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An open letter to Fred Hiltz from a St. Hildas parishioner

Jun 28th, 2008 by

Dear Bishop Hiltz

I just read the article on your comments re: mission versus doctrine. While I disagree with minimizing the importance of doctrine I am totally in agreement with the call to mission. Both should be in balance.

As a life-long Anglican and someone who attends a church that is very involved in a lot of outreach (delivering food to needy families, outreach to youth at the local high school, art shows to raise money for orphans of Aids in Africa, … and much more) I share your love of this calling and for the people we help. My concern is that this is not really the interest of the Niagara Diocese. Because of theological differences we have found it necessary to leave the ACoC (with a great deal of sadness) and join a more conservative Diocese that shares our views of scriptural authority. Since doing this, the Diocese of Niagara has done everything in its power to put us out of our building. Yes, I realize the term “our” building may be a cause of concern to the ACoC but after building it and maintaining it with no financial assistance from the diocese, all the time meeting, and on many occassions, surpassing our diocesan assessments, until told otherwise by the courts, we feel it is our building. All that aside, my concern is that all of the outreach, which we both agree is vitally important, is in danger of being lost. The diocese has no intention of continuing this ministry – they will bulldoze the building and sell the land at the first opportunity. If, as the Primate of the ACoC, you really do feel as strongly about outreach as I think you do, then I would ask that you take all of this into consideration. We may have had to take different paths but I see no reason why there isn’t room for both so that none of the good works done in any parish will be lost. This should not be a financial or legal issue as much as a moral one.

Paula Valentine

St. Hilda’s Church (ANiC)

Oakville, Ont.

Posted in Anglican Church of Canada

3 Responses to “An open letter to Fred Hiltz from a St. Hildas parishioner”

  1. 1
    Ellie M. says:
    June 29, 2008 at 8:14 am

    Magnificent. But I fear it will fall on deaf ears.

  2. 2
    Warren says:
    June 29, 2008 at 10:18 am

    When Hiltz uses the words “outreach” and “mission”, I suspect he has something very different in mind than do I when I use these words. The sort of outreach that I hope ANiC churches will be engaged in will, first and foremost, be focused on spreading the true gospel. This, I fear, is repugnant to the ACoC leadership.

  3. 3
    Frank Wirrell says:
    June 29, 2008 at 12:24 pm

    I also find the letter by Paula Valentine to be excellent. It is definitely a call for repentence on the part of the Primate and other apostate bishops in the ACoC. Unfortunately when you check what has already happened in his (Fred Hiltz’s) old diocese, there is no question that the sole concern of the ACoC is to grab as much money as possible by selling off church properties to developers. One can only describe such actions as “legalized robbery”.

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