Letters to the Editor

The Anglican Journal welcomes letters to the editor. Preference is given to letters under 100 words. All letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Please include a mailing address.

Practicing our faith in an economic crisis

Dear editor,

If we were to trust in God as much as we trust in money, we would survive this economic crisis stronger and better.

Substitute the phrase “moral crisis” for “economic crisis” and there is our answer.

Being moral and being loving mean the same thing. Not only must we learn to love people from the cradle to the grave but also to love our planet, seas, skies, plants and animals.

Without this radical shift in attitude, billions of dollars will not cure our blindness to the needs of others or our obscene greed.
Harold Rathlou
Mississauga, Ont.

Moral theology

Dear editor,

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, is “disturbed” by the prospect that an Anglican province may be constituted on the basis of theology rather than geography (Anglican Journal Web site, Nov. 18).

Some 16th-century popes were disturbed when many Christians in England decided that they no longer wished to receive “pastoral care” from clergy representing the bishop of Rome.

If a difference in pastoral theology was enough to prompt separating Canterbury from Rome, then it must be okay for a difference in moral theology to separate “conservatives” and “liberals” today.
Al Reimers
Wellington, Ont.

Hypocrisy

Dear editor,

According to the diocese of New Westminster’s own Web site, www.vancouver.anglican.ca, the clergy who “voluntarily relinquished their licences” (letter from Neale Adams, November 2008) were told they would be deposed if they did not do so.

This reveals New Westminster’s response as sheer hypocrisy.
Gordon Arthur
Burnaby, B.C.

‘Dehumanizing’ cuts

Dear editor,

Re: Seven positions terminated as part of national office cuts (Journal Web site, Nov. 25)

I read the headline and then the news article. I was disturbed, understanding that cutbacks are necessary and that seven people are being put out of work, and it is disguised as “seven positions terminated.”

You’d think in the church that we could do a better job of not dehumanizing the situation, especially on our own doorstep.
Derek Perry
Kitchener, Ont.

We need a new word for ‘marriage’

Dear editor,

Rev. Bob Bettson wrote a perceptive, article about the homosexual issue in a recent Mustard Seed (diocese of Brandon newspaper).

He spoke of “our willingness to struggle with issues of biblical interpretation rather than accepting a simplistic and unquestioning view of the Bible.” I agree that open-mindedness is a virtue.

Emotionally, I find it hard to accept homosexuality, but intellectually I realize the imperative to “love thy neighbour as thyself.”

I think that choosing one partner for life is a good thing, no matter what your sexual orientation is. Promiscuity is not a positive. However, homosexual unions are not the same as traditional marriages.

Therefore, they should not have the same name. Calling them “marriages” shows a lack of imagination and skill with the English language. I suggest the word “liasbion” to encapsulate the idea both of a liaison and the sameness of lesbianism. If it is a union of two gay people, another word, perhaps “homunion,” is called for.

I am not a linguist, and my suggestions are probably crude. However, somebody should be able to think of a good word or two that will satisfy everybody.
M. Rowbotham
The Pas, Man.

Polarization

Dear editor,

Keith Knight (December Journal) provides editorial endorsement for a moratorium. Clearly, the ground has shifted. What began as a conversation about the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people within the church, has become a discussion about the institution, its hierarchy, its borders.

Mr. Knight references the conversation largely in terms of extreme right and left with what he describes as “strong and bull-headed Anglicans at both extremes.” There is little sense of nuance in the piece. There is no critical evaluation of a call for moratorium in juxtaposition to the justice issue at the heart of the conversation.

What is most troubling about the editorial is the extent into which it is dragged into polarization by tacitly placing everyone in the conversation on equal footing.

One might assume from the editorial that the careful, painstaking work done in New Westminster, Montreal and Niagara, each in their own jurisdictions, for example, is to be evaluated on par with the cross border initiatives of the Southern Cone.

Former Canadian primate and “eminent person,” Archbishop Ted Scott, made a personal prophetic commitment to the issue of same sex blessings. Archbishop Scott understood profoundly the dynamic relationship between justice and peace. Peace on earth is a tall order.

What might better serve peace within the walls of the church is a moratorium on official high level meetings that presume to manage from afar the pastoral conscience of the local church.
Rod Gillis
Halifax, N.S.

No joy, no love

Dear editor,

My God, why has thou forsaken me? Yet one more black day in the life of a gay Anglican.

Is there no peace, no joy, no love for us anymore?

Bishop Donald Harvey and the Anglican Network in Canada need to be quieted by our primate and the presiding bishop of the United States.
Boyce H. Rice
Halifax

Outrage not enough

Dear editor,

Re: Archbishop of Canterbury ‘outraged’ by Mumbai attacks. (Journal Web site, Nov. 27)

Please know that I’m outraged as well. But so what? What good does outrage do? Other than a press release. Let’s get real!
Owen Ash
Oakville, Ont.

Why go to church?

Dear editor,

After reading about the legal disputes that have been ongoing in the diocese of New Westminster, one has to take time to make an assessment of why we should attend church. One goes to church and sits among parishioners whose views on homosexuality differ from each other; and whose views on matters relating to the parish also differ.

The priest has his/her own views and at times invokes them in the homily. We have bishops and clergy who do not answer correspondence directed to them, nor are they willing to discuss rationally a parishioner’s suggestions or complaints.

As a longtime Anglican perhaps you could answer this question: “Why should we attend church and support financially the clergy and the diocese, and constantly read and hear about how the church is wandering far away from the teachings of the Bible so that they will be politically correct?”

I can find greater solace through prayer and recognizing the Supreme Being in my daily activities without having to attend a church that teaches things others and I are not comfortable with; hence the continuing exodus from the Anglican Church.
Clyde H. Elford
Calgary

Meaningful worship

Dear editor,

My wife, Sally, and I had the privilege of attending morning service at St. Peter’s Church at Hudson Hope (diocese of Caledonia) on Sept. 21.

The service was led by the most wonderful Fay Lavallee and we want to say what a truly fantastic person she is. They are truly blessed to have her there and we pray that she continues to receive all the love and support that she deserves. There were but a dozen of us in the congregation that morning but it didn’t matter. The service was as meaningful as if the church had been full.

Our greatest joy has been visiting different churches in B.C., Yukon Territories and Alberta. May the sincere appreciation of people like ourselves give her the encouragement to continue her great work in Hudson Hope. On leaving the church that day, my wife remarked on how she would be very happy to live in Hudson Hope and become part of God’s community there. It says it all.
Len and Sally Huff
Sussex, England

Where’s Lusitania?

Dear editor,

On Nov. 16 we were asked to pray for Anglicans in Lusitania, under the direct jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I had to confess that I had no idea where Lusitania was, but that the Lord knows and we should pray for them anyway.

I looked up Lusitania in both my world atlases and it isn’t in the index of either of them. So I went to my encyclopedia and discovered that Lusitania is the name of an ancient Roman province, covering most of what is now southern Portugal and western Spain. It hasn’t existed for centuries.

Isn’t it nice that the Archbishop of Canterbury is so concerned for the welfare of the ancient Romans?
Tony Capon
Kingston, Ont.