Caledonia Times October-November 2012 issue

Caledonia Times

October–November 2012 Edition The Diocesan Section of the Anglican Journal

The Diocese gathers for triennial Synod at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Prince Rupert

Above: Archdeacon Ernest Buchanan of St.Matthew’s, Terrace, addresses the Synod during debate on a motion to reaffirming the principles of the Solemn Declaration which was made by the first Synod of Caledonia when the Diocese was created in the late 1870’s.

Synod takes place at the historic Cathedral for the first time in Episcopacy of Bishop Anderson

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N SEPT. 14th diocesan clergy and lay delegates from across the Diocese of Caledonia converged for the gathering of Synod. It was the first triennial (three year) session of Diocesan Synod, having last met in Terrace in the Spring of 2009. The Synod began with the Dean celebrating a Sung Eucharist from the Book of Common Prayer (1962) while the Bishop preached a sermon based on the Synod’s theme of “Faith’s Hope” taken from Hebrews 11.1.

After a self-catered supper, delegates used the evening to begin the business part of the gathering.

The Credentials Committee reported that there was enough licensed clergy and lay delegates present that the meeting of Synod could begin. The First order of business was to elect honourary secretaries, one from the clergy and the other from the house of laity, to take the minutes of the Synod. The Rev. Luke Anker of Kitimat and Mr. Ken Ponsford of Fraser Lake were chosen again for these duties. Then there were nominations to fill the various little committees that are active only during a Synod, for resolutions, for thanks, scrutineers, and so on.

New Secretary-Treasurer Following this, The Bishop introduced to the new Secretary-Treasurer, Mrs. Michelle Tanguay, to the

Synod. After presenting her credentials, the Synod

The Honourary Secretaries, Fr. Luke Anker of Kitimat and Ken Ponsford of Fraser Lake look over their notes during a stop in the Syond’s work. was asked by the Bishop to confirm her as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Diocese. Michelle is married and has two young children. She has just graduated from a Business Administration course and she began with the Synod Office this summer. She came on board with the Diocese after the resignation this past spring of Ms. Debby Shaw who had been with the Diocese for 15 years. The Synod unanimously supported the appointment of Mrs. Tanguay.

An opportunity to present memorials and corre spondence to the Synod came next. Greetings were sent down the hill to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, where Bishop Greg Mohr and the clergy of the Northern British Columbia Conference of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada were meeting. Bishop Mohr and a small group of folks from The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada came and joined the Eucharist that had taken place earlier in the day. After some housekeeping matters and a look at some general rules of order, the session was adjourned.

Saturday began with Archdeacon Buchanan leading an abbreviated form of Morning Prayer and then the Bishop delivered the customary “Charge”.

A charge is akin to a speech from the throne in Canadian parliamentary procedures or a State of the Union address in the United States. The Bishop outlined what he saw as being important in the life of the Diocese. Bishop Anderson noted that there are four major areas right now that are all important to the life of the Diocese and they are very much all inter-related: (1) proposed changes asked for by the Diocese of Toronto to the national marriage canon to allow for same sex couples to marry, (2) governance reform of the provinces and the National Church; (3) the Anglican Covenant as a way of identifying who is Anglican and who is a part of the Anglican Communion and how we as a Communion find a way to be together and to handle disputes when they arise, and (4) the Diocesan budget and the effects of the coming cuts to our block grant from the National Church. He See “Synod Recap” on p.5

Bishop’s Notes: Bishop William Anderson

Truth without fear Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.”

— John 14.6

The Bishop’s Fall Schedule

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N ALL LIKELIHOOD, if Jesus stood up in one of our churches this Sunday and made this claim, he would be dismissed as either a crackpot, or an intolerant bigot. Ours is a culture that, especially in matters of religion, prefers to think of ‘multiple truths’ and ‘situational truths’. Ours is also a culture where we prefer to confuse truth with feeling. ‘If I feel something, it must be true.’

This is, of course, literally a nonsensical approach to truth, for it reduces truth to anything at all that anyone wishes to believe.

When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,’ it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’

‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’

(Through the Looking-Glass – Chapter Six) Shying away from what Jesus says is something that can be seen as much within our church communities as in the larger community. We have no difficulty reading something like the passage above from John’s Gospel in the context of a liturgy. The trouble begins when we have to either live by it, or explain it to someone. We don’t, after all, wish to sound intolerant of other viewpoints, or hurt anyone’s feelings. And we may not be sure how much we wish to be perceived by others as being too religious.

Consequently, we become rather like Humpty Dumpty – we try to make the words mean something other than what they appear to say at face value.

Why is this a problem worth mentioning? One reason is that if truth is possible, then logically untruth or falsehood is also possible. This takes us then into the whole problem of how to discern truth from falsehood. Ironically, those who object most strenuously to the idea of trying to discern the truth from falsehood are often the most dogmatic in asserting that they have a hold of the truth in a way that others do not.

The assumption frequently made is that believ-

The Ordination of the Rev. Gwen Andrews to the sacred priesthood, October 18th, 2012 at Holy Trinity, Vanderhoof.

National House of Bishops, October 25th to 27th Toronto, ON. ing in religious truths is equivalent to intolerance, bigotry and violence. Aware of this tendency, we often are more comfortable hiding our light under a bushel than being seen as religious. And yet, as religion has been disparaged and fallen out of favour, and as secular programs have increased which aim to eliminate discrimination and intolerance, abortions, and increased levels of violence involving children.

Increasingly parents are viewed as being incapable of teaching the “right” values to their children, and so school programs are developed in order to ensure that the ‘right’ values are taught, and parents sidelined.

Cheating is increasingly acceptable (as long as you are not caught) and we shrug when politicians lie or deceive in their quest for political power.

But our vocation as Christians demands more of us than simply giving in to these trends. One of the best examples of how absolute belief in a truth can be translated into action and also be loving and nonviolent is the life of Jesus Himself. Jesus does not shy away from those who disagree with Him. He engages with them gently and respectfully – but He never backs away from inviting those same sinners to repent and to follow holy lives.

We need not apologize for our faith. Nor do we need to shy away from proclaiming the great truths of our faith. All we need do is speak intelligently, respectfully and compassionately about our faith. +William: Caledonia

Diocesan Appointments and Elections The Bishop would like to announce the following elections and appointments: • Diocesan Exectuive Commiteee: Ex-officio: Bishop William Anderson, Chair; The Very Rev. Jason Haggstrom, Dean; The Ven. Ernest Buchanan Archdeacon, Caledonia West; Mrs. Michelle Tanguay, Secretary/Treasurer; Mrs. Desiree Read, Registrar. ELECTED: Reverend Roy Andrews Vanderhoof, Reverend Luke Anker, Kitimat; Mr. Ken Ponsford Fraser Lake; Louise Peters, Smithers; Elizabeth Hunt, Dawson Creek; Gerald Robinson, Aiyansh; Chris Broad, ACW President, Ms. Deborah O’Leary, Chancellor.

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• Mrs. Michelle Tangauy has been appointed by the Diocesan Synod as Secretary-Treasurer of the Diocese at Diocesan Synod in Prince Rupert, September 15th, 2012.

• The Rev. Timothy Johnson as Incumbent to the Parish of the South Peace, effective October, 2012. Mr. Johnson comes to us from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.

• Mr. Joshua Haggstrom, of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Prince Rupert as the Youth Member for General Synod in July, 2013.

The Ordination of Mr. Robert Teeple to the sacred order of Deacons (transitional) in the Parish of the North Peace (Fort St. John), November 15th, 2012@7pm.

Diocesan Exectuive Committee, November 23rd, 2012, in Terrace St. Andrew’s Cathedral Prince Rupert, November 25th for Patronal Festival Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, St. Andrew’s Cathedral, December 24th and 25th.

Caledonia Times Publication of the Anglican Diocese of Caledonia Editor: The Dean of Caledonia Published monthly, except July and August by: Diocese of Caledonia, 200 – 4th Avenue West Prince Rupert, BC V8J 1P3 (250) 627-1143 or (250) 600-7143 Address correspondence and copy to the address above.

Or to caledoniatimes@gmail.com Submissions must be received by the 10th month for the following month’s issue.

Send subscription orders, address changes Diocese of Caledonia c/o Anglican Journal 80 Hayden St. Toronto, Ontario M4Y 3G2 Printed and mailed by: Webnews Printing Inc. North York, Ontario

Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition

Skypilot Moments: A thought or two from the Editor

It’s time for mission not epitaphs.

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HERE WAS A headline that caught my eye on the front of the last Anglican Journal. It was a statement that the Bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand made about her Cathedral and what has happened to her diocese in the months since a devastating earthquake rocked Christchurch rendering so many buildings unusable. In the parish where I first served as a priest, three church buildings in a parish of seven congregations were closed and sold or given to private interests, just a month prior to my arrival. In the five years that I served the congregation, we had to learn to be a smaller Church and a more effective community. Over the years, there were changes, buildings have been sold others have been through generousity and grace renewed. More important though was the growth of people and their faith. We started to grow, both in numbers and in being community.

What was the difference? Why did we grow?

Simply, we claimed ownership and stewardship of our local mission. The focus of all the work on remaining church communities was primarily on the community; on the people rather than on the buildings. We learned to pray as a community and we took the time to study the scriptures together. We had to learn to genuinely seek out Christ in our neighbours and to think of others ahead of ourselves. We did this

because we discovered that in most cases what we had was not a financial problem but rather a spiritual predicament. We had been trying to husband very small fires which around which only a few could gather rather than lighting and carrying torches to go and find those who are sick, broken, in need and the dying both physically and spiritually. And in the process of lighting the way for others to come into our communities, we found some light for ourselves too.

How do we build our Church communities across this vast diocese? We draw people in by sharing with them ourselves and our lives. We need to focus

Synod Keynote Speaker: The Rev. Dr. Ephriam Radner

“We are a forgetting people”

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UR SYNOD PRESENTER this year was the Rev. Ephriam Radner. He currently serves as the Professor of Historical Theology at Wycliffe College in Toronto, ON. Dr. Radner has an AB Degree from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from Yale. Prior to his appointment as Professor of Historical Theology, Rev. Dr. Radner, was rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Pueblo, Colorado, His range of ministerial experience includes Burundi, where he worked as a missionary, Haiti, inner-city Cleveland, and Connecticut. He has taught at seminaries in Connecticut and Colorado. In the Anglican Communion context he is a member of the Covenant Design Group. He is a violinist, hiker, and traveler. He is married to the Rev. Annette Brownlee, and they are the parents of Hannah and Isaac.

Dr. Radner’s presentation was concerning the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Covenant that has been in process for a few years now. Dr. Radner was a member of the Covenant Design Team at the request of Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury. Dr. Radner was asked by Bishop Anderson to help the Synod to understand the nature of the Communion and to begin to understand why there is and needs to be a covenant amongst the member churches of the Anglican Communion. The presentation could be broken down into three basic themes: (1) what is happening in other parts of the Anglican world/Communion, (2) What is the nature

The Rev. Dr. Ephriam Radner, Professor of Historical Theology at Wycliffe College. of Communion as understood through the Incarnation, and (3) what does the Covenant look like and what is in it.

Dr. Radner told the Synod that, “We are a forgetting people.” He outlined both from Scripture and from current situations how we are people have forgotten God. Every time the people of God, from the ancient Israelites to the Confessing Churches of the 20th Century in Nazi Germany, the churches in Civil War in Burundi in the 1980’s and in Rwanda in 1994 have forgotten who God is, have been

Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition

on reaching people and caring for them. People are not going to care about fine sounding vision and mission statements. The world around us is waiting to see if God is still here and present in his Church and if God and his Church still care enough to do the deed and speak the word that needs to be spoken. We need to find new ways of being who we really are through rediscovering our enthusiasm for mission, to seek out the least, the last and the lost of our world and draw them in. In doing so we build for the time when there will be no buildings to worship in. The Church – the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church – is here because God has made it so. We, in turn, are here for the world because God vis here for this world and to participate in it. Or as retired bishop and theologian N.T. Wright might put it, “Heaven is important, but it’s not the end of the world.” We are called and drawn to help others be ready for the new city, the new life and the world that is about to come.

It is time to think mission and and to do ministy and evangelism; not to build monuments or write our own epitaphs.

Jason Haggstrom+ Editor, Caledonia Times.

involved in war and almost unspeakable horror and tragedy. Dr. Radner also spoke of a number of missionaries around the world, in different places with different people, who in their lifetimes were not successful in seeing people converted to Christ. The way in which Christian communities were formed was by the way the missionaries died, in defense of their communities by outside forces that would move in to try and disrupt and destroy the community. Dr. Radner noted, “The world has become a collection of distractions. These distractions are leading to the breakdown and destruction of human society.” He then further challenged the Synod by asking a simple question, “How can we be faithful?

There is no need to be counter cultural. To be different from our society and our age, all we need do is stand still... if we do not swim upstream, are we as a people, as a community worth knowing?”

So there is a real need for the Church and for the world to remember who God is. How do we do that? Dr. Radner’s suggestion is again simple and straight forward: the Church needs to preach a simple message and to make that message about the Incarnation. In other words, we need to tell people that God has come and continues to come to each of us and to all of us. Because we are a forgetting people, God has come to us. It was pointed out to the Synod that this is the meaning of katabasis. Jesus came and emptied himself; he lived and died as one of us and God raised him from the dead. And Jesus came to lift all of us up to the Father (anabasis). Part and parcel of purpose of Communion is to help us to find our places and spaces of ministry so that we can participate both in Communion and in the lifting up to God. the Synod that “because Jesus came down here, he has come down everywhere.”

See Radner on p.6

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Diocesan Life in Photos: We love the place , O God! Repaint! Repaint!

Members of the congregation of St. Wilfred’s, Church Fraser Lake gathered together this summer to spruce up the church buidling by repainting the outside of the buidling. Top: Gill Kopy, Middle left: Ken Ponsford; Middle right: Jim Reid; Bottom: Charlie Gill in the bucket outside St. Wilfred’s Church (Photo credits to the Rev. Gwen Andrews)

There’s a Lovely old Lady at the Cathedral!

For the fist time in 20 years, the Cathedral’s pipe organ received some much needed attention. When the organ specialist saw the organ, a 2 manual 1926 Casavant from Casavant Freres Ltee in St. Hyacinthe, PQ., Marianne Huestis commented “What a lovely old lady!

Mrs. Nova Haggstrom and Diocesan Archvist Cliff Armstrong (pictured at right) join the dynamic musical duo for lunch. The Archvies has been able to obtain a complete history of the organ through Mrs. Huestis, something that the parish has not had before. (Photo credits: Doreen Ridsdale)

Keeping up the Chapel Some of this year’s campers await the start of morning devotion by cleaning up the chapel.

Hanging out in the “Hut” with one of the Counselors, and playing on the drums.

The drums were placed in the nurse’s hut to give a place to play and to hang out.

Camp Kitchen Staff and Volunteers pause for a moment to have their picture taken and a laugh as they prepare on of the last meals of the season.

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Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition

Synod Recap Continued from Page 1 noted that all four of these issues have their impacts each other and on the life of the diocese and the parishes.

Same-sex relations In speaking about the ongoing debate over same sex relations, Bishop Anderson noted that what was once expressed as a desire to have a same sex relationship blessed is now emerging into a possible change in the definition of marriage.

The Bishop pointed out that there are bishops and dioceses in Canada that are not waiting for the decision of General Synod and have gone ahead and changed local doctrine are also ordaining clergy who are in same sex relationships or marriages and appointing them to parishes and positions of authority without the approval of the General Synod and to the objections of the wider Anglican Communion and the rest of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Bishop Anderson told the Synod that, “one of the most important lessons we need to take from this is that this is simply is no longer possible for us to assume a position of splendid isolationism, believing that we can do what we wish locally without there being far wider consequences. The converse is also true – what happens at the international and national levels is having a direct impact on our local experience.”

Members of the Synod listen to the afternoon debates around different issues.

The Solemn Declaration Out of the process, there was a motion made to reaffirm the Solemn Declaration, to reaffirm the Diocese’s commitment to the Scriptures as the Word of God, to recommit ourselves to the proclamation of the Gospel and to reaffirm our commitment to the Anglican Church of Canada’s canons with the proviso that the Diocese will not consent to participate in anything that would cause the Diocese to cease being a part of the “Church catholic”. When the motion was put to the Synod for a vote, there was a vote by orders (clergy and laity voting in separate groups) and the vote passed in both orders.

The Anglican Covenant Regarding the Anglican Covenant, the Bishop reminded the Synod that he has emphasized the importance of the Windsor Report and the Windsor Process which resulted in the Anglican Covenant. “This has been more than just about the issues around same sex blessings, it is about authority; it is about how we live a common life; it is about how we make decisions as Anglicans... How do we recognize something that is legitimately Anglican when we travel outside our own parish, given the multitude of liturgies, creeds and belief systems that are emerging?... The Anglican Covenant is an attempt to work these things out,” says the Bishop.

The Bishop then turned to addressing the issue of governance reform. Because there is less and less money to run the structures of the Church, money that must come from the parishes to the dioceses, and from the dioceses to the National Church, there is a great desire to find ways to do things differently, more cheaply. He told the Synod that data collected from the denominations in North America shows that, over the past few decades, membership and revenue has declined most rapidly in those churches that have adopted the “new Christianity of the postmodern age.” Bishop Anderson surveyed the Council of the North and explained that because there is an ever decreasing amount of money, there is a renewed vigor around accounting for the money that is given to a Diocese. We now have to apply for our diocesan portion of the National grant and show why we need it and how we have spent it. There are dioceses in the rest of Canada that are nearly bankrupt and will cease operations in the next couple of years. Bishop Anderson also told the Synod that as he arrived in Prince Rupert for Synod, that our block grant will be cut for next year by about eleven per cent, twice what was originally anticipated and hoped for. There is a five per cent cut right across the board for every diocese in the Council of the North in each of the next five years and possibly further into the future.

The Budget Finally, the Budget was addressed in the light of the cut that is about to take place in our Council

Financial life of the Diocese

The Rev. Katherine Lewis of Christ the King, Port Edward waits for Synod to resume after a nutrition break to refuel with tea, coffee and cookies.

of the North Block Grant. Bishop Anderson noted that if there is a change in the canon on marriage, the parishes will continue to lose members and revenue. Even if there is no official change in canon or doctrine, the ongoing changes and process in the more southerly, more urban dioceses in their local doctrine and liturgy will be reported and that will cause people to leave parishes in Caledonia. When this is added to the falling revenue to the National Church, which is been drastically falling since 2000 and the local shortfalls in Diocesan Fair Share paid to the Diocese, mean that the limited reserves of the Diocese will soon be exhausted.

The Bishop then put some questions to the Synod delegates about reaffirming our Solemn Declaration, which are the principles upon which the Diocese was founded and asked the delegates to consider reaffirming our mission and stance on the Scriptures as the word of God.

Dr. Radner’s Presentation After a break, the Synod was treated to a presentation by the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, professor of Historical Theology at Wycliffe College. (A recount of his presentation can be found on page 3.)

The afternoon was then given to discussions concerning both the Bishop’s Charge and the presentation by Dr. Radner. Synod delegates reflected on what they heard with each other both in small self selected groups and then a plenary session of the whole Synod. The debate was both thoughtful and lively as people talked about everything they had heard through the morning.

Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition

Following this, there was time to consider the financial life of the Diocese. The Rev. Gwen Andrews, Chair of the Diocesan Finance Committee, led the delegates through the financial statements, fielding questions and helping people to understand what the numbers meant. Of most import, it was made known that parishes need to work harder at making sure they meet their financial commitments.

Parish giving to the Diocese is crucial in the light of an eleven per cent cut to the National block grant from the Council of the North for next year and at least five per cent more in both 2014 and 2015. Cuts are going to have a significant impact on how much grant money there will be for parishes to apply for clergy stipends The total of the cuts for the next three years is thought to be about about $60,000.

The Bishop noted that the National Church has asked for each diocese to show how the money will be used to support ministry. The monies from the Council of the North can only be used for clergy stipends. Any support given to a parish above and beyond this can cause the monies from the Council of the North grant to be taken back. The Bishop when on to tell the Synod that one of the factors that is going to hurt us in the next while is having congregations that are not meeting regularly. Numbers have to be submitted to the Council of the North concerning average weekly attendance. If there are no services, zeros are entered for a congregation.

If there are zeros given to the Council of the North from the diocese, this results in less funding for the diocese. The Council of the North has made it clear that monies will be directed first to ministries that are going and growing.

Another important point made in the review of the diocese’s finances was the need to pay for insurance and the need for every parish to stay current with its Diocesan Fair Share (DFS). Reverend Andrews noted for members that there is an ever increasing amount of money being paid out for See “Synod finances” on p.6 Page 5

What if we say No to the Covenant?

Books on the Way with Ruby McBeth

The Anglican Church of Canada needs more clarity about what the “relational consequences” would be for not adopting the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant. This is one of the key messages that Council of General Synod (CoGS) members said the church must convey when the 15th Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) meets in New Zealand Oct. 27 to Nov. 7. Member provinces of the Communion have been asked to report on progress made in response to the covenant, which has been recommended as a way of healing divisions triggered by debates over sexuality. At their May meeting, some CoGS members said there’s a lot of uncertainty about what happens when a province decides whether or not to adopt the covenant even though a study guide was prepared for Canadian Anglicans.

The Anglican Church of Canada will decide what action to take at General Synod 2013.

—Marites N. Sison, Anglican Journal.

O

UR POLITICAL SYSTEM can seem a bit scary. How can we trust politicians who make promises before elections and then break them right afterwards? An example of a leader getting to power making promises and breaking them was Adolf Hitler. A book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas can help us to understand why Germans made the tragic mistake of letting Hitler lead them.

Eric Metaxas’s book Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile versus the Third Reich takes us inside Nazi Germany using Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a guide. This new biography of Bonhoeffer is, of course, about the man. His life is, however, inextricably linked with the history of Germany. Bonhoeffer was a young Lutheran theologian in 1933 when Hitler came to power. He came from an aristocratic family - his father was one of the bestknown psychiatrists in Germany. Metaxas explains that because Dietrich had relatives in positions of power in the Nazi regime he was able to anticipate the persecution of the Jews.

Through Metaxas’s eyes we see Bonhoeffer primarily as a faithful pastor. His theological studies and pastoral duties led him to America, Rome, England, Spain, and of course, Germany. He was friends with Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr and had Adolph Harnack as a teacher. He had a low opinion of the theological climate in America finding a spiritual home there only with the Negro congregations.

While his friends encouraged him to stay away from Germany, his conscience forced him back to fight from within. Back in Germany, Bonhoeffer preached against the Nazi regime and organized churches in opposition to the German Lutheran Church which collaborated with Hitler. He operated a seminary for his “Confessing Church.” In June of 1940 Bonhoeffer switched from condemning the regime openly to pretending to back it. He joined forces with other distinguished Germans in a number of plots to assassinate Hitler.

Radner Continued from Page 3 Dr. Radner then suggested that we can enter into communion with both God and our fellow believers though offering our actions, our prayers and our suffering. It was also pointed out to He noted that it is work to remain in communion and it takes more work now then ever before. It used to be that we could live and work in isolation from other parts of the Church. But because of media and the internet things are known faster and far more widely than ever before. “Being in Communion means not only being willing to be with each and to love each other. Being in Communion means that we are willing to die for each other right here; as God did,” said Dr. Radner. Then the Anglican Covenant was outlined and explained as being in four sections: (1) what we believe, (2) what we understand is our mission, (3) how do we live together, and (4) how does our Communion work. In explaining the Covenant, Dr. Radner said that the Design Group worked from a basic principle: What affects all, is decided by all. Thus being in Communion is a pledge to be together.

Dr. Radner concluded his two hour presentaPage 6

BONHOEFFER PASTOR, MARTYR, PROPHET, SPY: A Righteous Gentile vs. The Third Reich Author: Eric Metaxas Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010.

Even as one begins to read this book one is aware that Bonhoeffer will die in the end. The author, nevertheless, keeps the story moving and maintains the reader’s interest through all 576 pages. In 1942, Bonhoeffer fell in love. This romance adds a tragic love element.

Metaxas honours Bonhoeffer as a gifted theologian who faced life’s problems. The author is giving us the Bonhoeffer of The Cost of Discipleship rather than the Bonhoeffer of Letters and Papers from Prison.

This new biography is a scholarly but readable work. After the text come notes, bibliography, index, and reading group guide. Also included are 16 pages of photos.

Recommended generally for adults.

Synod Finances Continued from Page 5 insurance which the diocese is not able to recover from the parishes. This is causing the Diocese to use up the limited amount of funds it has and will at some point run out of these monies. Therefore it is very important to that each Church Committee makes sure that the insurance is paid on the parish properties. As for the DFS, the Bishop noted for members of the Synod, that without parishes staying current with their giving to the Diocese, programs like the Holy Spirit Conference, Clergy gatherings, Synods and even the maintaining the Synod Office are not possible. Thus, the parishes are encouraged to do everything they can to keep up with insurance and with DFS. The day was finished out with elections to various groups and committees in and beyond the diocese. Elections were held for delegates to General Synod, Provincial Synod and Executive Committee.

In Closing

tion by sharing about the appeal of the Late Pope Shenouda II, who called on Dr. Radner and other Anglicans to strengthen the bonds of Communion not just amongst ourselves but with him and the Coptic Church in Egypt. The Synod was reminded that what we do in Canada and in Caledonia has effect everywhere else in the world. “If we choose to live by ourselves, we become a forgetting people,” repeated Dr. Radner.

Synod finished on Sunday morning with the Celebration of the Eucharist led by the Bishop and the Archdeacon Ernest Buchanan preached. The Service was followed by a meal with the Cathedral Parish in the Parish Hall.

Editor’s Note: If you would like to learn more, you can visit the Wycliffe College website and look for Dr. Radner’s name in the faculty list. Dr. Radner’s books and major publications include: Reclaiming faith: essays on orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church and the Baltimore declaration (1993); Inhabiting unity: theological perspectives on the proposed Lutheran-Episcopal Concordat (1995); The rule of faith Scripture, canon, and creed in a critical age (1998); Spirit and nature: the Saint-Médard miracles in 18thcentury Jansenism (2002) Hope among the fragments: the broken church and its engagement of Scripture (2004); The fate of Communion: the agony of Anglicanism and the future of a global church (2006); Leviticus (2007).

Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition

Church life across the Province and the Nation Making Sunday more than an event Across the country, many parishes hosted Back to Church Sunday services on Sept. 30, but there is growing emphasis on extending the idea beyond a once a year event. Now, the aim is to build a culture in which Anglicans feel comfortable inviting others to church on a regular basis.

The Rev. Stephanie Bowman-Douglas, chair of the diocese of Toronto’s Back to Church Sunday working group, says the focus of efforts in the diocese has changed. For the past three years, bishops have gone to Toronto’s Union Station wearing their mitres and formal vestments to hand out invitations to commuters to come back to church. “That served its purpose in its time in terms of the bishops were trying to set an example for Anglicans. They were modeling invitation and bringing some media attention to Back to Church Sunday,” said BowmanDouglas.

But this year, the diocese is looking beyond that.

“Sometimes people have thought ‘My friend said no to coming to Back to Church Sunday, so I’ll wait another year to invite them again.’ ” Instead, organizers hope Anglicans can develop the skill and the habit of inviting people to church throughout the year.

The diocese of Toronto is launching a pilot project with six parishes this fall based on Back to Church Sunday creator Michael Harvey’s new initiative Seasons of Invitation. Parishioners will be encouraged to invite people for six occasions during the fall, Advent and Christmas and into the new year.

Bowman-Douglas says it’s important for clergy and lay people not to be discouraged if their invitations are not accepted. “They say that it takes as many as seven invitations before someone will accept…. So the main message we wanted to get across was success is making the invitation.”

Bishop Cyrus Pitman says some of the parishes in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador are working toward extending the principles of Back to Church Sunday throughout the year. “Because, while Back to Church Sunday is very valuable, the question has to be asked, ‘What would happen if they do come back?’” he said with a chuckle.

He mentioned the Parish of the Good Shepherd in Mount Pearl as a church that has already built a ministry of invitation and hospitality that lasts throughout the year. The rector there, Archdeacon Geoffrey Peddle, explained that the parish also held its Back to Church Sunday on Sept. 16 to combine the celebration with the start of its fall programs and

Parishioners in the Diocese of Toronto are being encouraged to invite people to church for six occasions during the fall, Advent and Christmas and into the new year. Photo: Lisa F. Young

the blessing of a newly constructed labyrinth on the church property. They had a good turnout of local people and government officials who were involved with the construction of the labyrinth, which was a collaborative project between a local group, as well as the municipal and provincial governments and the church, which provided the land and will maintain the labyrinth and surrounding park.

The labyrinth is intended for meditative walking and contemplation and is a new way for the church to invite people in. But Good Shepherd has had an ongoing community hospitality ministry now for about three years. Every Wednesday the church serves lunch to more than 100 people. It’s done entirely with volunteers, some cooking at the church, some cooking at home, and it is free. It’s open to anyone in the community, and Archdeacon Peddle says those who come are from all walks of life.

“Some volunteers are not Anglican. Some of the people who come are not church people at all, but they feel welcome and they find a sense of community.”

Food is donated by local businesses, but most comes from individuals. One meal began to resemble the Biblical loaves and fishes story when a man showed up with a donation of 85 pounds of fresh cod fish.

As a result of this popular weekly event, Archdeacon Peddle says that the Parish of the Good Shepherd has been affectionately renamed in the community as Parish of the Good Food. Either way, people keep coming back to church.

—Leigh Anne Williams, Anglican Journal.

Emmanuel & St. Chad’s to Shut-Down At its May-June meeting, the college council of the College of Emmanuel & St. Chad in Saskatoon made the decision to suspend college operations effective June 30, 2013. Working with other college stakeholders, the council will develop a plan for restructuring Emmanuel & St. Chad, which since 1967 has been the official accredited theological college for the ecclesiastical province of Rupert’s Land.

According to Terry Wiebe, college principal, the college sold its historic buildings to the University of Saskatchewan in 2006. It has since been renting space in the Lutheran seminary and using its chapel.

“This decision, which was not easy, was made

only after carefully considering the current financial condition of the college, the ongoing decline in student enrolment, and the current and projected costs of operating the college,” said the Rt. Rev. James Njegovan, bishop of Brandon and college council president, in a statement.

The decision to suspend operations will not affect the capacity of the college’s parent organization, University of Emmanuel College, to grant degrees to students satisfactorily completing program requirements. Only two or three students are expected to have to complete their degrees elsewhere.

—Diana Swift, Anglican Journal.

Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition

New bishop for Saskatchewan The Ven. Adam Halkett, Archdeacon of the Diocese of Saskatchewan and priest in-charge at St. Joseph’s, Montreal Lake First Nations, has been elected the first indigenous bishop in the Diocese of Saskatchewan. He was chosen July 28 by the Diocesan Synod in Prince Albert. The election and consecration of a indigenous bishop is part of Mamuwe Isi Mywachimowin (“Together in the Gospel”), a proposal adopted by the indigenous council and executive committee of Saskatchewan and approved by the metropolitan and executive committee of the province of Rupert’s Land in 2011. “It’s wonderful to see the vision of the elders fulfilled,” said Bishop-elect Halkett. “The healing journey with the elders, the youth and the whole church continues together.”

— Anglican Journal Staff

B.C. Diocese sends support to New Westminster Fund On behalf of the Diocese of British Columbia, Bishop James Cowan sent a cheque for $100,000 to the Diocese of New Westminster to be used to help offset that diocese’s expenses incurred in defending an Anglican polity expressed in the right of dioceses owning their church properties.

The Diocese of New Westminster has been the defendant in a number of legal challenges in which members of congregations that left the diocese were claiming rights to several church properties. The Churches in the Anglican Network in Canada brought the case against New Westminster Diocese. At each level of the court system the ANIC lost but appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. However, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, bring the appeal and the litigation to an end. The gift from (The British Columbia) diocese is the second gift that New Westminster has received. The first one came from the Diocese of Toronto for $250,000. It is Bishop Cowan’s hope that other dioceses will also be making contributions to the Diocese of New Westminster’s defense expenses.

—The Diocesan Post

Principal of VST resigns The Board of Vancouver School of Theology announces with regret that The Rev. Dr. Wendy Fletcher has decided not to resume the office of Principal and Dean at the conclusion of her sabbatical year in December 2012. At that time, she will return to her first love, which is teaching, as Professor of the History of Christianity at VST. Everyone associated with VST is very pleased that we will have the fulltime benefit of Wendy’s scholarship, teaching skills and her gift for friendship. In 2000, Wendy came to VST from Huron College, the University of Western Ontario, to serve as Dean of the school. In 2005, she took on the additional duties of Principal. During her time as Principal, Wendy not only fulfilled the normal duties of a head of college, but made many necessary and difficult decisions which have preserved the school and made a healthy future possible. She now believes that it is time to lay down the burden of leadership and to allow someone else to guide the school through the next steps of its journey into that future.

—Topic Page 7

Organized Religion: Decline, Opportunity, and Hope

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S THE CHURCH experiencing a bear market?

Joe Weisenthal, deputy editor of the Business Insider website, put this provocative title on a graph that showed a dramatic downward trending line. Taken from the US Department of Commerce Census Bureau, the graph indicated that construction spending on religious institutions, which had been near $9 billion in 2002, had fallen to below $4 billion in 2012. Weisenthal’s commentary was brief: “Off the cliff.”

Church buildings are a crude measure of the state of American religion. The economy for all kinds of construction has taken a hit with the recent global recession. But the trend illustrated by the graph began before the recession, and it reflects something that many people are feeling intuitively: Something is changing in the relationship we have to our religious institutions and perhaps even to God. One visible sign of this change may be the decline in church construction projects, but there are others as well. Is the United States, with one of the Western world’s highest rates of religious belief, turning away from organized religion? What is happening, and what does it say for churches?

A more direct measure of the religious climate can be found in a poll released by the Gallup organization in July. This study revealed that the percentage of Americans who expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church or organized religion had fallen to a record low of just 44 percent. Protestants recorded a slightly higher level of confidence (56 percent) than the overall figure, but the study confirmed a trend that has been taking place since the 1970’s. Institutions of all kinds, from banks to schools to television news, have experienced an erosion of public confidence; and religious bodies are not immune. Organized religion still ranked highly (fourth) relative to the 15 other institutions that were tested, but the 44 percent figure was far below the 68 percent who expressed confidence in religious institutions in 1975.

Religious institutions may be losing public support, but the same survey showed that religion itself is still holding on in America. Reporting on the data, Lydia Saad, senior editor at Gallup, observed, “The decline in confidence does not necessarily indicate a decline in Americans’ personal attachment to religion. The percentage of Americans saying religion is very important in their lives has held fairly steady since the mid-1970s, after dropping sharply from 1952 levels.”

So what’s behind these trends that mark what author Diana Butler Bass has called the “Great

Construction spending on religious institutions is a crude measure of the state of American religion.

Religious Recession”? In her new book, Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening, Butler Bass outlines “five major events” in the first decade of the 21st century that “revealed the ugly side of organized religion, challenging even the faithful to wonder if defending religion is worth the effort”: 1. The September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, DC. As blame for the events turned to religious fanaticism, Butler Bass says that religion as a whole was tarred with being a repressive and regressive influence in the world.

2. The Roman Catholic sex abuse scandal in 2002 and in the years following in which news reports and court cases revealed the failure of church leaders to confront sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests.

3. Protestant conflicts over homosexuality in 2003, particularly in the Episcopal Church as Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, was elected bishop.

4. The convergence of faith and politics, as evidenced in the role of religious groups in the 2004

American presidential elections.

5. The Great Religious Recession, which paralleled the economic recession beginning around 2007.

External events like these may be shifting the landscape and altering the outlook for religious institutions as they have traditionally been organized, but there are opportunities in this new environment as well. Butler Bass believes the dislocation and disillusionment that Americans have been experiencing are evidence that we may be entering another of the historical realignments that have marked US religious life.

She suggests we may be in a “Fourth Great Awakening” that began in the 1960’s. It is, she says, “a time of cultural revitalization and reorientation rather than a time of religious apocalypse.”

An awakening happens when we come face-toface with the limitations of our current structures and begin to reorganize in new ways. This process may be painful, especially for institutions; but it reveals the persistence of faith and the emergence of something genuinely new.

One way in which both the dissatisfaction and the longing show up in our contemporary culture is in the language of “spirituality.” People who support religious institutions often express dislike for spirituality since it suggests a kind of “do-ityourself” approach to God that has little use for the structures that undergird communal faith. Butler Bass sees more promise in the word, however. “To say that one is ‘spiritual but not religious’ or ‘spiritual and religious’ is often a way of saying, ‘I am dissatisfied with the way things are, and I want to find a new way of connecting with God, my neighbor, and my own life.’ It might not be a thoughtless mantra at all—in many cases, it may well be a considered commentary of religious institutions, doctrine, and piety.”

Churches that can hear the desire behind the language of this new cultural moment may approach the future with less anxiety. After all, the narrative of this environment may not be about the failure of religious institutions but instead the search for God’s living Word. This is also the desire of the church—to be connected to that living Word.

Perhaps the church can listen to and accompany these spiritual seekers and reclaim a mission that is less about institutional survival and more about the flourishing of the reign of God. —Excerpted from Alex Joyner, posted on Sept. 12, 2012 at ministrymatters.com.

Surfin’ for the Lord with Ruby McBeth

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JUST LEARNED that the Church Army in Canada has a new name: Threshold Ministries. Go to <www.thresholdministries.ca> to learn about their past and present on this organized and colourful website.

From “About Us” on the band across the top of the home page, I found History and saw that the name change occurred in 2009. The home page captures our attention with a slide show. One frame has a picture of the three kings on camels with the northern Page 8

lights behind and the star on the far right above Bethlehem. This advertises their Christmas cards.

The home page also shows “What’s New” - the latest work of Threshold Ministries. Not surprising that Threshold Ministries has a friendly and informative website.

Happy surfing!

Ruby Caledonia Times — October/November 2012 - Synod Edition