Latest news with #AnglicanChurchofCanada
Winnipeg Free Press
02-08-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
New Anglican primate ready to implement change
'I want to see it thrive, to be an enlivened church. I want it to be a church that lifts the spirits of everyone.' That's the message Shane Parker, the new primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, wants to share with members of that denomination. Parker, 67, formerly the bishop of Ottawa, was elected primate on June 26 at the church's 44th General Synod in London. As head of the church, Parker will be expected to put into effect a mandate to implement changes in the church, which has an estimated 300,000 members in 1,500 parishes. He has accepted that mandate. 'There is a profound need for change,' he said about the situation facing the church, which had about 1.2 million members in 1,800 parishes 60 years ago. Parker, who grew up in Alberta and has served as bishop in Ottawa since 2020, said the church still has a mentality similar to what it was like in the 1950s and 60s, a highwater mark for the denomination. 'Back then, the idea was if you build it, they will come,' he said of how parishes were burgeoning with children and families as a result of the post-war baby boom. But, he said, 'we live in a different time today.' That reality was underscored by recent statistics about the church that show a 12 per cent decrease in the total number of members on parish rolls between 2019-22. During that time, there was also a 26 per cent decrease in average Sunday attendance and a 17 per cent decrease in givers. Along with that, there has also been a drop in the number of people attending services on major holy days in that time frame — a 45 per cent decline in Easter attendance and 47 per cent for Christmas. There were also 25 per cent fewer baptisms. To deal with the situation, the church's General Synod adopted six 'pathways' for change at its General Synod. They are to reduce the size of the church's organizational structure; review the work and staffing levels of the national church; find ways to be more inclusive and diverse in decision making; examine the current model of communications; better define the partnership with the Indigenous Anglican church; and review ways the church can better do ministry in remote northern communities. For Parker, this will mean 'deep changes in our culture, in our structures, in our operations, in the way we behave and how we speak of ourselves and how we speak of our church and how we speak to one another.' One thing Parker wants to do is remove barriers between church structures and members. Using the idea of insulation in a house, he said it can have a positive effect by keeping out the heat and cold. But it can also be negative if it insulates people from each other. His goal in the three years he will be primate — the leader of the Anglican Church of Canada must retire at age 70 — is to remove any insulation that has built up over time that prevents members of the church from actively engaging each other and the world around them. 'We need to feel the cold and the heat and the wind and the fire. We need to understand our context without the insulation that has built up over so many years … so we can feel and hear one another and so we can have the courage to be the church we must be at this point in time,' he said. That will mean finding ways to help the Anglican Church leave the past behind and adapt to life in the 21st-century. 'The glory days of Anglicanism in Canada are the past,' he said. 'We have become self-referential, insulated from our new context, riding the memory of our historical privilege.' He intends to implement the six pathways for change 'faithfully, efficiently and rapidly,' he said, adding he wants to help Anglicans 'change their sense of who we are … we need a cultural change in how we see ourselves in today's context.' For him that means accepting the church's smaller role in Canada and, at the same time, having 'a humble confidence that we have something to share with society.' Among the things Anglicans can share with society are the church's core Gospel values of peace, justice, care for the vulnerable, serving the common good and care for creation. These are, he said, 'values that resonate with many Canadians today.' Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. At the same time, Parker is interested in pursuing deeper ecumenical and interfaith relations. 'There is common ground,' he said of ways Anglicans can work with other faith groups. He also wants to promote a message of welcome for all in the church, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, along with building deeper relations with Indigenous people. Parker also indicated the church needs to show support for people suffering in Gaza This is something he signalled following his election, when he wore a stole bearing a pattern of Jerusalem crosses. The Hamas attack on Israel was 'heinous,' he said, noting that Israel has a right to defend itself. 'But the actions of the Israeli government are out of proportion to the attack,' he stated, resulting in an 'obscene loss of life … the proportionality must be called into question.' faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
12-07-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Investigating church attendance and the religious middle
If you are a Christian, how often do you go to church? Do you go weekly? Once a month? Or maybe only on Christmas and Easter? If you are in the latter group, you are not alone. That has become normal for a growing number of churchgoers in Canada, especially in the Anglican Church of Canada. That's what Sarah Kathleen Johnson found when she did research on attendance patterns of members of that church. She shares her findings in her new book, Occasional Religious Practice: Valuing a Very Ordinary Religious Experience (Oxford University Press). For Johnson, a professor of liturgy and pastoral theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, interest in the topic was sparked by her own experience of attending an Anglican church in Toronto. During Christmas services, the church was packed. The following Sundays, the sanctuary was nearly empty. Until then, Johnson had not paid much attention to that phenomenon. But seeing the contrast made her wonder how widespread and common it was for Anglicans. Very common, as it turns out. Through interviews, research and her own observations, Johnson concludes that occasional attendance is now normal in many Anglican parishes. 'Routine attendance patterns have changed,' Johnson said, noting there was a time in the past when weekly churchgoing was more the norm. But today, most Anglicans attend church only on holidays like Christmas and Easter or for life transitions such as funerals, weddings or the baptism of someone's child. And not just Anglicans; Johnson suspects that may be the dominant way many Christians go to church in Canada today. This is supported by research by Statistics Canada, which found that 25 per cent of Canadians who attend church services said it was their practice to go either monthly or between one to three times a year. Thirteen per cent said they went once a week. Johnson's findings are also supported by Neil Elliot, statistics and research officer for the Anglican Church of Canada. In his most recent report to the 2025 General Synod, he noted that attendance for Easter services was up 41 per cent and Christmas was up 51 per cent. As for Sunday attendance, that continues to 'decline steadily with no bounce back,' he said, dropping by a third since 2017. Or, as he put it, 'it appears people are coming back to festival services, but not to regular Sunday worship.' What especially intrigued Johnson about this large group of people who attend occasionally was the lack of information about them. She found many books about the very religious who attend services often and also many about non-religious people who never go at all. 'But there wasn't much on the religious middle,' she said. Through her research, Johnson found these occasional attenders are quite content with their current practice. 'They don't feel the need to go more often,' she said. As for why they feel that way, Johnson said it wasn't because they are anti-religion; they just didn't feel going to church was necessary anymore. And when they did go, it was usually because of tradition or family — Grandma wants the family together at church on Christmas Eve. One thing Johnson wants to emphasize is that occasional church attendance isn't a new thing; it's been happening for a long time. In fact, it was over 25 years ago that sociologist of religion Reg Bibby coined the term 'monthly plus' to describe how many churchgoers were considering what constituted regular attendance — no longer as weekly, but as once or twice a month. And not only that, the earliest Christians experienced it, as can be seen in the book of Hebrews. In Chapter 10 Verse 5, the author writes that believers should not be 'neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.' And it also was on the minds of church leaders in the fourth and fifth centuries, when they complained about people not going to church on a weekly basis. Understandably, clergy and denominational leaders would prefer to see churches full every Sunday. But Johnson said they should avoid preaching against the practice at times when the church is full. 'It will be hard to convert these people into intensive churchgoing,' she said. She thinks it would be better for clergy to accept this as normal and then view Christmas, Easter, weddings and funerals as a way to engage occasional attenders through what she called 'tender, pastoral moments.' Clergy can also shift their thinking about what it means to be part of a church, she said; people may feel part of its mission through volunteering, helping during a disaster, visiting with neighbours or in other ways that don't involve being at worship services. At the same time, it's important to not think God only engages people at religious services. 'I assume that the Spirit is at work within and beyond the formal and informal institutions of the Church,' Johnson said. 'God is active in the lives of people, including occasional practitioners, in ways that are known, unknown, and unknowable to theologians and social scientists.' faith@ The Free Press is committed to covering faith in Manitoba. If you appreciate that coverage, help us do more! Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow us to deepen our reporting about faith in the province. Thanks! BECOME A FAITH JOURNALISM SUPPORTER John LonghurstFaith reporter John Longhurst has been writing for Winnipeg's faith pages since 2003. He also writes for Religion News Service in the U.S., and blogs about the media, marketing and communications at Making the News. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
10-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
B.C. man says son conceived in residential school abuse, both sue church
VANCOUVER – A British Columbia father and son are suing the Anglican Church of Canada, alleging the son was conceived as a result of sexual abuse by a female employee of St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay in the late 1960s. The lawsuit says the father was 14 years old when he was victimized by a school supervisor in 1968, and he settled a lawsuit with the church in 2008 over the alleged sexual assault at the school on Cormorant Island, northeast of Vancouver Island. Court documents filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court say the plaintiffs only recently found out they were related, leading to a 'traumatic reunion,' and their relationship has been confirmed by DNA testing. The notice of civil claim says the father, now 72, 'had no idea' he had a son that was given up by the woman to a non-Indigenous family months after his birth, and the son, now 56, was traumatized by the 'shocking revelation' he was a child conceived through the rape of his biological father. The lawsuit says the plaintiffs contacted the church this year about compensation, but were allegedly told the church considered itself 'completely absolved' of liability due to settlement of the father's earlier legal action. The allegations have not been proven in court and the Anglican Church of Canada has not filed a response to the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs' lawyer and the church did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. The civil claim says the plaintiffs were 'left with no choice' but to sue the church for damages in order to 'seek closure and healing from these traumatic events.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2025.
