Miscellany #3

On MAiD, Church Decline, Theological Education, and more

Time for my this month’s paid-subscriber-only Miscellany post! Once again, this is a grab bag of ideas and reflections. I want to begin by saying again how grateful I am for your support of this Substack; your support makes what I do possible. I have some exciting pieces planned for the next months, including an autobiographical reflection on what the daily office has meant for me (designed to be a companion piece to my earlier reflection on the office), a discussion of contemporary theological education, and - perhaps most exciting - an interview with an Episcopal priest leading a growing congregation about church growth, evangelism, and discipleship.

But for now, another round-up post about some of the things I’ve been thinking about or reading.

On MAiD and the Church: Some Updates

Many of you know that euthanasia in Canada has become a particular concern of mine, and in particular the Anglican Church of Canada’s response to it - or, more precisely, our lack thereof. I was very glad to see a clear condemnation of MAiD put out by the Prayer Book Society of Canada (full disclosure: I provided some assistance in producing the initial drafts of it). It does not pull any punches, but condemns MAiD as incompatible with Christian ethics and calls for not only church-wide denunciation of MAiD but also the modelling of an authentically Christian approach towards life and death. I commend it to your reading. And the Prayer Book Society is not the only organization within Canadian Anglicanism that has taken positions against MAiD. At least one diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Diocese of Calgary, has explicitly forbidden clergy from endorsing MAiD or creating special prayers or liturgies for MAiD in its clergy handbook. This is good news indeed!