Anglican Journal

01/15/2025

Due to the Canada Post strike late last year, many organizations faced delays in receiving mailed cheques and sending year-end donation appeals. On Dec. 30, the federal government announced plans to amend the Income Tax Act, to extend the deadline into the new year for Canadians to make charitable donations to report on their 2024 taxes.

Deborah Barretto, director of Resources for Mission, the Anglican Church of Canada’s fundraising department (centre), sorts through donation envelopes with the department’s database administrators, Fe Bautista (left), and Grace Lança (right). Photo: Matthew Puddister

01/14/2025

Rising holiday attendance and stable membership offer encouragement, but declining Sunday worship points to ongoing challenges for the church.

According to data available so far, attendance at Anglican Church of Canada Easter and Christmas services rose by 41 and 50 per cent respectively in 2023, even while average Sunday attendance fell by nine per cent over the same period—substantially faster than the decline of about 2.5 per cent per...

01/10/2025

Colleagues and parishioners remember Canon Eric Beresford as a gifted thinker, caring pastor, and inspiring teacher who touched lives across the Church.

Canon Eric Beresford, an influential church ethicist and theologian and the longest-serving president of the Atlantic School of Theology (AST), died suddenly of a heart attack Dec. 31. He was 67 years old.

01/08/2025

As the tree comes down and decorations are packed away, we ask: what now? In her monthly column, Acting Primate Archbishop Anne Germond reflects on carrying the light of Christmas into 2025.

“Well, so that is that.” These are the words that begin W.H. Auden’s poem, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio.

12/23/2024

While food banks run by religious institutions remain a vital part of the country’s food security safety net, says Richard Matern, head of research for Food Banks Canada, both they and the system as a whole are under strain.

According to the Hunger Count, a report on food insecurity across the country by Food Banks Canada, Nova Scotia saw a 21 per cent increase in visits between 2023 and 2024 alone, the largest in Canada during that time period and compounding a 53 per cent increase from 2019 to 2024. But it is far from...

12/19/2024

This month, Anglican Journal editor Tali Folkins explores the practice of giving, noting how science is now confirming what religion has always taught: it’s good for us.

In 2017, a team of scientists working at the University of Zurich’s Neuroscience Centre doled out 25 Swiss francs to 50 test subjects over four weeks. Half were told to spend the money on themselves; the other half were told to buy things for other people.

12/17/2024

Archdeacon Paul Feheley, a church communicator and principal secretary to three primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, has received the 2024 Cross of St. Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion. Lambeth Palace said Feheley was being recognized for his “outstanding and effective love, wisdom and dedication to communicating the Gospel in the Anglican Church worldwide,” praising him as “a Canadian pioneer of Church communications.”

Archdeacon Paul Feheley, a church communicator and principal secretary to three primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, has received the 2024 Cross of St. Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion.

12/16/2024

Pointing to the need for action against systemic racism and underrepresentation in the church, the primatial commission on "Reimagining the Church" is proposing structural reforms like weekend-only meetings and child care to diversify participation in governance.

It might be time for the church to hold weekend-only meetings and provide onsite child care even if it costs more, suggests the chair of a primatial commission.

12/12/2024

With northern ministry stretched thin, two provincial synods are calling on General Synod to assess the effects of $100,000 annual cuts to Council of the North funding.

Two provincial synods have passed a resolution to call on General Synod to review the impacts of cuts to Council of the North funding. The resolution, passed this September by the ecclesiastical provinces of Ontario and British Columbia and Yukon, follow a 2023 decision which would see the council.....

12/10/2024

Like many heritage churches, St. Mark’s Barriefield in east Kingston, Ont. faces an expensive challenge in trying to preserve its aging building, with the congregation currently seeking to raise $2.5 million for a tower restoration project.

For 180 years, St. Mark’s Anglican Church has loomed over the village of Barriefield in east Kingston, Ont. —distinguished by its tall square tower that has made the Gothic Revival building a local landmark, known to residents as the “church on the hill.”

12/09/2024

"May you take each step … as if in freshly fallen snow." National Indigenous Archbishop Chris Harper reflects on the beauty of winter and the importance of pausing to see God's blessings in our lives.

Almighty One, Creator, we the children of your creation pause and slow down in the snowy season, wherein even the light of day awakens to rise late and lies down early; we pause, as does all creation, to rest, renew and reflect on your beauty around us and to give thanks for the blessings seen and u...

12/04/2024

Archbishop Lynne McNaughton has submitted her resignation as archbishop and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of B.C. and Yukon, citing a desire to focus on work in her own diocese of Kootenay.

Archbishop Lynne McNaughton has submitted her resignation as archbishop and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of B.C. and Yukon, citing a desire to focus on work in her own diocese of Kootenay.

12/03/2024

“Do we still want a publication that holds up a mirror to the church?” This question was posed to members of the Council of General Synod (CoGS) in a meeting last month.

“Do we still want a publication that holds up a mirror to the church?” the Rev. Cynthia Haines Turner, chair of General Synod’s communications committee, asked Council of General Synod (CoGS) in a Nov. 9 session on a primatial committee’s suggestion that the church stop funding the Anglican ...

12/02/2024

"God’s invitation always requires a human response through pondering, questioning and, finally, acceptance or refusal," Acting Primate Anne Germond writes in her December column.

The image I've chosen for this year’s Christmas cards is the picture of the Zimbabwean Madonna and Child carving that stands proudly on the windowsill in my study.

12/01/2024

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11/29/2024

The Jubilee Commission, with its mandate to "propose a just, sustainable and equitable funding base for the self-determining Indigenous Anglican Church," is currently in search of a new chair to lead its ongoing efforts.

Church leaders are seeking a new chair for the Jubilee Commission, a group of Indigenous Anglicans tasked with examining possibilities for funding the Indigenous Anglican church. The commission’s previous chair, Judith Moses, stepped down in April. Speaking to the Journal in September, Moses cited...

11/22/2024

The diocese of Jerusalem runs the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, which is the only hospital still functioning in northern Gaza. The hospital is struggling to cope with a flood of patients amid Israel’s bombing campaign and its blocking of aid such as food and medicine.

A ceasefire and the free passage of humanitarian aid into Gaza are urgently needed to halt a genocide in progress, an official with the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem says.

11/21/2024

In response to increasing su***de rates and overdoses in Indigenous communities, the Church is working to address the urgent need for mental health support. Initiatives include programming tailored to Indigenous men, and the creation of "The Fire Talks"—a peer counselling program for Indigenous youth.

National Indigenous Archbishop Chris Harper has announced he will slow down his schedule of travel in 2025 following two years of extensive visits to church communities across the country.