A little something new.

I was at S. James's picnic after Mass for S. James Day, and took a few pics.. Here is the view from Crab Park looking towards the North Shore

Here is a shot of the altar

Sleep well.

The church picture project

So, with either my trusty DSLR or my rather handy iPhone 4 and its apps, I endeavour to take at least an exterior shot, and hopefully interior shot of every church in Vancouver... I know that is a rather big undertaking, so I am starting in the familiar territory, the Anglican Church of Canada...

So first on the menu is S. Faith's in Kerrisdale.

It is a big old building... seems to blend Romanesque and Gothic together.  Lovely location, sadly not a large congregation.

Wow... that made a jump in the stats

Thanks to all who read the post yesterday... perhaps I should use this as a way to flesh out my thoughts and such as I attempt to go forward from here.  My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

A Quandry...

I seem to have reached a point in my religious life where I am at a crossroads.  This is a crossroads that I thought I had dealt with in the not so distant past.  It is a question of vocation, faith and discerning the will of God both in my life and within my life in the Church Catholic.

I have struggled with many decisions of the Anglican Church of Canada in the past 35 years.  From Prayerbook Revision, to the ordination of women to the priesthood and the episcopate, and now the current debate over human sexuality in the Church, I appear to be on the wrong side of popular opinion. 

Now all of these things in themselves are for me not issues that I would necessarily leave over.  I'm quite happy to use the BAS, and even some of the newer revisions of liturgies.

I receive the sacrament from women priests, have attempted to nurture a few vocations in female friends of mine considering ordained ministry, and have worked both collegially and accepted the pastoral ministrations of female priests.

On the third issue, I have plenty of gay friends within the Church, both ordained and lay who are strong supporters of the direction the Church is taking on this issue.  I have been to same sex marriages and even a church blessing.  My parish priest for years has been a partnered gay man, and I care deeply for him as a priest and as a friend.

So clearly I am able to deal, so why am I more actively discerning whether there is an actual place for me in the Anglican Church of Canada.

Firstly, I am rather tired of living in a ghetto.  My Anglo-Catholic conservative credentials are impeccable... Member of the Society of Our Lady of Walsingham, Probationer in the Fellowship of Saint John the Evangelist, member of the Guild of All Souls, member of the Society of King Charles the Martyr, member of the Prayer Book Society of Canada, member of the Anglican Communion Alliance, nevermind a few other groups that shall remain nameless.  I would be a member of the Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament but they never ever respond to my emails...I can chant De Angelis from memory, I own copies of the Parson's Handbook and Ritual Notes.  I say my daily offices from a smattering of extremely high AC sources, and I've grown an appreciation for lace and gin that I never thought I would.

Secondly, I'm tired of being the only one in a room.   There is nothing like sitting around a Diocesan Council meeting knowing you are the only one in the room who thinks these things.  It was a little better at General Synod, but not that much better  It is tiring and wears one down so greatly.   I always feel as though I will be drawn into an argument over my preferences in worship or what I believe the Church has taught and is teaching today, why we should care what the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches think, or why Tradition matters here and now.  I just want to be able to go into a meeting and think that on essentials, there is unity of belief, perhaps a pipe dream but it can't be any worse than it is.

Thirdly, I am afraid of what is to come... The storm clouds are gathering on the horizon for the next issues such as the Communion of the Unbaptised, a serious rethinking of the persons of the Trinity, a change in the sacrament of marriage, and generally a faith where sin and repentence and belief in the Risen Lord are removed and replaced by a creed of PC do gooderness, a hippy Pelagianism if you please.

So the options before be are many:

1) Do I continue on my merry way, in my ghetto (a ghetto that is sadly getting smaller and smaller) pretending nothing is wrong, fiddling while Rome burns.

2) Do I take an active role in attempting to reform the Church from within.  Do I stick my neck out like never before and take a clear stand for the Gospel?  Live out Keble's famous quote "if the Church of England were to fail, it should be found in my parish."

3) Do I sail into the uncharted waters of ANiC, where locally I would almost be as much of a fish out of water as I already am.  But is that a matter of trading orthopraxy for orthodoxy and which is more essential to the faith.  This would be an extremely hard road, that I'm sure would cost me many, many friends, but is that a cross that must be born?

4) Do I look towards to See of Peter, perhaps in a parish or in the formation of the Ordinariate.  The cultural change would be huge, I would be placing a barrier between many of the people I love and care for at the altar rail, and I would also have to greatly rethink any vocation to ordained ministry.   There are also the theological issues of the past 150 years that Rome has introduced or at least formalised.  But to be in communion with the vast majority of Christendom would truly be a gift from God.

5) What about the East? But I dont have the beard for that...

6) The golf course... sometimes I feel just like packing it all in...


So these are the questions before me, I would love your input, your thoughts, questions, concerns, or comments... We are not in this alone.

My final thought is that for me, the Christian Church must live as close to the words that title this blog.  We must believe what has been taught everywhere, always and by all.  For if we do not, we pull all the foundations out of our Church, and are left with nothing.

Adventures with an iPhone app

So Eric Whitacre wrote a facebook status about this iPhone app called "Old Photo," and therefore I just had to buy it... here is what it can do.

The dining room of a friends apartment... I like the flowers.

It even makes the bike rack outside work look good.

A corner store near a friends house... Feels a little like I'm channeling Edward Hopper here.

A little slice of Paris outside London Drugs?

I also bought another camera app that has some interesting effects as well... here is something from last night out at the university.

And as I walked home from a visit  to Starbucks today, I saw this rather interesting mural on the side of a building... clearly I had to try out some different effects on it, tell me what you think...

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

Which do you prefer...

Evensong and Dinner.

Tonight I went to Evensong at the parish of S. John's Shaughnessy, a surprisingly large contingent of 30 came out for this service, as I had no idea what to expect numbers wise.

The congregation was very welcoming, and pleased to welcome another member of the Prayerbook Society into their midst, especially as one still within the Diocese.

We had a lovely dinner after, and it was great to meet strong Prayerbook Anglicans with whom the bonds of communion have been broken on an official level.

I was also interested to learn that some of the stain glass in the chancel and sanctuary comes from 11th century windows originally in Canterbury Cathedral and broken during the Second World War.

I have new app on my iPhone, Old Camera which takes some interesting pics, I snapped a pic of their old banner, which interestingly enough has the Diocese of New Westminster crest on the bottom corner... oh the ironies of life...

Until next time... I have to be at work for 4:30am tomorrow...

Spending time in the Tiber.

These same intrepid adventurers also went to the local Roman Catholic Benedictine Abbey with its own personal no fly zone.  As it is a little out of town, we had a lovely tour through places I hadn't been in six or seven years.

The Abbey itself contains both a minor and a major seminary, and is home to quite a large community of monks, and is home to a very accomplished artist.  Sadly, the church has been radically restyled, and is really not my thing.  The worst was the monstrance, something that would have made sense in Star Trek perhaps... As it was the Feast of Pentecost, the Abbot sang Solemn Vespers and Benediction, but sadly the quality of the choir was severely lacking, and the level of liturgical prowess was also a bit sad.

Here is a picture of the roof of the nave... As you can see, the late 70's are alive and well...

And here is a snap of the bell tower from a good distance as we perambulated around the rather lovely grounds.

The final picture is taken again from the grounds, overlooking the valley floor below the Abbey.

To the East.

A couple of weeks ago, on the Feast of S. Peter and S. Paul, a couple of friends and I attended a Divine Liturgy in the Ukrainian Catholic parish in town.  For a goodly long time, we were the only people in this rather massive sanctuary, then just us and the priest... a good few minutes after the appointed hour did our fellow congregants begin to arrive, perhaps no more than 20 in all.

I thought all Eastern liturgies consisted of clouds of incense, ringing of bells and babushkas telling you to stand up straighter... sadly none of these were present.  The strange mixture of English and Ukrainian made it a bit difficult but by the end of the service, I was able to follow along... and I even crossed myself correctly!

I took a picture of the beautiful cupola, and gave me various thoughts for my own parishes rather barren one.

A glorious space!

The current parish.

This parish is the mother church of the Diocese, and has been a part of the history of this city since its inception.  Burnt down in large fire in its original location (now the location of one of my favourite bars), it moved a few blocks to its present location, and rebuilt in its current form in the early 1930's.  It is a marvel of design, though it can be a bit cold, and is a little puritanical on the inside for my tastes, not nearly enough stain glass, or statuary.

It has remained a parish in the Catholic tradition, albeit in a more Affirming direction in the past seven years... but I will not get into that now.

Here we have the High Altar arrayed just prior to Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.

And this the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, as arrayed as the Altar of Repose on Maundy Thursday.

The final picture is the banner of the Mother's Union, its a beautiful banner that I must do more research on, as it is a beautiful portrayal of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Perhaps more on this later...

I rather like it.

The home parish.

The parish was founded in the early 1920's and the present building and present location came about in the early 50's.  My family has been involved with the parish since the new building, and holds a very special place in our heart.

It is a reasonably high parish, with the Sacrament reserved, chasubles always worn, even a biretta on occasion... The rector is a priest associate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and at one time a member of the SSC, if memory serves me correctly.

The parish has not been without controversy in its history, but it continues to be a vibrant parish with over 120 on a Sunday, and a strong presence within the community.

The picture is of the altar before Mass on Easter Morn.

Pictures...

I hope to have this become a mode of showcasing my photography of the churches of my city.  I have a long love of Church architecture, as well as the ornaments of worship.  I especially appreciate the work of Fr. Allen Barton, who takes some of the most glorious photos and chronicles the beauty of the Church.  I also greatly apprectiate the work of Davis D'Ambly and Matthew Alderman.  Their work is inspiring and beautiful, and deserve as much showcasing as possible, I can only hope and dream that my contributions and thoughts are one tenth of theirs.

And it begins again

I guess this is blog number four over the years... I hope this one lasts longer, and has wide range of content, for a wide range of viewers... or not depending on my mood...