ANGLICAN BLOGGING 101

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

Now and then, you don’t have to try very hard because the material literally writes itself:

St. Peter’s Anglican Church has long been known as an open and inclusive place.

So open, it seems, they won’t turn anyone away. Not even a dog.

When the story’s about an Anglican church and the phrase “open and inclusive” appears so close to the word “dog,” a certain joke will automatically pop into your head. In the interests of decorum and because your kids might be somewhere nearby, that joke should be avoided at all costs. You’ll thank me later.

That’s how a blessed canine ended up receiving communion from interim priest Rev. Marguerite Rea during a morning service the last Sunday in June.

According to those in attendance at the historical church at 188 Carlton St. in downtown Toronto, it was a spontaneous gesture, one intended to make both the dog and its owner – a first timer at the church — feel welcomed.

Because that’s what the most solemn ceremony in the Christian church is all about. Making people feel welcomed.

But at least one parishioner saw the act as an affront to the rules and regulations of the Anglican Church.

The Anglican Church has rules and regulations? Who knew? I always thought that phrases like “rules and regulations of the Anglican Church” were roughly equivalent to the term “Constitution of the Soviet Union.”

He filed a complaint with the reverend and with the Anglican Diocese of Toronto about the incident – and has since left the church.

Dude left the church? Why?

“I wrote back to the parishioner that it is not the policy of the Anglican Church to give communion to animals,” said Bishop Patrick Yu, the area bishop of York-Scarborough responsible for St. Peter’s, who received the complaint in early July.

Well that’s a relief.

“I can see why people would be offended. It is a strange and shocking thing, and I have never heard of it happening before.

“I think the reverend was overcome by what I consider a misguided gesture of welcoming.”

Back in the day, I used to kick around the idea of starting some kind of online church. I still do now and then, particularly after I’ve had a few too many Jim Naughtons.

I’d start a web site with its own chat room for live “worship,” prayer meetings or Bible studies. There’d be a message board for folks who wanted to leave prayer requests or discuss things in more detail. And my site would have whatever other free online doohickeys that would enhance the experience.

Of course I’d get myself “ordained” by one of those online Christian…entities that used to flood the Internet that would “ordain” you if you asked them to. Not that I’m ever going to do any of that(although I’m debating putting on some kind of live event here; stay tuned) but if I did, you know what’s really disturbing?

I’d be more of a Christian minister than this Anglican priest or her bishop.

According to Ms. Rea, the bread of the Eucharist and that pie you bake for your new neighbors or those Beggin’ Strips^TM you toss to their dog are all basically the same thing. According to her bishop, someone was offended because they had never seen a dog get a Communion wafer before.

But to be fair about it, garbage in, garbage oot(since this is Canada).

Peggy Needham, the deputy people’s warden was sitting near the front of the church when the dog was given the wafer.

When it was time for communion, the man went up to receive the bread and the wine, with the dog. “I am sure for Marguerite that was a surprise, like it was for all of us,” said Needham. “But nobody felt like it was a big deal, because it wasn’t a big deal.”

According to the account Yu heard, the man asked the reverend to give the dog a wafer. But Needham says she doesn’t recall the man making such a request. Instead, she said Rev. Rea instinctively leaned over and placed a wafer on the dog’s wagging tongue.

“I think it was this natural reaction: here’s this dog, and he’s just looking up, and she’s giving the wafers to people and she just gave one to him,” said Needham. “Anybody might have done that. It’s not like she’s trying to create a revolution.”

It wasn’t a big deal. It’s just a wafer. But there are a few names even in Sardis, a few people who understand what Rea and Yu do not.

Days later, the church and diocese received a complaint from one parishioner, who felt the church offended the sacred ritual. The bread and wine are meant to represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ and are only to be given to those who have been baptized.

Big deal, Chris. So the lady goes a little overboard and lets a dog have a Communion wafer. What’s the harm?

Here’s the harm. We Christians differ markedly on what exactly happens during Holy Communion but we agree that it is probably the single most important rite we perform.

Because Jesus Christ Himself instituted it. And if you understood that, the idea of letting a dog chow down on a Communion wafer should have literally and instinctively been impossible to you.

The fact that Rea, her bishop and, well, her congregation don’t seem to grasp that or value it speaks volumes. And this parish doesn’t get it. It doesn’t get it at all.

“In his email, the man’s argument was that Christ wouldn’t have liked it,” said Needham. “But in my opinion, Christ would have thought it was neat. It was just being human. And it made everyone smile.”

Because that’s EXACTLY why Jesus suffered that agonizing death of His on the Cross. Jesus of Nazareth, history’s first high-energy prop comic. By the way, the “apology” was as Anglican as all get out.

But congregants of the church say the act wasn’t meant to be controversial.

Like I said, sometimes the material writes itself.

Thanks to a number of people for alerting me to this.