Sanctioned: The Episcopal Church

Twenty-eight years ago, I was in my first year of theological education at Queen’s. It was a vibrant time in The United Church of Canada whose General Council – the highest court of the church – was meeting that summer. The conversation was all about the ordination of gays and lesbians, as we then referred to […]

canada day letter to john baird

After reading a pair of articles sent to me by a West Hill member living in Taiwan, one on LGBTQ rights and the infiltration of Christian fundamentalist hysteria into that otherwise tolerant nation and the other on the inclusion of Taiwan on a list of countries deemed “unwelcome” at Canada Day festivities, I decided Canada Day was a […]

the grammys and all that

Faith Goldy and I seared the line between us on today’s Culture Clash as we looked at the weddings performed by Queen Latifa at the Grammy’s earlier this week. Tell me, do you think Satan was conjured by Katy Perry’s antics? Or do you think Satan is a figment of an overly dramatic imagination? Or […]

for the woman who had her husband phone

This morning after the Culture Wars segment of the John Oakley show (audio clips below), I did what every talk show panelist does too often: I thought of all the things I should have said. Charles McVety and I were well into a heated conversation on the topic of the day, whether or not Canada’s […]

proud to be a member of the united church of canada

The following is an excerpt from my speech, The Perfect Storm, given at CCPC’s conference, Christianity: The Story Evolves, this week in Halifax.  There are many other things that make me proud of the church of my heritage, but this brief synopsis got the point across.  It was, of course, a prelude to a significant […]

Rachelle Lee Smith and Speaking OUT

Rachelle Lee Smith and I met via Twitter. Hard to imagine feeling so tuned to someone you got to know 140 characters at a time. Which is stretching the truth somewhat because it was early on that we began connecting via email. Rachelle’s powerful work became the focal point for a service I was creating […]