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2008 "A Union Not for Harmony but for Strength": The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada

Reilly, Teresa; Knowles, Norman

ABC Publishing (Anglican Book Centre)

Reilly, T. & Knowles, N. 2008. "A Union Not for Harmony but for Strength": The General Synod of Anglican Church of Canada. Pp. 201-244 in Knowles, N. (ed.) Seeds Scattered and Sown: Studies in the History of Canadian Anglicanism, ABC Publishing, Toronto, Ontario. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/47923 book part

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Seeds Scattered and Sown

Seeds Scattered and Sown Studies in the History of Canadian Anglicanism

Edited by Norman Knowles

ABC Publishing • ANGLICAN BOOK CENTRE Kj ABC Publishing, Anglican Book Centre General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 80 Hayden Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4Y 3G2 abcpublishing@national. anglican, ca www.abcpublishing.com www.pathbooks.com

Copyright © 2008 by ABC Publishing (Anglican Book Centre)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Text set in Berkeley Cover and text design by Jane Thornton Cover photo: Chad Baker I Digital Vision / Getty Images

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Printed in Canada Seeds scattered and sown : studies in the history of Canadian Anglicanism I edited by Norman Knowles.

Includes index. ISBN 978-1-55126-499-8

1. Anglican Church of Canada--History. I. Knowles, Norman James, 1963-

BX5610.S39 2008 283'.71 C2008-905084-3 Contents

Contributors vii List of Illustrations vix Map of Dioceses in Canada xi A Foreword Archbishop Michael Peers xii Acknowledgements xv Introduction xvi

Section I: Foundations: Colonial Anglicanism 1 Chapter 1 "Who Shall Go Over the Sea for Us?": First Anglican Ventures into Present-Day Canada (1578-1867) M. E. Reisner 5

Chapter 2 "According to the Measure of the Rule": Laying the Foundations of the Church in Eastern Canada (1816-1867) M. E. Reisner 49

Chapter 3 "Some Moral Effect on the Population at Large": Western and Northern Canadian Anglicanism (1820-1914) Myra Rutherdale 79

Section II: Building a National Church, 1867-1945 107 Chapter 4 Citizenship, Worship, and Mission: Three Sources of Anglican Identity during the National Era Paul Friesen 112

Chapter 5 "By the Mouth of Many Messengers": Mission and Social Service in Canadian Anglicanism (1867-1945) Norman Knowles 148

Chapter 6 "A Union Not for Harmony but for Strength": The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada (1892-1992) Terry Reiily and Norman Knowles 201 Section III: Canadian Anglicanism since 1945 241 Chapter 7 Uncomfortable Pews: The Church and Change since 1945 William Crockett 245

Chapter 8 The Garden of Women's Separateness: Women in Canadian Anglicanism since 1945 Wendy Fletcher 280

Chapter 9 "1 Suggest that You Pursue Conversion": Aboriginal Peoples and the Anglican Church of Canada after the Second World War Christopher G. Trott 321

Appendix: Primates, Metropolitans, and Diocesan Bishops of the Church in Canada 346 Index 360 CHAPTER SIX 1892-1992

"A Union Not for Harmony but for Strength": The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada,

Terry Reilly and Norman Knowles

he first General Synod of the Church of England in Canada was Tinaugurated in September 1893 at the old Trinity College in Toronto. The bishops, priests, and lay delegates arrived via the newly completed national railway system to conclude an agreement that would unite the existing Ecclesiastical Provinces of Canada and Rupert's Land and the diocesan synods of New Westminster and British Columbia.1 The delegates adopted a solemn declaration and a statement of fundamental principles. Today, much amended and combined, these form the basis for our governance of the Anglican Church of Canada. Robert Machray, the Scots-born mathematician, educator, and Archbishop of Rupert's Land, was elected primate. This chapter examines the first 100 years of General Synod, primarily through the lens of the primates' addresses. These speeches provide insight into the state of the church, at least from the perspective of its chief spokesperson. The addresses also offer a window into the changing priorities, personalities, and leadership styles of the church's national leader. Although there have always been significant limits on the power and authority of the primate, most holders of the office have been able to exercise considerable influence over the direction and development of the church in Canada. Since the 1830s, diocesan bishops had faced three significant challenges: the increasingly voluntary nature of financial support for religion in the colonies, the need for greater lay participation in the life of the church to ensure sufficient financial support, and the effects of steadily

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 201 decreasing financial support from England.2 By the 1890s, dioceses were also concerned about providing ministry to new immigrants, particularly on the prairies. Machray addressed these needs in his opening sermon. "When a mission might be expected to be approaching the ability of self-support," Machray observed, "it has to be divided, and a double call comes on our Mission Funds."3 Other challenges included the staffing of Aboriginal missions and the new residential schools, and supporting overseas missionaries, first in Japan, and later in China and India. Synods had already shown themselves to be an effective means of addressing the challenges confronting the church. Inspired by the success of synodical government in the United States, the bishops of the Canadian dioceses met in Quebec City in 1851 and drafted a resolution to the Archbishop of Canterbury, proposing the creation of colonial synods. When the resolution received an indifferent response from the archbishops Lambeth Palace office, a delegation of Canadian bishops travelled to London in 1853, where they joined other bishops from overseas to impress upon the archbishop the needs of the church in the colonies. Persuaded by the colonial bishops, the archbishop introduced into the House of Lords a bill authorizing the creation of colonial synods.

Approved by the Lords, the bill was defeated in the House of Commons.4 That same year, the Bishop of Toronto, John Strachan, undeterred by this setback and confronting the serious financial crisis created by the dissolution of the Clergy Reserves, called a visitation of clergy and laymen from every parish in the diocese. The assembled clergy and laymen then proceeded to pass unanimously a resolution declaring that the meeting constituted the synod of the diocese and was duly authorized to transact business. In 1854 it approved a declaration of principles and constitution.3 The Diocese of Nova Scotia followed Toronto's example in 1855. Evangelicals in the church fiercely opposed the formation of synods, believing that this was a power grab by tractarian bishops determined to assert their influence and spread high-church liturgy and theology.6 Despite this opposition, other dioceses gradually followed suit and established their own synods. With the formation of diocesan synods, the need to provide for cooperation and coordination among dioceses became apparent. This need was satisfied in 1860, when the Dioceses of Quebec, Toronto, Montreal, Huron, and Ontario joined together to create the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada and named the Bishop of Montreal, Francis Fulford, as the first metropolitan. The first provincial synod met the following year and approved a constitution. Under its terms, the synod was empowered to exercise ecclesiastical discipline over both clergy and laity through the

202 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN enactment of canons, provide regulations for the appointment of bishops, priests, and deacons and the creation of new dioceses, and promote "the further consolidation and united action of the whole of dioceses of British North America." In 1874 the Dioceses of Nova Scotia and Fredericton joined the province. The Ecclesiastical Province of Canada had been created by a confederation of pre-existing dioceses. A different pattern was followed in the West. In 1849 Letters Patent created the vast Diocese of Ruperts Land, which covered all of the territories that drained into Hudson's Bay. A diocesan synod was created in 1869, but it was clear that the diocese was too large for a single bishop. In the past, new dioceses had been created by Letters Patent from the Crown. Self-governing provinces such as Rupert's Land, however, had the authority to create dioceses in their own right. In 1873 the Bishop of Rupert's Land, Robert Machray, called upon the diocesan synod to pass a canon creating a provincial synod with the authority to create new dioceses. As creatures of the provincial synod, it was hoped that the new dioceses would share in a larger vision and be united by a common sense of mission. It was not long, however, before tensions emerged between the authority of the metropolitan and the provincial synod and the authority of diocesan bishops and their diocesan synods.7 In 1911 the Ontario dioceses left the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada and formed their own provincial synod. Intense divisions between high- and low-church factions prevented British Columbia's three dioceses from uniting in a provincial synod until 1915. In 1865, buoyed by their own experience of provincial synods and concerned for the unity of the church, following the controversial excommunication of the liberal Bishop of Natal, J.W. Colenso, by the Metropolitan of South Africa, Robert Gray, Canadian bishops appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury to summon an international meeting of all bishops." Some went even further and envisioned a synodical-like meeting with clergy and lay representatives, but there was little stomach in England or the United States for the creation of such a super-synod with overarching authority. In the end, only bishops gathered at Lambeth in 1867 to consult with each other. This first gathering, however, laid the foundation for the subsequent Lambeth Conferences that were held every 10 years. Although the conferences did not have the power to define doctrine or uphold discipline for the whole Anglican Communion of self- governing churches, the conferences did come to exercise considerable moral authority. In 1867 the Canadas, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick came together to form the Dominion of Canada, with the hope of creating a

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 203 transcontinental nation that stretched from "sea to sea." Confederation encouraged Canada's Christian denominations to think and act in national terms. As the nation expanded from coast to coast, the churches found themselves responsible for delivering the gospel in a vast area with limited human and financial resources. The enormity of the task caused many Canadian Protestants to put aside the divisive religious controversies of the past and consolidate their efforts to address the immediate challenges of the present. The Presbyterians were the first religious body to form a national organization in 1874. Methodists followed suit in 1884. In 1889 Anglicans formed an Association for Church Union to promote the creation of a national church body, and the Provincial Synods of Canada and Rupert's Land passed resolutions supporting the idea in principle that same year. As financial support from Britain dwindled, the need for the Canadian church to become self-reliant and self-governing became increasingly apparent. In 1890 representatives from both ecclesiastical provinces and the Dioceses of British Columbia and New Westminster met in Winnipeg to draft a constitution for a General Synod of the whole Canadian church. The Diocese of Caledonia refused to participate in the process and remained independent of General Synod until 1908. The General Synod of the Church of England in Canada officially came into being in September 1893. Delegates issued a solemn declaration, adopted a set of fundamental principles, and agreed on a basis of constitution. The solemn declaration took the radical position that the Canadian church was no longer an integral part of the Church of England but rather was in "full communion with the Church of England throughout the world." The signs of this unity were neither the commonly understood symbols of the sovereign as supreme governor nor the 39 Articles of Religion, but the doctrine, sacraments, and discipline as set out in the Book of Common Prayer.9 In a statement of fundamental principles, delegates reaffirmed the existing rights, powers, and jurisdictions of both diocesan and provincial synods. The jurisdiction of General Synod, as set out in the basis of constitution, included "matters of doctrine, worship and discipline," "the general missionary and educational work of the church," and "the education and training of Candidates for Holy Orders." General Synod comprised two houses: an Upper House composed of all bishops and a Lower House made up of elected clerical and lay representatives from each diocese. The House of Bishops met separately and in camera under the presidency of the primate. A prolocutor or deputy prolocutor, elected by members, presided over the Lower House. Adoption of any measure required a majority vote in both houses, and matters dealing

204 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN Robert Machray, Archbishop of Rupert's Land and the first Primate of All Canada

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 205 with questions of doctrine, worship, and discipline required approval by two successive meetings of General Synod. With the formation of General Synod, some individuals within the church, especially in eastern Canada, began to question the need for ecclesiastical provinces. Concerned that their needs and interests would not be adequately addressed in a body dominated by the more populous East, westerners insisted that the structure of ecclesiastical provinces be maintained. Provincial synods, Machray of Rupert's Land explained, would provide "a check on the Action of General Synod which may be unacceptable to our people." Although General Synod's election of Machray as the first primate signalled a desire to preserve diocesan and provincial prerogatives, Machray did not intend General Synod to be simply a passive instrument dependent on provincial or diocesan demands. He had a wide vision for the mission of the Canadian church and saw General Synod as an essential instrument "for united, practical work through the systematizing, unifying, and consolidating of the Church in its various departments, for the provision of any necessary additional services so that there may be, if possible, a uniformity of use throughout the Dominion, and for giving expression to the mind of the

Church on social, moral, and religious questions as may be needed."10 He concluded, "It is in short, a union not for harmony but for strength."" The problems of a country with too much geography were readily apparent by the time of the second meeting of General Synod in Winnipeg in 1896. Although General Synod had a set of principles and responsibilities, it lacked the organizational means to administer them. Since the inaugural meeting in 1893, it had been difficult to arrange meetings of committees, and Machray, as Bishop and Metropolitan of Rupert's Land as well as Primate, was preoccupied by concerns close to home and had little time to devote to the affairs of General Synod and the national church. Although delegates to General Synod arrived in Winnipeg with high expectations, they were soon confronted by the difficulties of translating the ideals upon which Synod had been created into the realities facing the church. Following the formation of General Synod in 1893, both the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) concluded that the Canadian church should take over responsibility for Canadian missions and announced plans to withdraw from the field. The timing could not have been worse. The arrival of large numbers of immigrants in the West and a severe ecenomic depression strained the Canadian church's limited resources. General Synod appealed to the CMS and the SPG to continue their work in Canada until a missionary society of the Canadian

206 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN church could be created—something delegates promised to put in place by the next meeting of General Synod. Implementation of these plans was delayed, however, by the decision that Synod should meet every six rather than every three years. This unfortunate decision left the Canadian church in limbo during a critical period in the nation's development.12 Other business soon found itself bogged down in the coming and going between houses. A proposal from the Diocese of Huron for a new prayer book, for example, went back and forth between the Lower and Upper Houses of Synod several times before it was agreed to refer the matter to a committee. Although such experiences tempered expectations, they also provided vital learning opportunities as Synod came to terms with what was needed to fulfill its mandate. General Synod did not meet again until 1902. During the preceding six years, thousands of immigrants had poured into the West; the population of the nation's cities had increased dramatically, creating a host of social problems; and the system of Aboriginal residential schools was greatly extended as part of the federal government's policy of assimilation. Although Machray was too ill to take part in Synod's deliberations in Montreal, he had worked long and hard on the preparation of a canon establishing the Missionary Society of the Church of England in Canada (MSCC). The society was founded on the inclusive idea that every member of the church, rich or poor, urban or rural, of whatever theological leaning, was part of this national and worldwide missionary effort. Not everyone welcomed the attempt to consolidate the church's missionary work at home and abroad under the auspices of one national society, but Machray reassured the sceptics. He asserted that "there was no intention to touch any of the accumulated funds of the various Dioceses, but simply to merge the Diocesan efforts in one Dominion effort.... The scheme merely extended to the whole Dominion the Domestic and Foreign Mission Society of the province of Canada. The only changes were that any Diocese might have help for missions in it, and that statistics were requested from all."13 In a generous response to the new Canadian initiative, the SPG announced that it would continue to support work in the Canadian mission field while the MSCC got organized. Meanwhile, the Colonial and Continental Church Society began to work with the CMS and the new society to ensure the continuation of the block grants to western dioceses. These grants were essential to the church's work among the growing communities of the West and helped to defray the costs of missionary salaries, accommodations, and travelling expenses, as well as church-building and repairs.14 In his primatial address, read by Archbishop William Bennett Bond of Montreal, Machray lamented that

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 207 there was no united effort to help theological colleges. He also noted that the church needed a national "widows and orphans fund" and that the current social concerns of intemperance and observance of the Lord's Day required national attention. Recognizing the requirement of the church to respond to the needs of a rapidly changing world, General Synod reversed an earlier decision and resolved to meet every three years. It elected Bond to succeed the ailing Machray as primate. The beginning of the twentieth century witnessed significant social and economic change as Canada evolved from an agrarian and rural society into an urban and industrial one. This transition was accompanied by tremendous social dislocation and hardship as well as the collapse of old virtues and displays of new vices. Although these conditions inspired many middle-class Canadians to begin to organize and agitate for a variety of social reforms, moral issues dominated the 1905 meeting of General Synod in Quebec City. The archbishops and bishops of the Upper House set the tone in a pastoral letter issued at the beginning of Synod. The letter stressed the need for good personal example and avoidance of luxury; commended a resolution forbidding any clergyman of the Church of England in Canada "to solemnize a marriage between persons, either of whom shall have been divorced from one who is living at the time"; stressed the sacredness of the Lord's Day and praised the work of the Lord's Day Alliance of Canada; and condemned birth control. In urging support for the MSCC, the bishops made it clear that evangelism and individual conversion were the only lasting solutions to the social and moral problems that afflicted Canada. Threatened by the nature and pace of the changes that were transforming society, they looked to the traditional worship of the church to provide continuity and constancy, and expressed their opposition to the tendency to shorten church services and introduce unauthorized musical selections, especially the substitution of anthem solos for the offertory sentences.15 Such conservatism was not limited to the bishops in the Upper House. The lay and clerical delegates of the Lower House rejected an appendix to the Book of Common Prayer, but did agree to form a committee to draft a hymn book for use in the Canadian church. This was Bond's last General Synod. He died at the age of 91 in 1906 and was succeeded by the Bishop of Toronto, Arthur Sweatman. Just prior to the fifth General Synod in 1908, the first Pan-Anglican Congress took place in London. There was a sense that the social and moral problems of the age were global in scope and that international cooperation was necessary if solutions were to be found. Some 1,500 delegates met in London to discuss the church's position on everything

208 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN from mission and marriage laws to socialism and sisterhoods. The congress had no power to legislate for the church but was intended to inform and inspire. The results appear to have been mixed. "Although the addresses were generally lacking in suggestiveness for the solution of difficult problems as had been hoped for from them," a Canadian delegate to the congress reported to General Synod later that same year, "the gain in knowledge and expansion of view from such intercourse of many minds, on the most vital topics that are engaging modern thought, must be immense.""' The Lambeth Conference that followed the Pan- Anglican Congress set out principles for prayer book revision. Once more, a resolution for prayer book revision was brought before General Synod and yet again it struck "a committee for the Enrichment and Adaptation of the prayer book" to consider the matter. Although General Synod was reluctant to change the character and doctrine of the prayer book services, it did authorize a new hymnal, the Book of Common Praise, and the establishment of the Sunday School Commission to provide curriculum materials and encourage training in new teaching methods. Ecumenism was another prominent theme in 1908. General Synod expressed support for the ecumenically oriented Student Volunteer Missionary Movement that had grown out of the college YMCAs (Young Men's Christian Associations) in the United States and Great Britain under the leadership of John Mott. Synod also approved the creation of an Anglican branch of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, which urged the cooperation of the churches to achieve the "evangelisation of the world in this generation." The concern for Christian unity among Protestants was as much practical as theological. In a sermon to General Synod, Bishop Samuel Cook Edsall of Minnesota observed, "Hence it is that we see warring sects, or if not always that feeble and divided detachments, largely failing in the work that can only be done by Christ's united army. Hence it is that many smaller communities have several struggling Christian congregations, absorbed in strife for self-preservation, where, instead, all the power of organization should be centred in a common effort to leaven the life of the community. Hence it is that missionary funds are overtaxed, and, so far as our own branches of the Church are concerned the hearts of Bishops, Priests and earnest Laymen are oftentimes made heavy."17 As the work of General Synod expanded, the need for a permanent office and administrative staff became evident. General Synod secured a property in a fashionable neighbourhood of Toronto close to the largest Anglican congregation in the country, St. Paul's Church on Bloor Street. There, a small staff, including the general treasurer, the general secretary of MSCC, and the director of the Sunday School Commission, managed

A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 209 the affairs of the church between Synods. At the 1911 meeting of Synod in London, Ontario, the new primate, Archbishop Samuel Pritchard Matheson, addressed the question of purpose of the General Synod. The gathering, he asserted, is "an organization not only for coordinating and collaborating [with] the scattered dioceses in united energies and efforts, but also for initiating and carrying into success schemes for God and the Church which are too large to be contemplated or undertaken by individual dioceses or provinces."18 In defending the mandate of General Synod, Matheson sought to silence critics who had questioned his authority to consecrate William White as the Bishop of the missionary Diocese of Honan in China. Matheson challenged Anglicans to do more as a national church to serve the thousands of immigrants pouring into western Canada and to increase missionary efforts overseas. This was an expansive time that saw the death or retirement of many of the founders of the national church, including the first general secretary of the MSCC, Canon Norman Tucker. Sydney Gould, who had served as a missionary in Palestine, succeeded him and one of his first tasks was to mend relations with the Woman's Auxiliary (WA) of the MSCC. Gould brought to General Synod an "Aim and Plan" that granted the WA responsibility for work among women and children in the overseas mission field. Synod also sanctioned the creation of a board of divinity degrees to promote common standards at the church's theological colleges, and approved a process for the slow task of prayer book revision. The newly constituted General Board of Religious Education began to bring its concerns before the Synod. Among these were the question of modern methods of Sunday school teaching, in particular the use of a series of teaching courses in addition to the catechism and glass lantern slides and other illustrative materials. Ever conscious of the growth of Roman Catholicism, the church made an attempt to restore Bible reading, if not Bible teaching, into the public schools. The next General Synod was scheduled to meet in Vancouver in 1914 to mark the formation of the new Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia, but the outbreak of the First World War in August caused the meeting to be postponed until the following year. When Synod finally met, the war was uppermost in the members' minds. "While we sit here," Matheson asserted in his opening address, "God is permitting to continue the most awful war the world has ever seen, a war involving a sacrifice of men and treasure unparalleled in the history of the world." Like many churchmen of the day, Matheson was convinced that God "must have a purpose, and that purpose is the most transcendently great and grave one for it is being bought by the most colossal price ever paid for

210 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN anything beneath the skies, except the price on Calvary for the sins of the whole world."Isl As English Canadians united behind the war effort, many church leaders stressed the war's redemptive possibilities. The willingness of Anglo-Canadians to sacrifice for a just cause reaffirmed their faith in the possibility of social uplift and moral regeneration through collective action. Such sentiments contributed to the emergence of the social gospel. This new social Christianity focused on the practical application of Christian teaching to improve the quality of human relationships and, in so doing, help create the Kingdom of God here on earth. The social gospel eroded the barriers between the sacred and the secular and provided the basis for a critique of modern society. General Synod embraced the spirit of the social gospel when it created the Council of Social Service (CSS) to gather information on current social issues so that the church might work toward finding Christian solutions to the problems of the day. Some feared that the new CSS would entangle the church in political issues. The primate disagreed. "Our weakness in the past," Matheson said, "has not been that we do not possess proper ideals or convictions on public questions, but that we have failed to bring them officially and authoritatively before the attention of our people." He insisted, "The Church after prayerfully forming its judgment on public questions and holding up proper ideals of character and conduct should not embalm these in journals of Synods, which are seen by but few," but rather, should have them distributed and made known "among our people."20 In his address to Synod, Matheson paid tribute to a man who had not been afraid to speak his mind on controversial issues— the tenacious Toronto lawyer and ardent evangelical, Samuel Hume Blake. Blake, who had died the previous year, was one of the founders of the MSCC and, as a member of the society, chaired an ad hoc committee investigating the state of the Aboriginal residential schools staffed and supported by the church. The committee carefully documented the deplorable conditions that existed in many of the schools and recommended that they be closed and replaced by day schools located on the reserves and run by the federal government. Blake's report was widely condemned by western Canadian bishops and missionaries and he was eventually forced to resign his position within the MSCC. With Blake's removal, neither the MSCC nor General Synod seriously questioned the church's involvement in the residential schools system until the 1960s. There was more than a little irony in Matheson's eulogy to Synod: "We shall miss his scintillating wit, his protagonism in upholding causes which he had at heart, his loyalty to missionary enterprises, and above all we shall miss the contagion of his earnestness and the uplift of his courage in undertaking great things for God and his Church."21

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 211 General Synod next met in 1918. By then, the enthusiasm and optimism that had initially greeted the outbreak of "the war to end all wars" had dissipated. Some began to doubt whether the war served any higher purpose and questioned how a merciful and loving God could permit such senseless loss of life. Others began to question if a Christian social order was possible in a world capable of such destruction. Still others became disillusioned with the church and its efforts to portray the war as a noble Christian crusade. In his address to Synod, Matheson acknowledged that "the war has clearly demonstrated that in our ordinary life as a community, even in an extraordinary crisis in that life, religion has not played the part which it should" and that "the majority of people have lost the traditional habit of Church attendance." He warned, "Let us prepare and be ready for prompt action, lest the Church's part in reconstruction be swallowed up and overwhelmed by the avalanche of all other after-war necessities.. .."22 In order to secure a place for itself in the postwar world, Matheson insisted that the church must face the modern situation squarely and take action: "I plead that as a Church we really do something tangible and practical. And to that end, let us put to ourselves frankly the question whether we have not been, to put it mildly, not a little to blame in the past? Have we been responsive enough? Have we not been just too aloof in our attitude to others?"23 Matheson believed that change must begin among the clergy, who needed to redirect their energies away from the church, with its guilds and recurring meetings, to pastoral work within the homes and communities where people lived. To facilitate this change, the clergy required better training at the theological colleges that received national support. It was not only the clergy who needed better tools. To ensure that the church's Sunday school teachers were adequately trained and provided with quality resources, General Synod converted the Sunday School Commission into the General Board on Religious Education (GBRE). Convinced that the demands of the modern world required that the church re-examine its traditions and past positions, Archbishop Matheson urged General Synod to proceed with the revision of the Canadian prayer book, to take the question of church union seriously, and to modernize its administration, beginning with the coordination of pension benefits. The decision of the CMS to withdraw its support from western Canadian missions by 1920 required that General Synod establish a firm financial foundation for the additional work that would be assumed by the MSCC as it took over responsibility for the CMS's missions and the Aboriginal residential schools. In view of the losses of men and support during the war, this was to be a huge undertaking. The solution was the first national fundraising campaign—

212 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN the Anglican Forward Movement. It was a success; the original objective of $2.5 million was exceeded by nearly $1 million. The 1920s witnessed a revolution in values as Canada became a mature urban and industrial society. The emergence of an industrial economy based on mass production required the creation of a new culture of consumption in which traditional values of thrift, self-reliance and self-control, industriousness, and suspicion of pleasure and leisure had to be overturned and replaced. To encourage consumption, advertisers began to equate progress and modernity with the purchase of consumer goods and to identify products with a particular lifestyle and social status. In such an environment, Canadians came to define themselves in terms of what they owned and the pleasure they could pursue, rather than a shared morality or a common set of religious values. This new culture of consumption signalled a dramatic shift from salvation in the next world to material well-being in this, and many Canadians ignored the Sabbath and neglected church attendance in favour of a wide array of amusements and attractions offered by the marketplace. Not only were growing numbers of Canadians infrequently attending church services, surveys revealed a steady decline in family prayer, home devotions, and public Bible reading. At General Synods in 1921, 1923, and 1927, Canadian Anglicans struggled to come to terms with the realities of an increasingly secular and materialistic modern society. During the 1920 Lambeth Conference, the worlds Anglican bishops received a report that challenged the assumptions of laissez-faire capitalism. The report urged that the current economic system, which upheld competition for private gain, be replaced by a system that favoured cooperation for the common good.24 The CSS expressed similar views in its report to General Synod the following year. But rather than address the source of Canada's social problems, General Synod tended to focus on the symptoms. Resolutions on prohibition, divorce, crime, the white slave trade, lewd literature, and gambling all found their way to the Synod floor during the 1920s. In 1927 General Synod endorsed an "Australian" or "whites only" immigration policy. Such a policy, it was believed, would "keep Canada British and Christian" and protect the nation from alien cultures and dangerous ideas. Despite the work of CSS, General Synod increasingly adopted models from the business world in administering its own activities. In 1921 it approved a canon on finance that gave great powers to the executive committee and the general secretaries of the MSCC, the CSS, and the GBRE. Postwar inflation made consideration of the pensions and beneficiary funds a crucial internal issue and furthered the movement toward greater centralization and efficiency.25 Questions

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 213 of organization came to the fore at the tenth General Synod in 1924. A report on the office of primate recommended that the current practice of appointment continue. In the past, the Upper House of Synod had simply selected the most senior bishop within its ranks to be primate. Some began to question this process, however, and suggested that the primate should be selected on the basis of demonstrated administrative experience rather than seniority. The church, they argued, needed to be organized like a business, with the primate functioning as the chief executive officer.26 The question of women's position in the church also found its way to the floor of General Synod during the 1920s. In 1921 Synod approved a canon on deaconesses and a rite for the recognition of deaconesses. Deaconesses first appeared in the Church of England in 1861 and in the Canadian church in 1886. In 1893 the church established a Deaconess and Missionary Training House in Toronto to prepare women for church work both at home and abroad. Deaconesses were to be "loving disciples" who channelled the maternal gifts of womanhood into a life of service, sacrifice, and self-denial. Considerable confusion existed within the church, however, about the standing and status of deaconesses, and practices differed from diocese to diocese. The 1921 canon sought to standardize practice within the whole Canadian church. It stated that unmarried or widowed women of "devout character and approved fitness" could be "set apart" by a diocesan bishop as deaconesses. The canon made it clear that they were not ordained and that they would relinquish the office if they married. They were required to submit to the will and authority of male clerical superiors, and their tasks were limited to those that fell within women's "proper" sphere, such as the care of the poor and sick, ministering to women, girls and children, religious education, and moral reform.27 Although women had secured the right to vote federally and in most provincial elections, they could not be elected as delegates to General Synod. In 1920 the Lambeth Conference acknowledged the vital contribution made by women to the life of the church and the bishops resolved that they "should be admitted to those Councils of the Church to which laymen are admitted, and on equal terms." Inspired by the Lambeth resolution, the synod of the Diocese of Caledonia in 1923 elected Inez Smith as a delegate to the eleventh General Synod. The General Synod prolocutor refused to recognize her as a delegate on the grounds that she was not legally a "person" according to the British North America Act.28 Delegates defeated a motion from the floor invoking the spirit of the Lambeth resolution. The Canadian church's overseas missionary work increased

214 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN significantly during the 1920s. The stated objective of the work was to create self-supporting dioceses and by the 1920s, the missionary dioceses established by the Canadian church in China and Japan were asking for their own synods. This raised questions about the ownership of church properties and the nature of the relationship between these dioceses and the Canadian church. Delegates to the General Synod of 1924 were not convinced that the Canadian church's dioceses in China and Japan were ready to hold synods of their own or that the church should relinquish control of its overseas properties. The needs of these missionary dioceses were brought first-hand to the next General Synod in 1927 by Bishop William White of Honan. White believed that domination of the church by foreign missionaries posed the greatest obstacle to Christianity in China. "The strong nationalist spirit of present China," he reported to the MSCC, "is violently anti-foreign and therefore anti-Christian. Until this stigma, as they view it, can be removed, the Church in China cannot be the Church of the Chinese nation."w White did not mince words in his remarks to General Synod. "The work of evangelizing China," he regretted, "has been slow compared with other lines of modern progress." That "Christianity has not kept pace with the advances of Western civilization and education and commerce," White explained, was largely due to "the boastful superiority of the white man." He insisted that the future of Christianity in China depended on the creation of new churches that were "indigenous, autonomous and free" and "in full communion with the Church of Christ throughout the world." He insisted, "The rights of the Chinese both in mission schools and the Church itself must be recovered."30 General Synod was not yet ready to devolve its authority over the church's overseas missions, although it did consent to the ordination of Bishop Lindel Tsen as a Suffragan Bishop of Honan and later, as Whites successor. "What we suffer from most in this wide Dominion of ours," Matheson declared to General Synod in 1927, "is our geography. The country is so vast and the distances so great and the conditions in the different areas so diverse that there is a serious liability of the growth of sectionalism and disintegrating influences. This is true politically, economically and in many other ways."31 In an effort to overcome the problems of geography, General Synod announced the appointment of Archibald Fleming as Archdeacon of the Arctic and established the Anglican National Commission to conduct a survey of the varied problems and needs of the church in every region. Three field commissioners—Derwyn T. Owen, then Bishop of Niagara, the general secretary of the MSCC, Sydney Gould, and the chancellor of the Diocese of Ottawa, Francis Gisborne—travelled

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 215 back and forth across the country to meet with bishops, diocesan officials, clergy, lay men, women, and youth, and to tour parishes, missions, and residential schools. Drawing upon the tools and techniques of the new social sciences, the commission sent out questionnaires and collected statistics. It presented its findings and recommendations to General Synod in 1931. "There can be no doubt," the commission said, "that the Anglican system as it obtains in this land has failed to achieve the results commensurate with the money and effort expended." The reasons for this failure were many and complex, and some were beyond the church's power to control. While little could be done to stop the exodus from the countryside and the shifting demographics that threatened many rural parishes, the church had to do something to address the public's general "lack of confidence." "Too often," the commission reported, the church appeared to be "insufficiently concerned with the larger and more important matters of the life of the community." Lacking a "clear-cut conception of its mission," the church was unable to communicate its reason for being in a language that was meaningful "in the face of the new atmosphere in which men and women and children live." As a result, youth drifted away, men became disinterested and attended services infrequently, and many of the women who remained became frustrated by the limitations and expectations the church placed upon them. The renewed life of the church, the commission concluded, demanded that it find new ways to engage the laity and the modern world. The church could not simply look to its past, but needed to open itself to combining that "which is true in the old with that which is true in the new."32 The commission recognized that the task of finding such a balance fell largely to the clergy. The church thus needed to ensure that men called to ministry were equipped with the professional skills required to minister effectively in the modern world, and that good men were not discouraged from taking holy orders by the inadequate stipends received by too many clergy. To achieve this objective, the commission recommended a complete overhaul of theological education and the creation of a national stipend system. There was also a need to provide the church with strong and effective national leadership. The commission observed that "the wide divergence of teaching and practice" permitted within Anglicanism "gives an impression of vagueness and a lack of coherence in teaching." It recommended that the powers of General Synod be increased to provide the church with an "effective and final" voice and that the "office of the primate be enlarged so as to enable the holder thereof to have greater influence in the life and work of the Church."33

216 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN The work of the Anglican National Commission was impressive and its recommendations sweeping. But 1931 was not the time for bold new ventures. Canada found itself in the midst of the worst economic- depression in its history. Unprecedented unemployment put enormous pressures on families, communities, and governments as tens of thousands of Canadians were forced onto relief. In the West, the collapse of the economy combined with the environmental catastrophe of drought to force thousands of families out of their homes and off the land. Even those Canadians fortunate enough to keep their jobs and to hold onto their homes could not isolate themselves from the unprecedented social misery. The economic hardships of the Great Depression put great strains upon the church. The endowments of the missionary dioceses in the West, as well as those of the Archbishop of Ruperts Land and St. Johns College and St. John's Cathedral in Winnipeg, were lost when the law firm to which they had been entrusted fell into financial difficulty. To meet the crisis, the Diocese of Rupert's Land sold the episcopal residence, Bishop's Court in Winnipeg; the church imposed a 7% levy upon the salaries of all officials and missionaries employed by the MSCC; and the executive committee of General Synod launched a successful Restoration Appeal whose funds were administered by General Synod. Lifted up by the success of the appeal, the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land proceeded with plans to create the Diocese of the Arctic and elected Archibald Fleming as its first bishop in 1933. These recent events impressed upon delegates to the thirteenth General Synod in 1934 the need for strong national leadership, and they confirmed the canon on primacy introduced at the previous Synod. All bishops in the Upper House could now be nominated for the office of primate, with election by the Lower House of clergy and laity. Following the new procedures, General Synod elected the Bishop of Toronto, Derwyn Owen, as primate. Although the new canon on primacy sought to broaden the influence of the office, Owen told Synod: "I believe that whatever else the Primate does or does not do, he should try to be a man who knows the whole Church in Canada ... this office is more a matter of personal relationships."34 Owen, who had chaired the Anglican National Commission, attempted to keep before General Synod the issues addressed by it. He pressed for money for publicity and for the appointment of a general secretary for General Synod, but Synod deferred these requests. With many dioceses struggling during the Depression to make their apportionment payments, there was little support for increasing General Synods budget.33 Faced with financial difficulties at home, the 1934 General Synod proved more open than previous Synods to the idea of the indigenization of overseas

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 217 dioceses, and cleared the way for the Dioceses of Honan and Mid-Japan to become autonomous, supported but not controlled by the Canadian church. Bishop Lindel Tsen of Honan and Bishop Paul Shinji Sasaki of Mid-Japan attended General Synod in 1937. Notably absent from the 1931, 1934, and 1937 meetings of General Synod are any significant resolutions on how to combat the economic and social crisis brought about by the Great Depression. At the 1931 Synod meeting in Halifax, the CSS general secretary, Canon C.W. Vernon, proposed that the new primate, Clarendon Worrell, invite the federal government to establish a national council on social and economic research to investigate the causes of the Depression and invite experts to a national conference to explore solutions. Some Synod delegates wanted a more robust response from the church, and introduced motions condemning capitalism and demanding government action. These motions were either defeated or watered down by the majority of delegates, who believed that Synod should steer clear of such politically contentious issues. Little was said about current social and economic issues at the thirteenth General Synod, held in 1934. Vernon had died prior to the gathering, leaving the CSS without a general secretary, and Synod was preoccupied by the recent financial crisis in the church and its own reorganization. A more lively debate took place in 1937 when communism was on the agenda. Delegates defeated a resolution from the Diocese of Huron condemning communism and agreed to strike a committee to draft a new resolution on communism and the social order. Although the Huron resolution disapproved of communism's political means, it did acknowledge "the general maladjustment of the economic and industrial life in our rapidly changing society" and the need for "a greater degree of cooperation among all groups in the field of production, a mutual responsibility in the operation of industry and a more equitable share in the fruit of their common labours."36 The outbreak of the Second World War delayed the holding of General Synod until 1940, but the executive committee continued to meet annually to attend to the church's administrative needs. Of particular concern was the need to place the ongoing work of General Synod on a surer financial footing. It was clear that the Canadian church must rely on its own resources and could no longer look to the mother Church of England for financial support. Bishop Ralph Spence of Rupert's Land chaired a committee to re-examine the apportionment system. The committee recommended that apportionments be determined after consultation with the dioceses so they could better reflect the capacity of each diocese to contribute.37

218 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN The war years were difficult ones for the Canadian church's overseas missionaries. Although the MSCC continued its work in "free China," Canadian missionaries were forced to leave Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor. When General Synod did meet in 1943, the primate, Archbishop Owen, challenged the church to start looking ahead. "Social reconstruction," he insisted, "must be in our thinking now, even in the midst of war."it! Inspired by a wave of war-time idealism, the CSS general secretary, Canon WW Judd, introduced a statement calling upon members of General Synod to support the Canadian government's introduction of a comprehensive system of social security. After a prolonged debate, in which delegates were urged to exercise "real leadership" and to join in "a great campaign for social justice," General Synod agreed to receive the CSS statement.w The church also needed to prepare itself for life after the war, and to this end, Synod approved an Anglican Advance Appeal to raise funds for postwar expansion. Recognizing a need to update the church's worship to better suit the conditions of the modern world, Synod struck a committee on prayer book revision. It also created a committee on Christian reunion to reflect the growth in ecumenical spirit that had started to develop during the Depression. Confronted by the rise of totalitarianism in the 1930s and committed to forming a new world order following the Second World War, many Christians in Europe and North America had concluded that the future of Christianity demanded an increased openness to one another and a willingness to work together. General Synod expressed its support for the formation of a Canadian Council of Churches and issued an invitation to other churches to "initiate conversations"40 about possible union. The United church responded enthusiastically, and the primate established a committee to proceed with unity discussions. The "conversation" with the United church continued until 1975, when General Synod finally rejected a plan of union. Archbishop of Canterbury Geoffrey Fisher attended the next meeting of General Synod in 1946. He upheld the Anglican example of unity in diversity as a model for the postwar world. "No other Communion in Christendom," he observed, "can combine within our one fellowship differences of emphasis and interpretation such as have always existed in the Church of Christ but have led elsewhere only to schism or to violent suppression."41 This spirit of inclusion took tangible form when General Synod admitted its first woman delegate, Roberta Wodehouse of the Diocese of Yukon. The important contribution of women to the whole life of the church was further recognized by changes to the Woman's Auxiliary. The WA would no longer be simply an auxiliary to the Missionary Society, but would be styled the Woman's Auxiliary of

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 219 the Church of England in Canada and be entitled to representation in all General Synod departments. Synod also reached out to youth. The GBRE launched a youth leaders' training extension course and helped to initiate a number of young people's camps and conferences. The Diocese of Newfoundland joined General Synod in 1949 and the church now extended from coast to coast to coast. A resolution to change the name of the Church of England in Canada to the Anglican Church of Canada was approved by delegates of the Lower House but rejected by the bishops of the Upper House. With the death of the primate, Derwyn Owen, in 1947, General Synod elected George Frederick Kingston of Nova Scotia as primate. Postwar social issues dominated the agenda of the 1949 General Synod. Resolutions addressed the lack of housing for veterans and the problem of juvenile delinquency. After heated debate, delegates approved a resolution calling upon General Synod to revise its canon on marriage and divorce "to permit the innocent party to a divorce, to re-marry and have the benefit of all the services and sacraments of the

Church."42 Concerned by "growing secularism" and the "pressing need for the spiritual and moral renewal of the life of the nation," General Synod impressed upon all church members the need to "bear constant witness to the faith they possess, by the quality of their words and deeds, in all aspects of life, family, business, industrial and social...."43 Such concerns were common in post-war Canada. After decades of economic depression and war, many Canadians desperately desired a return to "normalcy." For many, this meant a recovery of the ties of home, family, and church. The Depression and the Second World War had seriously disrupted the process of family formation and following the war, Canadians enthusiastically embraced family life. The religious revival of the 1950s grew out of this celebration of home and family, as well as nostalgia for a quieter, simpler, and idealized past. To many, Christianity promised a return to social stability and moral order. For suburban parents especially, attending church was essential if society's values were to be transmitted to the new generation. Such sentiments resulted in a dramatic increase in church attendance and Sunday school enrolments. Rising numbers and increased revenues tended to promote denominational independence rather than ecumenical cooperation. At General Synod in 1955, the new primate, Walter Barfoot, concluded that the church's conversations with the United church had reached "a point of ineffectiveness.... I can discern no really strong urge towards organic union on the part of the general membership of either church."44 There was little room in the comfortable Christianity of the 1950s for the social reformers of the past who had challenged the church to apply the gospel

220 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN to social and political causes. The prevailing conservatism of the times tended to mute the church's prophetic voice and silence most social critics. In 1952 General Synod established a committee on women's work that reported to General Synod in 1955. The committee called for the recognition of deaconesses as a distinct order in the church and expressed frustration at the church's reluctance to recognize the qualifications and contributions of its women workers. "Let the Church recognize in practice as well as theory," the report concluded, that "women are responsible Church members, persons created to serve God with the varying talents He has given them."45 Progress was slow. Only two women delegates attended the next meeting of General Synod in 1959. Rather than reaching beyond itself, the church tended to direct its energy and resources inward. In 1955 General Synod officially changed the name of the church from the Church of England in Canada to the Anglican Church of Canada, adopted a new church flag, authorized the creation of a church information service, approved the first draft of a new prayer book, and accepted a new Sunday school curriculum. Although the Presiding Bishop of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai, Michael Yashiro, attended General Synod in 1952 and General Synod celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the missionary society in 1955, enthusiasm for missions had begun to fade. Preoccupied by the needs of a growing church at home, disheartened by the loss of the Chinese mission field following the victory of the Chinese communists in f 949, and challenged by the postwar decolonization movement to rethink the missionary past, many Canadian Anglicans either lost interest in overseas missions or came to the conclusion that the old ways of doing mission needed to be abandoned. The 1960s were a period of change and upheaval in Canadian society. As the Cold War intensified with the Cuban missile crisis, the anxiety and insecurity of Canadians increased. Fears of superpower conflict and nuclear war prompted many of them to become active in the peace movement and the campaign for nuclear disarmament. The advent of birth control and the emergence of the women's liberation movement challenged traditional gender roles and contributed to a revolution in sexual practice and values. A counter-culture emerged as Canadian youth began to question traditional values and centres of authority. Youthful idealism resulted in a critique of materialism and a rejection of many middle-class social conventions. The music of the era voiced both the angst and optimism of Sixties youth and captured the rebellious mood of a generation and its craving for meaning and purpose. Concern with the plight of the planet fostered a new environmental awareness. Inspired

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 221 by the American Civil Rights Movement, Canada's First Nations became more politically active and demanded that the Canadian government live up to its treaty obligations and return to Aboriginal peoples control of their own affairs. In Quebec, the Quiet Revolution modernized the province's social and political institutions and hastened the rise of nationalist feeling. With changing patterns of immigration, Canada became an increasingly pluralistic and multicultural society. The 1960s also marked a major turning point in the life of the church. It began the decade buoyed by the growth and expansion of the 1950s, but by mid-decade church attendance had begun a steady decline that would continue until the end of the century. This attrition stemmed from a variety of sources. Declining birth rates, the changing face of immigration, the continuing secularization of Canadian society, and a growing sense that the church was out of touch with contemporary realities, all contributed to the reversal of the church's fortunes. For many rebellious youth, the church represented a paternalistic authority that threatened their ability to express themselves. Its teachings about sex were especially difficult for a generation that welcomed the liberation offered by the sexual revolution. Many feminists concluded that the church was a bastion of patriarchy, determined to keep women in positions of bondage and inferiority. Social critics charged that the church was little more than a defender of middle-class materialism and corporate capitalism and had lost its moral authority. Faced with declining numbers and growing disaffection among important segments of the population, the church began a major process of self-examination. In 1963 the GBRE commissioned journalist and lapsed Anglican Pierre Berton to write a critical evaluation of the current state of the church. The Comfortable Pew, published in 1965, offered a provocative and damning critique of the church's complacency and self-righteousness. "Institutional Christianity," Berton complained, "had become a comfortable creed, a useful tool for Peace of Mind and Positive Thinking." He chastised the hypocrisy he found in the church: the church preached about service to the poor but invested millions in maintaining its buildings and property; the church claimed to follow the Prince of Peace but condoned the war; the church upheld compassion and humility as desirable virtues, yet self-righteously passed judgement on the moral failings of others. The church, Berton, continued, was burdened with a "fossilized" liturgy that had little meaning in the modern world and clergy who were too timid to provide genuine leadership. The Comfortable Pew became an immediate bestseller and ignited a heated debate in the press and within the Anglican church. Some hailed the book as a much-needed wake-up call, while others questioned the GBRE's

222 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN judgement in asking a self-proclaimed agnostic to author what was to be the church's recommended reading for Lent. Throughout the 1960s, General Synod tried to find a balance between proclaiming the gospel, maintaining Anglican tradition, and adapting to the needs and demands of the present times. The church was shepherded through this tumultuous period by Howard Clark, who became primate in 1959. That year, General Synod gave final approval to a new Canadian Book of Common Prayer. The process of prayer book revision had been a long and arduous one, but it was hoped that the Canadian church would now have a new, more simplified prayer book that was well suited to modern needs. But no sooner had General Synod approved the new prayer book than calls were heard for its revision. In 1965 Synod approved a resolution calling for the preparation of a contemporary language version of the prayer book. A more pressing priority for the primate was the need to overhaul the operations of General Synod itself. "General Synod became a problem to me," Clark later recalled, "because it seemed to be a body which would accept only those proposals which would allow it to remain unreformed and unrenewed." Too often, Clark lamented, the church suffered from Synod's "failure to act."46 Throughout his primacy, Clark challenged General Synod to act in new ways. "Of course it is essential that we discuss budgets, and stipends, and pensions and changes in our constitution," he said. "Personally 1 like such debates, but if that is all we did how dull it would be, how unlike the Gospel! We can only worry about the constitution if it is a means for Canadian Anglicans to spill out into the streets. That is where people live."47 Clark was convinced that the conventional responses and procedures of the past no longer fit the church's contemporary circumstances. If it was to move forward with confidence, it must renew its sense of vision and mission, redefine the role of the laity, come to terms with the modern media, and reorganize its structures according to modern management principles. To begin the task of modernization, the church in 1962 created a research unit to help General Synod staff plan for the present and future work of the church, using "the latest techniques of social science."48 To facilitate strategic planning, the research unit helped dioceses collect statistical data and commissioned sociologist William Pickering to survey the clergy. The research unit presented Pickering's report, Taken for Granted, to General Synod in 1967. Pickering found that many clergy felt isolated and were unsure what was expected of them in a society in which the church had lost much of its influence and at a time when "new theological insights" challenged "old concepts of ministry."4" In 1965 General Synod replaced

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 223 the old Executive Council with a larger National Executive Council and appointed Edward Netten of Price-Waterhouse to conduct a study of General Synod's organization. In his 1967 report to General Synod, Netten concluded that the structures of the national church were ill-suited "to serve the complex requirements and fast pace of the modern age" and that the church would benefit from the introduction of "modern management program planning and control practices."50 Netten recommended that the primate be relieved of all diocesan responsibilities and serve full-time as the national church's chief executive officer. Netten further recommended that General Synod's existing boards and councils be replaced by a new committee system that reported to a program committee, which was mandated to uphold the church's vision and mission. The changes proposed in Netten's report were sweeping and controversial. Some delegates questioned the wisdom of the church adopting corporate models. Others feared the concentration of power in a single program committee. The primate did not shy away from the controversy. "I long for a General Synod," Clark proclaimed in 1969, "in which the delegates would express themselves with passion, in which there would be sharp controversy and the conflict of strong convictions. I know of nothing in the Bible which enjoins us to be dishonestly polite." To facilitate discussion, bishops now began to sit with lay and clerical delegates during meetings of General Synod, although they continued to vote as separate houses on certain issues. Convinced that the church must change, Clark made an impassioned plea to Synod delegates to approve the organizational restructuring recommended in the Netten report at the previous meeting of General Synod. "You will never reform the General Synod by being cynical about it," Clark proclaimed. "You will reform it, as you may reform any Christian institution, by insisting on what in our Christian faith we see a Christian institution to be. Then you may frame its constitution and organize its procedures so that our Lord's presence may be realized

and the guidance of the Holy Spirit may be followed."51 Moved by the primate's words, General Synod approved a massive reorganization of the national office and the General Synod committee structure. Out were the MSCC (except as an accounting remnant), the GBRE, the CSS, and the commissions and quarterly meetings presided over by formidable bishops. In was a single program committee that, it was hoped, would be able to maintain a broad vision of the church's mission. The church created a new unit for women's concerns, with the aim of integrating the WA and other women's organizations into a single national program, and integrated youth work into a new national program coordinated by a university student. Anglicans would now pursue issues of social justice

224 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN Contrasting images of change at the 1969 meeting of General Synod in Sudbury (The General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada Top Left: P8449-E2-1 Top R: P8449-E2 Bottom: P8449-E3-1)

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 225 as part of a broad-based ecumenical coalition. The church's national newspaper, Canadian Churchman, became The Anglican Journal, and retained an independent editorial policy.) In the era of John Kenneth Galbraith's Affluent Society, Clark boldly challenged General Synod to overcome its middle-class reticence and face squarely the issues of the day: the population explosion, world hunger, racism, and the danger of nuclear war. In 1963, following the lead of the Anglican Congress, which had met earlier that year in Toronto, General Synod committed itself to "a heightened vision" of the church's "task in the world ... to meet the problems created by the revolutionary social, economic, cultural and political movements of our modern world."52 The Anglican Congress contributed to the development of a new understanding of mission. Mission, it concluded, should be conducted on a basis of partnership, equality, and mutual respect that recognized "mutual responsibility and interdependence in the Body of

Christ."53 These ideas caused many within General Synod to rethink the Canadian church's work among Aboriginal peoples and resulted in the formation of an ad hoc committee, with representatives from the departments of mission, social service, education, and information. The interdepartmental committee reported to General Synod in 1965 that Aboriginal peoples "are claiming the right to have a much greater say in shaping their own destiny."54 Synod authorized the committee to begin a consultation process with Indigenous peoples, with a view to developing new policies. In 1967 General Synod commissioned Charles Hendry, the director of social work at the University of Toronto, to prepare a report examining the church's work among the nation's Aboriginal peoples. The report, Beyond Traplines: Does the Church Really Care?, documented the failure of the residential schools and criticized the racist assumptions that had informed much of the church's work among Aboriginal peoples. The church, Hendry concluded, must stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples in their struggle for political and economic justice. General Synod received the Hendry report in 1969 and endorsed most of its recommendations. Soon afterward, the church withdrew from the residential schools, appointed a coordinator of Indigenous ministries, and established a council on Indigenous peoples. At the same time that it redefined its relationship with Aboriginal peoples at home, the Canadian church rethought its approach to mission overseas. "How strange it is," Bishop Lakdasa De Mel of Calcutta reminded General Synod in 1965, "that God so often chooses the weak things of the world to teach the strong, the newly converted to teach those who have long experience of

Christ."55 In 1969 Synod approved the creation of The Primate's World

226 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) to provide the church with a means of responding to international crises and to work on an ongoing basis to relieve conditions of poverty, hunger, and injustice around the world. The formation of PWRDF signalled a shift of emphasis from evangelism and conversion to social welfare and social reform. Indigenous empowerment, humility, listening, and ecumenical cooperation were now to characterize the church's work abroad. Other social and political issues came before General Synod in the 1960s. "Ours is not a peaceful world," Clark told Synod in 1965. Delegates agreed. They passed a resolution condemning war as "incompatible with the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ," and calling upon the Canadian government to work to restrict nuclear testing and to press for "effective international control and inspection of nuclear weapons and other armaments."3" A committed ecumenist, Clark believed that Anglicans should work with other denominations whenever possible, and in 1965 he encouraged General Synod to approve a general plan for union with the United church. After the federal government adopted a modern civil divorce act in 1962, there was considerable pressure on the church to re-examine the question of remarriage after divorce. In 1967 Synod approved a new marriage canon and created diocesan matrimonial commissions to facilitate remarriage. This major initiative, as church constitutional expert H.R.S. Ryan has observed, represented a significant departure from the long-standing teaching and practice of the Church of England and signalled the Canadian church's willingness to take an independent position on an important doctrinal matter.57 At the General Synod meeting during Canada's Centennial in 1967, Clark chastised Anglicans for being preoccupied with their church's internal affairs and insensitive to the national mood. Concerned for the nation's unity, he appealed to them to reach out to French Canadians.5" If, in the past, General Synod had been too reticent in taking on current issues, the new activist style created its own problems. The expanded agenda meant that so many items came before General Synod that there was often little time for real debate, and continuity was lost with the frequent turnover of Synod members that resulted from efforts to open up the councils of the church. General Synod's deliberations now attracted increased public scrutiny from the new mass media, which tended to focus on matters of controversy. "The greatest challenge," Acting Primate William Wright warned General Synod in 1971, "is not that the Church will be persecuted or suffer but simply that it will be ignored." He challenged the church "to be more interested in public affairs" and to play an active role in

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 227 shaping public opinion on the issues of the day.59 He could hardly have imagined the result. Since the 1960s, contentious issues around liturgy, the role of women in the church, the church's historic relationship with Aboriginal peoples, and sexuality have dominated the deliberations of General Synod. The prolonged debates on these issues revealed growing divisions between liberals committed to modernizing the church's teaching and worship and pursuing an agenda of openness and justice, and conservatives concerned with the intrusion of secular values and determined to uphold "orthodoxy" and traditional moral teaching. Internal dissension over liturgical revision and debates over moral issues held little interest, however, for the growing number of Canadians who viewed religion as a private and personal matter. Sociologist Reginald Bibby observed that Canadians now wanted "religion à la carte, preferring to pick and choose beliefs, practices, programs and professional services from increasingly diversified religious smorgasbords."60 Two long-serving and visionary primates, Edward "Ted" Scott and Michael Peers, guided General Synod through the tumultuous debates of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. Scott, who possessed a formidable ability to listen and to observe, acknowledged the diversity within the church in his address to General Synod in 1973. "An unconscious tendency, particularly for those who have not had the privilege of travelling widely, is to assume that the Anglican Church everywhere in Canada is like where a person lives and has come to know it. This is far from the truth. The differences are almost unbelievable."61 Scott cautioned that the varying opinions that existed within the church must not be allowed to hinder its larger mission to address the problems afflicting the wider world. He appealed to Synod to do more to educate Canadian Anglicans about the needs of the developing world and to expand the work of The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund. He also encouraged the Canadian church to work closely with other denominations and government agencies in reaching out to the world's poor and needy. For Scott, the Canadian church must take its place in global society and minister in an ecumenical context as part of the worldwide Christian community, but his vision of ecumenical cooperation suffered a serious setback in 1975. After decades of discussion, General Synod finally rejected the Plan of Union with the United church after the House of Bishops expressed serious reservations about the direction of the talks at a special meeting earlier that year. By 1977 some General Synod members also began to express discomfort with the church's seeming preoccupation with issues of development, peace, and social justice, and differing views were evident in discussions of ethical questions related to human life, such as

228 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN 8

Archbishop Ted Scott at the Synod of the Diocese of Caledonia, New Aiyansh, 1972. Scott championed the place of Native peoples within Canada and the Church during his primacy. (The General Synod Archives, Anglican Church of Canada P7531-91 )

abortion, in vitro fertilization, euthanasia, and homosexuality. Scott urged General Synod not to be dissuaded from addressing itself to "the right issues" by "the tensions and possible conflict areas within our church." He challenged Synod to reflect on the location of such differences and asked delegates to consider whether strongly held positions were rooted more in "class or custom than faith and belief."62 In 1980 General Synod attempted to deal with an explosion of concerns, many of which were brought to the floor from an expanding number of program units and ecumenical social justice-based committees. The impact of the information revolution; threats to world peace; inflation; unemployment and underdevelopment; institutional violence, especially as it related to the criminal justice system and the Aboriginal populations of the world; the energy crisis; and the emergence of China on the world scene, were all brought to the floor of Synod. For Scott, the root of many

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 229 of the worlds problems was to be found in the continuing scourge of racism. "A Church in Canada with a renewed vision," Scott said in his 1971 primatial address, "would surely commit itself to an ideal for our country which would make Francophones and Anglophones, Indians and Eskimos, and all ethnic groups want to be part of it, and not feel trapped within it. Christians would want to create a vision of a country where racist structures and racist attitudes, wherever they exist, would be steadily identified and eliminated."63 Many people, both within and outside the church, disagreed with him and with the Synod he led. Some insisted that the church confine itself to spiritual matters and stay clear of politically charged issues such as racism. Others became concerned about the proliferation of programs and partnerships, and the ability of the national church to sustain such activities. In 1983 General Synod launched Anglicans in Mission, a major national financial campaign to provide for an improved pension plan, expanded work in the North, and increased commitment to overseas partnerships. For the first time, funds were directed to identified diocesan priorities as part of the national campaign, but critics complained that Anglicans in Mission was really an attempt to sustain a national program staff that had grown too large to be supported by diocesan apportionment. Questions of liturgical renewal dominated General Synods throughout the 1970s and '80s. Inspired by the new scholarship stemming from the liturgical movement and the Second Vatican Council, and perceiving a demand for more contemporary rites and greater choice, General Synod authorized the development of alternative liturgies in 1971. Between 1974 to 1978, the doctrine and worship committee issued a series of new liturgies for baptism, the eucharist, marriage, and thanksgiving for the birth of a child. The suggested new rites on Christian initiation resulted in a prolonged discussion at General Synod in 1977 on the issue of children receiving communion and the function of confirmation. Critics accused proponents of the new rites of abandoning centuries of Anglican teaching and practice in favour of the latest theological fads and fashions. In 1980 General Synod directed the doctrine and worship committee to proceed with the development of alternative services. The committee presented a draft Book of Alternative Services to General Synod in 1983, and after further revision and evaluation, Synod authorized it for publication and use. Not all Anglicans welcomed the new liturgies, and the introduction of the book divided many parishes. Conservative Anglicans criticized the loss of Elizabethan language and charged that the changes represented significant departures from classical Anglican theology. Opponents of the Book of Alternative Services formed the Prayer Book Society in 1985 to champion the Canadian Book of Common Prayer as the standard for

230 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN the church's worship and doctrine. Sensitive to the varied reaction to the Book of Alternative Services, General Synod in 1989 approved the creation of an evaluation commission to conduct a "broad consultation with diocese and parishes."64 By 1995 the commission had found that the Book of Alternative Services had replaced the Book of Common Prayer as the preferred worship book for most Canadian Anglicans. "I have a vision of a Church," Ted Scott told General Synod in 1975, "where the gifts and capacities of all, regardless of age, sex, racial origin, educational level, economic status or any other aspects that make us different are respected and set free to serve God and His concern for justice and righteousness."65 Issues of inclusion dominated the discussions of General Synod for the remainder of the century. The position of women within the church became a major subject of concern following the rise of the women's movement in the 1960s. The women's movement demanded equal opportunities in the workplace, promoted the ideal of independent career women, called for reform of divorce laws, and insisted that women be given control over their reproductive lives. These demands challenged traditional gender roles and notions of the family, and raised serious moral questions concerning marriage and reproduction. The church not only had to face sharply divided opinions on these issues, it also had to wrestle with the exclusion of women from ordained ministry and positions of leadership and authority. The subject of women's ordination had been raised at General Synods as early as the 1930s, but it was not until the 1960s that the issue began to be discussed seriously. Following the 1968 Lambeth Conference, the primate, Howard Clark, established a theological commission to study the question, and Ted Scott received its reports in 1972. The majority report concluded that neither scripture nor tradition precluded women's ordination to the priesthood. A minority report countered that Jesus called only men to serve as disciples and that a woman could never represent Christ at the altar. Opponents charged that women's ordination violated "orthodox Faith and order" and threatened to destroy the unity of the church and Anglican relations "with other branches of the Church Catholic." Proponents of women's ordination insisted that the church must transcend its patriarchal past and follow Christ's own example of inclusion. "The sharing in the divine life," theologian Joanne Dewart told General Synod in 1975, "is offered to all human persons....Women have been oppressed; they have not been afforded the same opportunities to grow to full human personhood, to respond to the divine call in an adult way, as have men."66 General Synod approved the ordination of women in f 975 by a vote of 189 for and 56 against. A conscience clause ensured

"A I MON NOI I OR HARMON\ MI FOR STRENGTH" 231 that "no bishop, priest, deacon or lay person including postulants for ordination" opposed to the ordination of women would be "penalized in any manner" or "forced into positions which violate or coerce his or her conscience."67 The Dioceses of Cariboo, Huron, Niagara, and New Westminster ordained the first women to the priesthood in the Canadian church on November 30, 1976. The merits and continued need of the conscience clause aroused sometimes heated debated at subsequent Synods. In 1986 General Synod affirmed a memorial from the House of Bishops (formerly the Upper House), stating that "there is no theological or canonical impediment to the consecration of women as Bishops within our Church." Recognizing the importance of the episcopate as a focus of unity in the church, General Synod agreed with the House of Bishops that the church "move with special sensitivity in this matter" and delay any move to consecrate women bishops until at least after the 1988 Lambeth

Conference.68 The Canadian church ordained its first female bishop, Victoria Matthews, in 1994. The debate over the ordination of women was followed by an even more intense dispute over the position of homosexuals within the church. Prior to the 1970s, homosexual activities were regarded as criminal and abnormal, and homosexuals commonly faced discrimination and harassment in Canadian society. Inspired by the success of the civil rights and women's movements, homosexuals began urging an end to discrimination and demanding legal protection and social acceptance. Many liberals within the church embraced these appeals. Liberal Anglicans celebrated human diversity and saw acceptance of the outcast as imperative to those who claimed to follow Christ's example. Conservative Anglicans cited the Bible and traditional standards of morality to condemn homosexuality as a sin. The House of Bishops established a task force on human sexuality in 1976. After much revision and review, the final report was delivered to the bishops, who issued a statement in February 1978. As "children of God," the House of Bishops stated, homosexual persons "have a full and equal claim, with all other persons, upon the love, acceptance, concern and pastoral care of the Church" and "are entitled to equal protection under the law with all other Canadian citizens." While the bishops acknowledged that "some homosexuals develop for themselves relationships of mutual support, help and comfort," they insisted that such relationships "must not be confused with Holy Matrimony" and that

"the Church must do nothing to support any such suggestion."69 In 1979 the House of Bishops issued a set of guidelines permitting the ordination of homosexuals on the condition that they promised to remain celibate. Scott issued a pastoral letter assuring those Anglicans who had concerns

232 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN about the guidelines and the House of Bishops' earlier statement that neither represented "a new position or departure of tradition," and that while the church accepts "all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, as equal before God," acceptance of "persons with homosexual orientation is not an acceptance of homosexual activity."70 Such statements did not satisfy those on the other side of the issue, and the primate and the House of Bishops moved to limit discussion by General Synod. Critics then charged that the House of Bishops had effectively stripped General Synod of any real authority to address controversial questions. In 1992 Synod held a forum on homosexuality and approved the creation of a task force on homosexuality and homosexual relations. The task force was mandated to conduct a study on homosexuality and homosexual relationships within the framework of "modern scientific knowledge, the Church's understanding of Biblical teaching on homosexuality, human relationships, inclusiveness and justice, and the experience of gays and lesbians who are committed Christians."71 The work of the task force led to a continuing dialogue that is still in progress. The church's relationship with Canada's Aboriginal peoples attracted increasing attention at General Synods throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1983 General Synod passed resolutions expressing support for the country's Indigenous peoples "in their efforts to gain constitutional recognition of aboriginal title, aboriginal rights and treaty rights" and calling upon the church to establish a trust fund "to provide financial assistance to Native peoples to help them achieve just settlements and implementation of their aboriginal claims to self-determination."72 Recognizing the need for a vehicle to bring Aboriginal concerns to the attention of the church and its leaders, members of General Synod endorsed a motion in 1986 calling upon the primate to convene a National Native Convocation. Nearly 200 Aboriginal people from across the country attended the first convocation, held in Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, in 1988. Convocation delegates called for a greater Aboriginal voice in the church's policy- and decision-making bodies; demonstrated their determination to maintain their language and culture; voiced concern about rising levels of divorce and abortion; and participated in a service of healing with the primate, Michael Peers. As Bishop of Qu'Appelle, Peers had developed a close relationship with the Aboriginal people of his diocese and was personally committed to giving Indigenous peoples a larger voice in the church. General Synod, meeting in 1989 for the first time in St. John's, Newfoundland, received reports from the National Native Convocation and called upon dioceses to ensure that Aboriginal congregations had "an opportunity for full participation in diocesan

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 233 life."73 An acrimonious debaie about North Atlantic Treaty Organization training flights over Innu lands in Labrador led to a serious look at the competing claims of Aboriginal rights and the need for local economic development. In 1992 General Synod celebrated its centennial. The divisive debate over homosexuality and the legacy of the church's Aboriginal residential schools hung over the celebrations. In the early 1990s, the church found itself named in dozens of lawsuits alleging physical and sexual abuse and the systematic eradication of Native culture in 26 residential schools that it administered along with the federal government. These charges compelled Anglicans to reconsider their past relations with Canada's Aboriginal peoples and to rethink the present position of Indigenous peoples within the church. Many recognized that past efforts to convert and educate Aboriginal peoples were frequently ethnocentric, abusive, and misguided. Others, including some Aboriginals, stressed the benefits provided by the residential schools and the dedication and sacrifice of the clergy and teachers who served in them. In 1991 the National Executive Council decided to commit resources toward seeking "reconciliation and healing" around the residential schools issue and established a residential schools working group to help the church understand and take responsibility for its past, and to move forward into a new relationship with Aboriginal peoples. A video film in which former students and staff of the residential schools told their stories was shown at General Synod in 1992. The video film was followed by a forum in which members of the residential schools working group presented an overview of the history of the church's involvement in the schools, and members of Synod fed their responses and concerns back to the working group. The following year, at the National Native Convocation held at Minaki Lodge, Ontario, Peers apologized on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada for the harm done by the church's participation in the residential schools. "1 am sorry, more than I can say," he said, "that we were part of a system that took you and your children away from home and family. I am sorry, more than I can say, that we tried to remake you in our image, taking from you your language and the signs of your identity. I am sorry, more than I can say, that in our schools so many were abused physically, sexually, culturally and emotionally."74 Many former staff were hurt by the apology. No one at the time anticipated the lack of federal government response, and the firestorm of litigation that followed. This litigation proved to be a serious drain on the resources of the national church and resulted in a series of major budget and staff reductions at the national office, and reduced grants to assisted dioceses, overseas partners, and ecumenical coalitions.

234 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN Despite the divisive debate over homosexuality and the pain of the residential schools, Peers found cause for celebration in his centennial address to General Synod in 1992. The primate reminded Canadian Anglicans how others viewed them across the Anglican world. "We are rightly known throughout the Communion," he said, "for transparency and openness." He added, "We have a unique combination of national strength and diocesan independence that serves us well." Anniversaries, however, were not only a time to celebrate gifts and accomplishments but also a time to reflect on past failures and those limitations that prevented the church from moving forward. Peers regretted that a way had not been found to overcome the dichotomy that separated wealthy and poor dioceses, that the church lacked a common policy for clergy stipends, and that there were few ties between the national church and the theological colleges. The church needed to do more, he insisted, to correct the "injustice and inequity in the distribution of resources, money and focus" and to find the means to support the "many dioceses and parishes that cannot sustain their own mission financially much longer."75 Peers was confident, however, that the church would find a way to remain faithful to the past, to learn from its mistakes, and to move forward with faith and conviction into the future. Although in the years to come both the primate and General Synod would be severely tested by the issues brought before them, they continued to provide Anglicans from across the country with the opportunity to gather—not, as Ted Scott once observed, "as a group of like-minded people," but "as a community called into being by our common loyalty to Jesus Christ."76

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 235 NOTES

1 H.R.S. Ryan, "The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada: Aspects of Constitutional History," Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society, vol. XXXIV, no. 1 (Apr. 1992), 7. 2 Bentley G. Hicks, "Synodical government within Canadian Anglicanism: Retrospective Implications," Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society, vol. XXXIII, no. 2 (Oct. 1991), 125-6. 3 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 1st Session, Toronto, 1893, 66. 4 Alan L. Hayes, Anglicans in Canada: Controversies and Identity in Historical Perspective (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2004), 88-9. 5 At least one scholar has cast doubt on how real this may have been by the 1850s. Stuart Ryan concludes: "The controversy seems to have been kept at a boiling point by the ardent personalities of John Strachan, Egerton Ryerson, and William Lyon Mackenzie. Religion, education, revenue, property, political were intermingled causes of strife." Ryan, op. cit., 22. 6 Hayes, Anglicans in Canada, 89-90. 7 T.C.B. Boon, The Anglican Church from the Bay to the Rockies: A History of the Ecclesiastical Province of Rupert's Land and its Dioceses from 1820-1950 (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1962), 99-105. 8 Hayes, Anglicans in Canada, 93-5. 9 Ryan, "The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada," 54-5. 10 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 1st Session, Toronto, 1893, 65. 11 Void., 67. 12 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 2nd Session, Winnipeg, 1896, 4-5. 13 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 3rd Session, Montreal, 1902, 6. 14 Ibid., 6-7. 15 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 4th Session, Quebec City, 1905, 102-107. 16 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 5th Session, Ottawa, 1908, 6. 17 Ibid., 153. 18 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 6th Session, London, 1911,3. 19 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 7th Session, Toronto, 1908, 20.

236 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN 20 General Synod, Journal oj Proceedings of the 8th Session, Toronto, 1915, 18. 21 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 6th Session, London 1911, 14. 22 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 8th Session, Toronto 1918, 24. 23 ibid., 29. 24 Edward Pulker, We Stand on Their Shoulders: The Growth of Social Concern in Canadian Anglicanism (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1986), 54-5. 25 Hayes, Anglicans in Canada, 104-5. 26 Carrington, Anglican Church of Canada, 262-3. 27 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 9th Session, Hamilton, 1921, 577-8. 28 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 10th Session, London 1924, 56. 29 Annual Report of the Honan Diocese for 1924, MSCC-67. 30 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 11th Session, Kingston, 1927,4. 31 Ibid., 21. 32 "Anglican National Commission Report," Appendix, General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 12th Session, Toronto, 1931. 33 Ibid. 34 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 14th Session, Halifax, 1937, 7. 35 Ibid., 13. 36 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 13th Session, Montreal, 1934, 68. 37 Carrington, Anglican Church of Canada, 279-80. 38 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 15th Session, Toronto, 1943, 5. 39 ibid., 269. 40 Ibid., 45. 41 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 16th Session, Winnipeg, 1946, 3. 42 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 17th Session, Halifax, 1949, L-30A. 43 Ibid., 82. 44 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 19th Session, Edmonton, 1955,8 45 Ibid., 401.

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 237 46 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 24th Session, Sudbury, 1969, 22. 47 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 21st Session, Kingston, 1962, 11 48 Ibid., 352. 49 W.S.E Pickering, Taken for Granted: A Survey of the Parish Clergy of the Anglican Church of Canada (Toronto: General Synod, Anglican Church of Canada, 1967), 49. 50 Gernal Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 24th Session, Sudbury, 1969,370-89. 51 Ibid., 23. 52 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 21st Session, Kingston, 1963, 48. 53 Hayes, Anglicans in Canada, 37-8. 54 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 22nd Session, Vancouver, 1965,395. 55 Ibid., 3. 56 Ibid., 87. 57 H.R.S. Ryan, "The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada: Aspects of Constitutional History," Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society, vol. XXXIV, no. 1, Apr. 1992, 89. 58 General Synod, fournal of Proceedings of the 23rd Session, Ottawa, 1967,9. 59 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 25th Session, Niagara Falls, 1971, 25. 60 Reginald Bibby, Fragmented Gods: The Poverty and Potential of Religion in Canada (Toronto: Irwin, 1987), 233. 61 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 26th Session, Regina, 1973, M-2. 62 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 28th Session, Calgary, 1977, 242. 63 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 29th Session, Peterborough, 1980, 181. 64 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 32nd Session, St. John's, 1989, Act 97. 65 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 27th Session, Quebec City, 1975, 114-15. 66 Ibid. 67 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 27th Session, Quebec City, 1975, Act 91.

238 SEEDS SCATTERED AND SOWN 68 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 31st Session, Winnipeg, 1986, Act 65. 69 Anglican News Service, Feb. 3, 1978. 70 Edward Scott, "Pastoral Letter to the People of the Anglican Church of Canada," House of Bishops, Mar. 1979. 71 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 32nd Session, St. Johns, 1992, Act 111. 72 General Synod Journal of Proceedings of the 30th Session, Fredericton, 1983, Acts 42 and 97. 73 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 32nd Session, St. Johns, 1989, Act 58. 74 "Apology and Acceptance" as reprinted in Ministry Maííers, vol. 7, no. 4 (Winter 2000), 24. 75 General Synod, Journal of Proceedings of the 33rd Session, Toronto, 1992, 3-4. 76 General Synodjournci! of Proceedings of the 30th Session, Fredericton, 1983, 123.

"A UNION NOT FOR HARMONY BUT FOR STRENGTH" 239 LIKE THE SOWER in the biblical parable who scatters seeds, a host of dedicated clergy and lay people have planted, tended, and nourished the Anglican church in Canada for nearly four centuries. In Seeds Scattered and Sown, respected academics delve into this rich and complex history, with lively results. Each essay probes the social and cultural values that shaped Canadian Anglicanism—and Canadian history—in light of shifting ideas about worship, mission, theology, social reform, citizenship, the role of women, and partnership with Aboriginal peoples. The historic experiences of both church leaders and "ordinary" Anglicans reveal a story that includes conflicts and controversies, pains and regrets, as well as successes and accomplishments. The studies in this volume offer fresh insights into the challenges of diversity, inclusion, and authority that face Canadian Anglicans today. They demonstrate that there is much we can learn from searching our religious roots when we are equipped with new methodologies and new questions.

Editor The Rev. Dr. Knowles is an Associate Professor of History at St. Mary's University College in Calgary, Alberta. He is also a priest in the Diocese of Calgary, where he serves as an honorary assistant at St. Paul's, Midnapore.

Foreword by Michael G. Peers Eleventh Primate, Anglican Church of Canada

Contributors William Crockett Wendy Fletcher Paul Friesen Norman Knowles Terry Reilly ME. Reisner Myra Rutherdale Christopher G. Trott

ABC Publishing H ANGLICAN BOOK CENTRE V-/