Newsletter, April 25th, 2012

What's (not) going on in the Roman Catholic Church?

For the most part, I have enjoyed enriching friendships with progressive Roman Catholic laity and clergy. I have been impressed by their engagement with issues of justice and their practical care for the people in their communities.  We share Eucharist together (though officially not sanctioned) and tend to agree on the need for the RC Church to move ahead by accepting married clergy, the ordination of women, the acceptance of gay and lesbians, and the admittance of divorced people to communion.

What is discouraging for me to witness however, is the repression of these voices by the hierarchy of the RC Church.  As an Anglican, I am tempted to remind them that what they are looking for already exists in the Anglican Church, so why not join in?  But for most Roman Catholics, this is clearly not the solution.  The solution is for the Pope and the Cardinals to allow discussion and to consider the voice of the baptized in revitalizing the life of the church.

The current climate suggests this is not likely to happen.  The chastising of the The Leadership Conference of Religious Women for their 'radical feminist rhetoric'; the Church of Ireland and Austria being reprimanded for bringing up topics that the Vatican has declared not-up-for-discussion - all this and more makes the chasm even wider between what ordinary Catholics believe and practice and the old boys club in Rome insist upon.  

A recent editorial in The Tablet (The International Catholic Weekly) describes the situation well:

Tacit disobedience in practice, for instance over birth control and increasingly over the admission of divorced people to Holy Communion, is already commonplace. Disobedience, in theory, includes a rejection of the arguments against ordaining married men and, increasingly, against the ordination of women. Lay Catholic attitudes to homosexuality have changed remarkably within a generation. There is no method of re-evangelisation that will turn this tide.

So who is adrift, the leaders or the led? Indeed, which is which? If dissenting clergy are little more than proxies for dissenting laity, then the real chasm opening up is between the senior hierarchy, the Vatican especially, and the lay faithful at large. But they are out of reach, because the Church has neglected to put institutions in place through which an honest dialogue can take place. A useful move would be to remedy that deficiency. First, however, the Vatican would have to give at least the appearance of listening. And that moment is still some way off.

The Jewish Annotated Bible
What a novel idea - to have Jewish scholars annotate The NRSV Bible with extensive footnotes and articles that help explain to Jewish and Christian readers alike the context and the meaning of the letters and gospels found in the NT.

I've just got my copy from Amazon ($24.14 in hardcover) and have only begun to appreciate the notes (much more extensive than in the Oxford Annotated NRSV) and started to read the articles included by editor Amy-Jill Levine.

If you'd like to get a better understanding of the reality of 1st century Judaism and the Jesus movement, this is a great place to start.

Weathering ‘Ecumenical Winter’
Where does the movement for Christian unity go from here?

Monday, May 7th, from 3 pm to 5 pm at MDTC

3475 University Street, Montreal, QC H3A 2A8

Website: http://www.dio-mdtc.ca/           See the poster

Bruce Myers is a graduate of Montreal Diocesan Theological College,
Archdeacon in the Diocese of Quebec and Coordinator for Ecumenical Relations for the Anglican Church of Canada. (From The Anglican Journal) Bruce Myers, who holds a master's degree in ecumenical theology from the University of Geneva, now brings that passion to healing the divisions in Christendom, so much of which was united as one church for 15 centuries. "I think ordinary Christians of every denomination are questioning whether the differences are all that important when we share so much in common," he says. "The overarching ecumenical task is how to mend those broken fences and relations."

Montreal Diocesan Theological College Convocation
Monday, May 7th, at 7:30 pm. At St. Matthias Church, 10 Church Hill in Westmount.

Presentation of the Graduating Class of MDTC and of the EFM Program Honorary Doctorates to The Rev’d John Vissers and The Rev’d John Gibaut.
John Gibaut is director of the World Council of Churches' Commission on Faith and Order, a priest of the Anglican Church of Canada and will be delivering the
Convocation address.  All are welcome.  Reception to follow.
See the poster.

Anglican Diocese of Montreal
Check out the new website for the Diocese. 

Annual Bishop’s Dinner - Wednesday, June 13, 2012 
We gather to officially launch new Youth Ministry Initiatives for the Diocese of Montreal!  Our speaker will be the new Diocesan Youth Ministry Consultant,  Mark Dunwoody.  We will gather at the University Club, Montreal at 5:30 for cocktails and dinner at 6:30.  Tickets $200.00 (income tax receipt for $150.) 
Please contact Ardyth ext. 255 or Maria ext. 235  514-843-6577.  Details

Action Réfugiés - Montreal Executive Director - Job offer
Réfugiés Montréal is a non-profit organization working with refugees, founded in 1994 by the Anglican Diocese and the Presbyterian Church in Montreal. Our mandate includes advocacy and providing services to refugees.  PDF in english / in french

The new Youth Ambassador Program...
Our group of nine young Anglicans are training to represent the Diocese as they plan to visit our partner in British Columbia (Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior), attend the Canadian Lutheran and Anglican Youth Conference in Saskatchewan, and travel to our companion diocese in Southern Tanzania next summer. Where else might they go? And who will join them? That depends on interest, diocesan linkages, funding... and you! Your parish could participate in three ways:

- Nominate and sponsor a young person between 14 and 20 years of age;
- Adopt a Youth Ambassador for $300; he or she will visit your parish and keep you up-to-date on the program;
- Provide prayers, publicity and financial support

See the poster to find out how to get involved.

EVENTS IN 2012

Plan Nord, plans Sud
Résistance dans les Amériques :
Crimes socio-environnementaux et minières canadiennes
Le 26, 27 et 28 avril 2012
320 rue Ste-Catherine Est, Pavillon J.-A.-DeSève, salle DS-R525,
Université du Québec à Montréal

Pour plus d’information

COURS DE FRANÇAIS POUR LE MINISTÈRE (NIVEAU 2)
à Montréal du 30 avril au 5 mai 2012   (*FULL)
Sponosered by the United Theological College
See the poster for more information.

Christ Church in Beaurepaire:

Healing Service will be Wednesday evening, May 2 nd at 7:00 PM.  This service will take place within an intimate environment with the opportunity for the "Laying on of Hands" and for being anointed.  The service will also include some praise music and is open to all who feel they can be benefited from such a service.  Those attending can receive prayer for themselves or for another. 

Praise Service will take place on Friday evening, June 15th at 7:30 PM.  This service will be an expression of our faith and joy and will be "family centred" with an opportunity for children involvement.  There is also be a few invited guests.  There will be a free will offering associated with this evening.

PWRDF Montreal Annual Meeting and Dinner
Thursday, May 10th, 2012  at 5:30 pm
1444 Union Ave, Fulford Hall, Montreal.

With guest speaker Adele Finney, Executive Director of PWRDF.
Call 514-843-6577 to reserve your ticket.  $10. 
The poster.

Festival of Homiletics: Transformational Preaching
May 14-18, 2012, Atlanta, Georgia.

Discover preaching at the crossroads at the annual Festival of Homiletics. 
Immerse yourself in a week-long, intensive examination of prophetic, emergent and transformational preaching.

"Faith on Tap"
McKibbin's Irish Pub
1426 Bishop Street
Montreal, Quebec. H3G-2E6
Thursday, May 17th, from 5 pm to 7 pm.
Join Jim McDermott and the group for lively discussion at the Faith on Tap gathering at McKibbin's Pub.  Raise a pint and talk faith, politics and religion; all those things that you were once told to avoid talking about.  Everyone is welcome to attend.

Project Ecosphere
May 19th and 20th in Montreal
September 22nd and 23rd in Brome Village, QC

Dedicated exclusively to ecology and the environment, these two events aspire to raise collective awareness by bringing together key players in the environmental world.
Visit the website for more details.

Mission-Shaped and Rural
Come and explore the joys and challenges of being ‘mission-shaped’ in our rural contexts. The workshop is for both clergy and laity.  Come and bring a parish team! Location:  St. John’s Anglican Church, Ida, Cavan, ON. Click here for more details.