felix hominum

I'm writing to the embassy...

To:  The Anglican Church of Canada
Re:  Your "blog" Vision 2019

Sir:

I have received word that one of the comments under my care has been held "in moderation" for over 1 week.  In this time I have had no assurance that my comment "in moderation" has been properly cared for, nor has this comment been allowed (under the terms of the Silicone Valley Convention) to communicate with other comments in your Vision 2019 "blog".

This comment was sent in good faith on March 12, 2009.  The comment itself was unarmed, and was a member in good standing of the Anglican Church of Canada.  It was baptized and confirmed in the Diocese of Edmonton, and had served faithfully on two local internet parish councils.  While I understand that some care needs to be taken in assigning server space, I anticipate that the comment under consideration has felt excluded from the conversation, and will most likely need extensive pastoral counseling when and if it is ever released back into cyberspace.

I am therefore writing what is known in the business as a "Strongly Worded Letter" to the Queen, and expect that you will take the appropriate action.  If by chance you have permanently deleted my comment, or have somehow found it offensive, let me offer the following by way of replacement:

“I have been called both “fundamentalist” and “pietist” by unsympathetic readers, since they put me in an already-closed slot in their minds, to which they had relegated the use of the Bible. They did not read me carefully enough to be aware that my reading of the scriptural texts was post- and not pre- critical.”
The Politics of Jesus Revisited (1997) John Howard Yoder

I suspect that there are a number of people for whom the appearance of any opposition to SSB on biblical or theological grounds needs to be reduced to a charge of "fundamentalism/literalism", but that is simply not the case.  There is simply a failure to admit that one can hold such a view in a post-critical age.

Indeed, I have found that this episode has caused me such personal anguish that I must break my Lenten fast, and seek solace with a 1998 Pinot Noir.

Yours truly, etc

Vision 2019: why my comments are lost in the limbo that is the Anglican Church website

Comment 1:

Bob Bettson, Dauphin says:
March 11, 2009 at 3:30 pm

I afraid this post is an example of the kind of extreme rhetoric which is disrespectful of our Primate and our Bishops. There has been all too much of this during the current debate. If the poster thinks the church leadership is apostate, he doesn’t know what he is talking about. These are faithful servants of Christ and the church trying their best to deal sensitively with difficult issues at a difficult time.

The writer thinks no motion should have even gone forward on blessing of same sex unions because scripture clearly has spoken. The writer should know many of us believe scripture has not spoken in the way he thinks. Instead we believe that it is selective literalism of the kind that the Anglican Church has never embraced which brings about such an extreme position.
Those of us who remain in the Anglican Church of Canada are followers of Christ and believers in the word. We celebrate the Eucharist Sunday by Sunday, preach the Gospel, care for the sick, study the Bible. How dare Frank W. judge us all and declare those faithful Bishops, clergy and lay people who remain in the church as apostate.

Property matters have nothing to do with greed. The churches have been built and maintained for years by faithful Anglicans. They don’t deserve to be taken by literalist/fundamentalists who have little grasp of our Anglican tradition of diversity and tolerance. The pattern of parishes leaving and trying to keep the building seems to rely completely on having a literalist/fundamentalist incumbent who has conditioned the people with many years of anti-Anglican rhetoric.

Comment caught in Limbo:

Joseph Walker says:

Your comment is awaiting moderation.

March 12, 2009 at 10:18 pm

Bob, with all due respect, I find that your use of the literalist/fundamentalist “nom de terror” is precisely the kind of “extreme rhetoric” which you say is disrepectful.

I tend to think that there is a third option, perhaps best articulated by John Howard Yoder: “I have been called both “fundamentalist” and “pietist” by unsympathetic readers, since they put me in an already-closed slot in their minds, to which they had relegated the use of the Bible. They did not read me carefully enough to be aware that my reading of the scriptural texts was post- and not pre- critical.”

John Howard Yoder: “The Politics of Jesus Revisited” (1997)

Perhaps my comment did not meet the suggested criterion:

Vision 2019 welcomes a range of contributions to the "Tell us your story" project--from affirming to critical. Comments are monitored, however, to ensure that a respectful conversation can take place. We ask that you be relatively brief and that your language be respectful to others. You must also provide your name, place of residence (city or town is adequate) and parish.

If so, then I heartily apologize.

If, however, the problem seems to be that after 5 days no one at head office can decide whether or not the suggestion that there is a post-critical reading of the text which is neither literalist nor fundamentalist can be posted publicly, well, then, my work is done here.

Or just beginning.

(I wonder if the literalists/fundamentalists are people like this,(BA,MA,MRel,ThD) who also seem to be this.)

briefly updating

a blog which, I hope, will be helpful in following some events when Peter Rollins comes to town for a few conversations in early February.  Schedule of events should be up soon.

There has been a slight hindrance as one of the younger members of the felix clan has succumbed to the norovirus for the last few days...

Canadian Blog Awards round 2: the finalists

The initial round of voting has taken place in the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards, and in the second round you will have an opportunity to pick among the 5 finalists in each category. The final round of voting will take place over the next 7 days.

Here are the 5 finalists in the religious/philosophy category:

Bene Diction Blogs On
Dennis Gruending: Pulpit and Politics
Felix Hominum
Holy Experience
Whatever He Says

I keep up with Bene's blog on a fairly regular basis;  I find it pretty informative and there are a lot of good series of posts on a variety of topics related to faith/religion.  I'm not that familiar with the other ones.  Have a look at the selection of blogs out there and see what you think.
 

"Look, Your Holiness, one of the finalists is an Anglican!!"

"I'm telling you, Rowan, any blog with a Latin name is automatically Catholic"



The finalists in each category are announced by Centaurs:

photo: Joe Walker; Roman relief near Hieropolis

pay no attention to the beaver over there on the left,

it's only there to facilitate your familiarity with the Canadian Blog Awards, allow you to make an informed choice, and manipulate the masses with fever-pitched campaigning...

as noted in the comments,

it has come to my attention that the Canadian Blog Awards are on again, and you can find out all about them here, and discover a variety of new blogs you didn't even know existed.  It appears that felix hominum has been nominated in the religiousphilosophy category (as there was no separate category for philatelist clergy blogs, and no hyphen or backslash available for the category name).

my blog's myers briggs personality type

According to the Typealyzer, my blog reveals the personality of its author as:

INFP

The meaning-seeking and unconventional type. They are especially attuned to making sure their beliefs and actions are congruent. They often develop a passion for the arts or unusual forms of self-expression.

They enjoy work that are aligned to their deeply felt values and tend to strongly dislike the more practical and mundane forms of tasks. They can enjoy working alone for long periods of time and are happiest when they can immerse themselves in personally meaningful projects.

h/t to Scott and Ian

I'd post the picture they have of my brain when I'm writing, but that's too practical and mundane...

Anglican Church of Canada joins Facebook

[Toronto: Church House]

A press release on the ACoC website indicates that the church has decided to form its own Facebook group.  This comes at a time when the national church is seeing a decline in membership and it is hoped that this new initiative will allow the church to reach out in new and creative ways.  Director of Communications Initiative, Rev. Canon William Smythern-Jones, sees great potential in this new initiative. "We've got to bring the church into the 21st century", he said in a hand written letter in reply to our email.  "I've already trained most of our staff, including the Primate, in all the things the kids are doing these days.  We are regular hep-cats!"

Upon its launch, several members of the Anglican Church of Canada's national staff were busy figuring out how to "poke" Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria, and others were disappointed that Rowan Williams had not yet responded to their request to "add as friend".

Canadian blog awards are on again

Bene Diction Blogs On has reminded us that the Canadian Blog Awards are on again. In the true spirit of blogging, I'll just cut and past what Bene wrote:

Anyone can nominate in any category; this year instead of being able to cast one vote a day, you’ll get one vote a round.

If you read blogs, this is a great way to say thank you. Canadian Blog Awards 2008

Nomination period: November 2nd-November 22nd,
First Round Voting: November 23rd-November 29th,
Last round Voting: November 30th-December 7th

Now this is where the overly sensitive purists come into play.  This year there is a single category encompassing both religion and philosophy blogs.  However, this is simply an impossibility:  religion begins with revelation, and philosophy begins with human reason.  They need their own categories.  There.  That's all you need to know.  So go over and nominate someone, and check out some writers you've never heard of before.  It is, I hope, still an event with an edge of fun rather than too much seriousness (this blog placed 2nd in Best Religious blog a while ago), and an opportunity to highlight Canadian content and thereby satisfy ourselves that the Americans don't run everything.

page loading issues

Apparently Typepad is having some issues being uploaded in certain versions of Safari (they say they are working on it).  Which means you should all have switched to Firefox by now anyway...

Nova Scotia Scott

is an Anglican blogger who used to be in the Yukon, but moved to God's own country Nova Scotia.  I am sure there is a pun in the title of his blog.

Hope you settle in well and enjoy the Digby clams.

10 Commandments of blogging...

The ten commandments for bloggers came out of a recent seminar, Godblogs, organised by the EA, designed to give Christian bloggers a chance to network and to debate their approach to blogging.

via Ruth Gledhill

1.  You shall not put your blog before your integrity.
2.  You shall not make an idol of your blog.
3.  You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.
4.  Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.
5.  Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.
6.  You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings.
7.  You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.
8.  You shall not steal another person’s content.
9.  You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.
10.You shall not covet your neighbour's blog ranking.  Be content with your own content.

Speaking of strange* people on the web...

the newest edition of the Anglican Planet is now online

*"strange people on the web" is meant as a value neutral term, and is used only in the most Christian and non-judgmental way.  The editors of, and contributors to, the Anglican Planet, are not to be seen, portrayed, assumed to be, or otherwise understood to be any more odd, eccentric or generally phobic of all things than any other Anglican web presence, notwithstanding the use of liturgical ipods

Thoughts on Dr Andre Lalonde & Trig Palin

Update:  the SOCG has added a news release on its home page regarding Dr Lalonde's remarks in the Canadian press.  Excerpt:

More work is required to ensure that this high termination rate is not a reflection of unbalanced or directive counselling from health professionals. To this end, the SOGC is committed to conveying these messages through its ongoing member communications and continuous professional learning opportunities.

Update:  Barbara Kay has an article here in the National Post.

Update:

It seems that Dr Andre Lalonde's organization, the SOGC, is, well, a bit ambiguous when it comes to being pro-choice or pro-life, or whatever label you want to use. 

“The SOGC remains firmly against the practice of sex selection through selective abortion,” Dr. Don Davis, the group’s president, said in a release. “These new technologies are finding their way to Canadian women and are opening the door to a number of ethical questions.”

 from the CBC

At least one Canadian physician called the SOGC on this ambiguity around "ethical questions".  In a letter to the editor (pdf) which can be found via SOGC's website, we have:

SOGC Statement on Gender Selection

To the Editor: Recently, the SOGC published the opinion that abortion for gender selection not be performed but that abortion after counselling for neural tube defects and Down syndrome, as well as other congenital abnormalities,should continue to be supported. Both the condescending nature of this opinion and the frightening implications require a response.

For years the SOGC supported the right of a woman to choose whether she would seek an abortion. At no time did that support place restrictions on the indications the individual woman would apply to her own circumstances. The societal pressures to terminate a pregnancy come in many forms, whether they are to have a male child or to finish high school. They are equal in that in the end it is one woman who must make the decision and then have the procedure. Either abortion for all reasons as deemed appropriate by the woman is acceptable or no abortions are acceptable. We may disagree with gender selection on the grounds of our Western perception. However we do not have the right to say which cultural assertion is best.  The frightening part of the opinion was the support for eugenics, which bothers me because the SOGC has stepped back from supporting abortion on demand and instead is supporting the removal from society of those deemed inferior.  I am ashamed.

Richard Gruneir, MD, FRCSC, Leamington, Ontario

REFERENCE 1. SOGC Council and Executive. SOGC Statement on Gender Selection.  SOGC Policy Statement, No. 198, November 2007.

It is really worth reading the SOGC's response to this letter (same pdf).  There, we see words like "feticide" in the same sentence as "infanticide".  Does that imply an equivalence to you?  Or only when it refers to abortion due to gender selection?

Well, either they are really concerned over how Trig Palin will affect the "abortion issue" in Canada, or not.  And if one is pro-choice, then one is pro-choice.  Apart from all the other factors, it's the consistency and logic that one should worry about.  The worry is that a governor's son will influence the abortion issue in Canada.  Perhaps the worry is that Trig Palin will take that role away from the SOGC.

[orig post]:

Michael Gerson over at the Washington Post:

Many parents, of course, are not "prepared to deal with the consequences" of having a child, healthy or disabled -- though this has nothing to do with the worth of such children once they are conceived. Down syndrome children are slow to learn and have physical challenges. They are also, in my experience, often loving and compassionate -- which is an advantage they have on Dr. Lalonde.

A claim like this one tears away the pretense of "choice" among some in the medical community. When the medical establishment encourages doctors to encourage broad genetic testing for genetic abnormalities, then emphasizes the hardship of raising a disabled child, eugenic abortion is not merely an "option" but a recommendation. And people such as Sarah Palin, who resist the consensus against the elimination of "genetic abnormality," become a bad example, instead of a heroic one.

This difference clarifies the most basic question of medical ethics: How do we improve humanity? By eliminating the "imperfect" from among us? Or by showing our humanity, especially toward the "imperfect"?

Disability News has picked up the story.  Some local folks who have adopted a child living with Down Syndrome have added their voice.  Which, by the way, seems to me to be at least one important option which I have yet to see Dr Lalonde endorse.  But perhaps he has, and I would applaud him if he spoke strongly for that option.  However, I have yet to see his support for options in the choice market.

LT Barta (who points us to the Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas - DSACT) added this comment in another blog:

Lalonde’s comments are not neutral. They are not detached. They are not professional. And they certainly don’t indicate a thoughtful review of the alternatives and benefits available in the 21st century. Lalonde has failed in his duties to the general public. Instead, he used his day in the spotlight to generate fear and limit choice.

My full thoughts in a related post on Dr Andre Lalonde's reaction  to Trig Palin here,  along with links to some of his other interviews in the Canadian Press dating back to January 2007.

Patristics Carnival XV up

over at HYPEREKPERISSOU

all sorts of wild and wacky stuff from the world of the church fathers, including such articles as

• the development of doctrines and the Council of Nicaea
• a patristic catena against Nancy Pelosi's comments on abortion and the Fathers
• the argument for a 2nd century New Testament canon.

And a whole bunch of other stuff beside.

Diocese of Athabasca website hit by hackers

Now why would someone go and do a thing like that?

an interesting (to me at any rate) discussion

over in the comments section at simplemassingpriest

"the rhythm of immediate response denies the place and importance of reflection"

A new blog in the 'sphere

Pop over and say hello on Bishop Greg's Blog. 

Bishop Greg Kerr-Wilson is the 11th Bishop of Qu'Appelle.

Primate Hiltz writes Primate Greg Venables

Anglican primate blasts South American rival
MICHAEL VALPY
April 22, 2008

Leaders of the Anglican Church in Canada and South America drew beads on each other yesterday with Canadian primate Fred Hiltz posting a letter on the Internet telling South America's Gregory Venables to stay out of the country and Archbishop Venables icily criticizing Archbishop Hiltz's manners in reply.

"My number is there on the Anglican Communion network," Archbishop Venables said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires. "I mean, this is only my humble opinion, but if somebody really wants to talk to me, they can pick up the phone and talk to me.

"Do you write a personal letter, between primates, on the Internet if you seriously want a personal dialogue?"

Globe & Mail

The Canadian Primate's letter can be seen here.  An Anglican Journal piece is here.  The National Post article is here.

While there is much to discuss in this latest round of Anglican World Traveller, the thing that struck me was that the letter to Venables was posted on the internet before Venables received it.  That's okay, though.  This fast internet stuff happens to the best of us.  On the other hand, I wonder if these two Primates have ever had a face to face?

a comment on Good Friday

Over at Magic Statistics, Russel Sutherland left an intersting comment describing his experience at a Good Friday service.

lenten series: Dante's Divine Comedy - some links

For those about to descend, here are a few links for information about the Dante, the Comedy, assorted online texts and translations, how to stop the mouth of underworld beasts from classical mythology and that sort of stuff.

Have a miserable Lent!

Why I've taken up Dante for Lent
--By A.N. Wilson - article in the Telegraph from Lent 2007

Welcome to Danteworlds, an "integrated multimedia journey--combining artistic images, textual commentary, and audio recordings--through the three realms of the afterlife (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise) presented in Dante's Divine Comedy. The site is structured around a visual representation of Dante's worlds: it shows who and what appear where. Click on regions within each realm (circles of Hell, terraces of Purgatory, spheres of Paradise) to open new pages featuring people and creatures whom the character Dante meets during his journey. Click on individual figures in the regions to view larger images in pop-up windows. Available for each region are explanatory notes, a gallery of artistic images, recordings of significant Italian verses, and study questions--all aimed at enriching the experience of reading Dante's poetic vision of a voyage literally out of this world."
--University of Texas

Harvard Classics, Vol. 20 The Divine Comedy:  an English trans. by Henry Cary

DIGITAL DANTE  trans of Henry W. Longfellow, and the Allen Mandelbaum translation
-- Columbia University project

The Princeton Dante Project,  of particular interest is the series of lectures on this page.

The Dartmouth Dante Project (DDP) is "a searchable full-text database containing more than seventy commentaries on Dante's Divine Comedy - the Commedia."

And if you can get your hands on "The Figure of Beatrice" by Charles Williams, you will be close to the Kingdom of Heaven.

In addition, a bit o' reading in Aristotle's Ethics, Virgil's Aeneid, Augustine generally and Boethius should round out all that extra time you will have from doing a TV fast...

Update:  from Mike's recommendation in the comments comes a link to Father Robert Crouse's series on Dante.  This comes via a site I've previously described as "the best little anglican church website in Canada".

thoughts on the end of week of prayer for Christian unity

This Sunday marks the end of yet another 'Week of Prayer for Christian Unity'? No doubt this past week has been filled with ecumenical services around the world as different Christian traditions (denominations) join together in worship of our Lord.

I must admit that I find much of what goes on during this week somewhat trite. It's almost as if we're saying to the world, "Look at us! We're holding hands, singing the same hymns, and worshipping the same way for this one service. See, we're united!

from a priest in Labrador

Canadian Blog Awards - final round

Hot off the heels of my sought-after endorsements of presidential candidates, let me draw your attention to a more important election:  the annual Canadian Blog Awards.

After my glorious showing last year, I've retired for the time being from such rites of public splendour, preferring to spend my time sifting through the book-deal offers coming in from various publishing houses, and drinking coffee.

Seriously, though, the awards are a great way to find some new and interesting blogs in a variety of categories.  I personally follow 3 of the blogs in the "religious" category.  Have a look and have a vote.

Days of past glory...

the lenten blogging series: Dante's Divine Comedy

With Lent just around the corner, it is almost time to start planning the annual lenten blogging series.  Last year I blogged through Augustine's Confessions as a bit of online lenten discipline.  My intention is to pick a "Christian Classic" and try to get through it during lent.  This year I'm contemplating Dante's Divine Comedy.  At least it begins with a good down-in-the-mouth lenten theme:  Abandon all hope, you who enter here. (Inferno. 03.009)

The general plan, as it is now being formulated, is to work through the Inferno and Purgatorio up to Easter weekend, and then spend Easter week exploring the joys of the Paradiso.

distributed knowledge

...in stark contrast, top-down systems are characterized by very centralized knowledge - and hence very centralized power.  The early church Gnostics with their "secret knowledge" were not the first (and won't be the last) to realize the power of holding knowledge back and sharing it only with a select few.

Kester Brewin - Signs of Emergence, 109 (emphasis mine)  I was reading it just this morning.

Interesting.

The Anglican Church of Canada website has a news item which consists of a statement expressing concern over the "Global Anglican Future Conference".  However, there is no actual news item on the ACofC site telling us anything about the "Global Anglican Future Conference."  Which all seems odd to me. 

News item, condemning an event we have no news of.

Anyway, actual news of the conference can be found here.

Interesting update:

While not opposed to the principles motivating the gathering of traditionalist Anglican bishops, clergy and lay leaders six weeks before Lambeth, Bishop Darwani does not want it to take place on his turf.

Strongly opposed to the notion of gay or women clergy, the diocese also has strong financial links with a number of American dioceses that are at the forefront of the progressive agenda. Highlighting the diocese’s traditionalist stance within the Anglican Communion at this time could have immediate financial consequences, Jerusalem clergy tell us.

full article here.

update on "law is cool", steyn & all that jazz

Update: The Canadian Islamic Congress has a pdf on their site entitled: 

MACLEANS MAGAZINE: A CASE STUDY OF
MEDIA-PROPAGATED ISLAMOPHOBIA
Prepared by:
Khurrum Awan, Muneeza Skeikh, Naseem Mithoowani
LLB (Osgoode Hall Law School – 2007)
Ali Ahmed
LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School - 2008)
Daniel Simard
LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School - 2009)

The Canadian Islamic Congress and 4 law students from Osgoode have requested proceedings in our Human Rights Commissions against Maclean's magazine for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn's recent book.

Further research into the legal issues was conducted over the Christmas season.  This consisted mostly of several glasses of port in front of a roaring fire at the home of the local paterfamilias. He recently retired from the bench, and has more than a passing interest in the variety of issues involved in this case.  Apart from all the interesting conversation around justice, multiculturalism, freedom of expression, I also discovered (i think after the 3rd glass) that he has, tucked away in the library, a document signed by Sir John A himself.  Great-great Granddad was sworn into judicial office by Canada's first Prime Minister.  I wonder what he would make of the case...

Posts at LawisCool are here and here.

Mark Steyn has comments here., and links to the text of the complaints can be found on this page.

In addition, there is this story about a Catholic journal being brought under the same body, for publishing stuff which, well, appears to be the teaching of the Catholic Church:

Today, Catholic Insight magazine has also become a victim of the new anti-religion. We, too, have been denounced to the Canadian Human Rights Commission in Ottawa for speaking out against the activists who agitated for adding so-called sexual orientation to the Hate Crimes Act in 2003 and the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in 2005. The politically correct activists brook no opposition. See the article ”Catholic Insight under human rights attack”, page 10; and David Warren,“Suing for silence”, page 17.

from here

"Suing for silence" - has a nice ring, no?

related post:  an interesting article or two on the Mark Steyn affair

Goodbye Oscar.

Food for thought.  Commenting at CBC on the death of Aqsa Parvez,  the head of the Canadian Islamic Congress (the same person bringing the complaints) had this to say:

"I don't want the public to think that this is really an Islamic issue or an immigrant issue," said Mohamed Elmasry of the Canadian Islamic Congress. "It is a teenager issue."

Canadian blog awards are back again

It appears that the Canadian Blog Awards are up and running.  Bene Diction Blogs On has the goods, and has been nominated in the category of best religious blog.  As last year's 2nd Place Winner in the aforementioned category of the awards, I will consider throwing the weight of my considerable army of drones behind a suitable candidate.  The awards will hopefully give some exposure to the range of Canadian bloggers, and recognize some who have made contributions to the Canadian blogosphere.  Bene certainly falls under that banner. 

The "competition" is, I think, supposed to be fun, although you might see from the comments that some folks may end up taking it all a bit too seriously.  Pop over and have a look around at the variety of bloggers out there, eh?

 

 

 

 

Ian's online Salvation Army Christmas Kettle

Ian of Ian's Messy Desk has his online Christmas Kettle up.  You can donate securely to the Salvation Army's Christmas appeal.

His 'Mo' is also coming along nicely...

good heavens -it's like mushrooms popping up after a rain

And this time it's on the Rock:  Thoughts in Progress, brought to you by the Rev. R. John Hounsell-Drover of Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

Welcome to the blogosphere, R. John.

As with simplemassingpriest, I was going to leave a 'hello' comment, but I don't have a google account, and really don't want one.

another blogging canadian anglican cleric

appears to be somewhere on the prairies.