•  Niagara Reaffirms SSBs

•  Prof, President, Preacher

•  New Bishop in Toronto

•  Stats Canada: One in seven Canadians is disabled

Niagara reconfirms SSBs

(Staff)  The Diocese of Niagara has voted again for same-sex blessings--and this time the bishop has given his consent. The latest vote was 81percent in favour. In 2004 Bishop Spence withheld his consent for a similar motion, saying he was personally in favour, but would not allow it for the sake of the unity of the wider church. On Nov. 17 he changed his mind, "because the ground shifted underneath us when [the synods of] Ottawa and Montreal took the stances [on SSBs] that they did."

The Ottawa and Montreal Synods approved similar motions in October but their bishops have thus far withheld consent to proceed. The Vancouver-based Diocese of New Westminster voted for such blessings in 2001, but episcopal consent was withheld; the motion passed again in 2002, at which time Bishop Michael Ingham gave his consent. Currently eight parishes in New Westminster perform same-sex blessings.

The Niagara Synod asked Bishop Spence to allow clergy to bless the "duly solemnized" civil marriages of homosexuals as long as at least one of them is baptized. Spence says he will allow such rites as a “local option” once a protocol has been worked out.

The Anglican Network of Canada, a theologically conservative group of Anglicans, was alarmed with the Niagara vote and released a statement saying: “By proceeding with these decisions to bless civilly married same-sex couples, the Diocese of Niagara is separating itself from the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide and deepening the divide within the Anglican Church of Canada and the global Communion.

Prof, president and preacher

Since September, the evening preacher at St Matthew’s Church in Riverdale has been no less an academic luminary than Christopher Seitz, formerly Professor of Old Testament at Yale University and the University of St Andrew’s in Edinburgh. He is also the President of the Anglican Communion Institute and has been involved in recent work on behalf of Communion life. Prof. Seitz has joined the faculty of Wycliffe College and will continue his evening series during the winter at St. Matthew’s. He is an ordained Episcopal priest who has served parishes in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Germany and Scotland. He is also the editor of Studies in Theological Interpretation and has published over a dozen books on biblical interpretation. Rev. Ajit John, priest-in-charge at St. Matthews, described Seitz as “energetic and delightful” and his preaching as “a great service to the whole Church.” The evening services have been attracting souls from across the city. The new series, called “Orchestra of God’s Word,” will examine how various “instruments” in the Old and New Testaments play together. 

New female bishop

Toronto has a new suffragan bishop—The Rev. Canon Dr. Linda Nicholls. Dr. Nicholls, 53, was elected on Nov. 17 to replace Bishop Michael Bedford-Jones who will retire in February. She is the third woman to be elected as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Toronto. She follows in the footsteps of the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews (who later became diocesan bishop of Edmonton) and the Rt. Rev. Ann Tottenham. Canon Nicholls will likely oversee Trent-Durham, but that has not been finalized.

Nicholls is currently Coordinator for Dialogue (Ethics, Interfaith Relations and Congregational Development) with the Anglican Church of Canada. She has a degree in Music from the University of Toronto and taught high school music and mathematics before studying theology. A graduate of Wycliffe College, Nicholls has served on numerous ecumenical and interfaith committees and has been a parish priest, most recently at Holy Trinity in Thornhill. Canon Nicholls was elected on the third ballot. She will be consecrated at St. James’ Cathedral on Feb. 2. Five bishops oversee the diocese of Toronto which has about 80,000 people on its parish rolls.

Statistics Canada reports that 1 in 7 Canadians are disabled. There are now about 4.4 million Canadians reporting a physical, psychiatric or developmental disability. The increase of 750,000 people disabled from five years ago is due to an aging population, the willingness of people to disclose disabilities and better data collection. Max Beck, chief executive officer for Easter Seals Canada said that people with disabilities, especially children, “aren’t hidden away anymore as once happened.” But while he was pleased that the stigma attached to disability was disappearing, there were still not enough mobility supports or jobs available and communities weren’t “accessible enough.” According to StatsCan 16.5 percent of adults and 3.7 percent of children live with a disability. The largest increase was among people reporting learning disabilities while the number of people with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome has fallen slightly. (Some critics fear the drop is due to more babies with conditions such as Down syndrome being aborted.) In children, disability is related mainly to chronic conditions such as asthma and autism. For working adults chronic pain was the most common disability while for seniors it was mobility limitations.