at the heart of genuine pastoral care should be Christian Truth–and blessing unions that are made for the purpose of justifying acts that are as sinful as adultery or fornication is not “pastoral care,” but doing what St. Paul called “tickling people’s ears.”
How sad, I believe this is the first time I’ve seen/heard this said as a
real opinion. If this had been a statement of a reappraiser, all heck would break loose.
“”The Anglican church, in my opinion,” he said, “is very much a gay church.”
Good Lord deliver us…..
In North America the general public very much sees the Anglican/Episcopal Church as “that gay church.” Sad but true.
Rev. Egan’s charge that the Anglican church is a den of hyprocacy/ a gay church, I find interesting but beside the point. In my view, one must put faith in scripture and in the teaching that comes out of it. However hypocritical or sinful the behavior of the laity and the bishops, the constancy of scriptural message is what really counts. Once that begins to degrade, as it has done in TEC, it’s time to run.
[i]”The Anglican church, in my opinion,” he said, “is very much a gay church.”[/i]
I always thought the Church was supposed to be the Body of Christ.
Professor, I currently cringe when people ask me what church I go to. I was at an graduation banquet last night and was speaking to a Baptist pastor. I had to sheepishly admit that I went to an Episcopal church and apologize after I got the normal pregnant pause. I needed to confess, that yes, I was a Christian and not all in the church are gay or have spit on the Scripture in the name of homosexual “pastoral care”.
Given the community’s preconceived notions, it is hard to ask anyone to one’s church except for the militant homosexuals, most of whom aren’t really interested in attending a church of any flavor.
RR,
>>I had to sheepishly admit ….
That’s fixable, you know. I have found that most Christians who are attuned to what other denominations are doing understand the distinction when you say you are “an Anglican, not (or formally) an Episcopalian.” Being able to mention your non-TEC church, or at the very minimum an ACN TEC parish, usually results in a big smile, and something to the effect of “Well done, brother/sister!.”
APB
What I like about this posting (apart of course from the sentiment) is the guy’s name: Malachy Egan. That means that he is descended from Irish RCs. Yet here he is in the Episcopal Church of Canada, advocating gay blessings. He and his family have come a long way. But it’s a tribute also to the great inclusiveness of Anglicanism. Makes me proud.
I would put it differently. Egan’s family-considering the issue at hand- has fallen a long way rather than “come a long way.” Hopefully, with the Episcopal Church earning for itself the name (apparently even among its own members) “THE Gay Church,” men whose proclivity is in that direction will become Episcopalian priests (as former Gov. McGreevy is reported to become) not Catholic priests. For the Great Scandal in the Catholic Church was not caused by “pedophile” priests, but by
men tempted to the sin of comitting homosexual acts. However, because the MSM is so protective and defensive on Gay issues few people realize the problem in the Catholic Church was a homosexual problem and not a pedophile problem. The MSM deftly ignored the statistics revealed by the survey done by the respected John Jay School of Criminal Justice.
[blockquote] “The Anglican church, in my opinion,” he said, “is very much a gay church.”[/blockquote]
Correct, because it has the intellectual cachet and aesthetics of a sacramental Church and will agree to validate their deviancy. So the Episcopal Church will go the way of the Broadway musical: a ghetto for women and homosexuals that is perceived as a stigma by heterosexual men. TEC knows this, and they also know that it is heterosexual men who are writing the tithe checks. That’s why TEC is fighting for assets that can be liquidated to make up for departing families.
John Scholasticus: For the record, the Rev. Mr Egan is not a priest of the Anglican (Episcopal) Church of Canada, and was not a part of any church scene in Halifax when I lived there for 19 years. A web search reveals that the Church of St Mary Magdalene is connected with a group that calls itself “Abba Ministries of Canadaâ€, of which the aforementioned Mr Egan is the “national pastorâ€. My guess is that he is somewhere on the lunatic fringe, which may be why the press are quoting him with such authority.
Father Egan is right.