banner photo by Janet Best
Anglican Bishop's Sign Public Letter on Guaranteed Basic Income
/May 3, 2020
Dear Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Morneau:
Subject: COVID-19 Pandemic – Guaranteed Basic Income
We write from across our country – from the tundra of the high Arctic, the out-ports of the Atlantic coast, from French and English speaking Canada, from urban to rural, the Prairies, the Rockies and coastal mountains and from the Pacific coast; we write as Indigenous people and as non-Indigenous. We write from across denominational traditions. As bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada we write, compelled by our shared faith convictions and moral obligation to care for the human condition of all.
Although we represent great diversity, we write to you because we are united, and morally bound in a singular message: Canada needs Guaranteed Basic Income for all. We need it today.
We applaud the government for the various pandemic-related programs it has launched, including CERB. These programs address vital needs. As you have seen in practice, each of these programs is based on specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, with the result that there are different entitlements for individuals in varying circumstances. Way-finding through this can be daunting and some are excluded from all programs. We aspire to share this goal: that no one should fall through the gaps, and that everyone should have straightforward access to equitable support.
There is a way to that goal: an alternative, affordable, just, evidence-based policy option called Guaranteed Basic Income. As Pope Francis wrote last week: “This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage”. We would extend and amplify the Pontiff’s remarks: “This IS the time.”
Canada has long-considered GBI as a possible way to address inequities – from Mincome in Manitoba, to recent efforts in Ontario. The Parliamentary Budget office has studied it. National and international evidence shows that it is affordable; the Canadian studies suggest it would cost no more than perhaps 1% of GDP.[1] Many scholars are confident that there would be beneficial returns in every aspect of our polity, from justice to health, from education to social welfare.
We recommend GBI, not just as an astute financial policy, but also because it marks our identity as a country who cares for one another; it is a policy that enshrines this value in law. GBI would be a new social contract, defining a new relationship amongst Canadians, through the mediating role of our government: we would be articulating a relationship where we would know, with enduring certainty, that some of our public spending would provide income for others. With GBI we state clearly and definitively that no one will be failed by the system so catastrophically that they cannot feed and house themselves and their families; that no one is left so alone and so far behind that they cannot find a path out of precarity.
We encourage you to see the enormous economic and social value that Guaranteed Basic Income provides: from savings in our health care and correctional systems, to a strengthened opportunity for individuals to access child care, transportation, food, refugee and immigration aid, housing, and particularly the self-determination and health for Indigenous people.
GBI represents a positive nation-building policy option for today and for tomorrow. It can become the great, transformational legacy, left by this government, which arises from this pandemic, paralleling the great social gains which arose during and after earlier conflicts: public health insurance and equal rights. Guaranteed Basic Income is the policy which we can bequeath to our children, to their children, to the future.
We strongly urge the government to immediately implement Guaranteed Basic Income for all people who live on this land – for our citizens, our refugees, even for the visitors who find themselves here during this pandemic, unable to work and unable to thrive.
We say again, from diverse places, with diverse voices and diverse convictions: Canada needs GBI for all. Now is the time to put it in place. Today, we say in unison: “Canada needs Guaranteed Basic Income for all. We need it today.”
Yours sincerely,
The Rt Reverend Geoffrey Woodcroft – Diocese of Rupert’s Land
The Rt Reverend Jane Alexander – Diocese of Edmonton
The Most Reverend Linda Nicholls – Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada
Reverend Susan C. Johnson – National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
Reverend Jason Zinko – Manitoba/Northwestern Ontario Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada
The Most Reverend Anne Germond – Dioceses of Algoma and Moosonee
The Most Reverend Fred Hiltz – Diocese of Moosonee
The Rt Reverend Geoff Peddle – Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador
The Rt Reverend John Watton – Diocese of Central Newfoundland
The Rt Reverend John Organ – Diocese of Western Newfoundland
The Rt Reverend Bruce Myers – Diocese of Quebec
The Rt Reverend Mary Irwin-Gibson – Diocese of Montreal
The Rt Reverend Michael Oulton – Diocese of Ontario
The Rt Reverend Andrew Asbil – Diocese of Toronto
The Rt Reverend Peter Fenty (suffragan) – Diocese of Toronto
The Rt Reverend Riscylla Shaw (suffragan) – Diocese of Toronto
The Rt Reverend Jenny Andison (suffragan) – Diocese of Toronto
The Rt Reverend Kevin Robertson (suffragan) – Diocese of Toronto
The Rt Reverend Philip Poole (retired) – Diocese of Toronto
The Rt Reverend Nigel Shaw – Bishop Ordinary to the Canadian Forces
The Rt Reverend Don Phillips (retired) – Rupert’s Land
The Most Reverend Mark MacDonald – National Indigenous Archbishop
The Rt Reverend Susan Bell – Diocese of Niagara
Bishop-Elect Shane Parker – Diocese of Ottawa
The Most Reverend Ron Cutler – Diocese of Nova Scotia / Prince Edward Island
The Rt Reverend David Edwards – Diocese of Fredericton
The Rt Reverend Todd Townshend – Diocese of Huron
The Rt Reverend David Parsons – Diocese of the Arctic
The Rt Reverend Joey Royal (suffragan) – Diocese of the Arctic
The Rt Reverend William Cliff – Diocese of Brandon
The Rt Reverend Lydia Mamakwa – Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh
The Rt Reverend Isaiah Beardy (suffragan) – Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh
The Rt Reverend Chris Harper – Diocese of Saskatoon
The Rt Reverend Robert Hardwick – Diocese of Qu’Appelle
The Rt Reverend Michael Hawkins – Diocese of Saskatchewan
The Rt Reverend Adam Halkett – Diocese of Saskatchewan Indigenous Bishop
The Most Reverend Greg Kerr-Wilson – Diocese of Calgary
The Rt Reverend Lesley Wheeler-Dame – Diocese of Yukon
The Rt Reverend David Lehmann – Diocese of Caledonia
Bishop-Elect Lincoln McKoen – Territory of the People
The Rt Reverend Logan McMenamie – Diocese of British Columbia
The Most Reverend Melissa Skelton – Diocese of New Westminster
The Rt Reverend Lynne McNaughton – Diocese of Kootenay
The Rt Reverend George Bruce (retired) – Diocese of Ontario
—-
https://www.anglican.ca/news/a-public-letter-on-guaranteed-basic-income/30026458/
Can the Church survive Online Giving? Beyond the Plate with Neil Mancor Episode 3
/Can the Church survive Online Giving?
Join Neil Mancor and his guest Lori Guenther Reesor as they ask the question: Can the Church survive on Online Giving?
Thursday May 7 10am
Lori Guenther Reesor is a writer, speaker and consultant who specializes in helping charities and churches nurture and inspire generosity. In this webinar Lori will help navigate us through the world of online giving and give us tips to help us all inspire a positive circle of grace in financial generosity. Lori combines deep research with a warm sense of humour and an engaging speaking style. This is a webinar you won’t want to miss.
Check out her latest blog:
https://www.lgreesor.com/blog-4/2020/4/17/can-our-congregation-survive-on-online-donations
Neil Mancor's 8th Pandemic Blog Entry: Powerlessness
/Anyone who has been involved in any kind of 12-step program will know that the first step is to admit our powerlessness. Whether it be over alcohol or drugs or even controlling others, the journey towards recovery begins with an admission of personal powerlessness and the unmanageability of our lives. This truth is the foundation of hope. We have all been confronted with this truth in these past weeks of isolation. We have found ourselves to be powerless over a virus that has stalked us. Where we thought we once had control over how to conduct our lives we find ourselves now at the mercy of news reports, hoping, praying for some glimmer of hope, some ray of sunshine that this time will end. We are no longer free to just wander about our lives but must socially distance. We cannot meet with whomever we wish or freely go wherever we might wish.
But control is only ever an illusion. Breaking my ankle (for the second time!) was a stark reminder to me about powerlessness. I like to think I can control my physical health and life. There is a great deal we can do to enhance our wellbeing, but we are ultimately not in control of our bodies. Sometimes bones break just because. As a wise friend said: sometimes life sucks. Nor are we in control of our world as COVID-19 has shown us. As I reflect upon my life these past 8 weeks of isolation and now keeping my feet up, it has served as a sober reminder that I cannot, indeed should not, try to control every aspect of my life by sheer force of will and routine. I am powerless, and I must acknowledge this to be so. As the Sage said, “It is all meaningless, a chasing of the wind.”
That can be fearsome. Or it can help guide me, you, us towards a greater truth and a new hope. Because although our powerlessness is true, we are in control of how we respond to events. That is because of the second of the Twelve Steps: we come to believe that God or a Higher Power can restore us to sanity. That is where I find God in this. Contrary to what some have said, COVID-19 is not something God has inflicted upon us in wrath. Nor is it an opportunity God is using in some plot to get our attention. But it does present to us all, on a world-wide scale and in the individual moments of our lives, a time to acknowledge truth and turn to the One who can lead us through this. The One who can restore sanity to our world. For God created this world and everyone in it and has clear ideas about how it should be run. Things like caring for the migrant and those who are disadvantaged. Or stewarding the Creation we have been placed in. It’s all there for us in the great owner’s manual called the Bible.
For me, right now, remaining confined to home by the pandemic AND a broken ankle, crying out my powerlessness to God creates a new space in my heart that is open to a different way of being. Hopefully less swept along by the frenetic pace and more called by the God of grace. More willing to listen, to see where God is and follow where God leads. Perhaps to ponder the truth of Jesus’ gracious invitation:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Supper Club meets tonight!
/We long for connection, human touch and the comfort of being together in community. Since that is not an option for us right now, we continue to carve out meaningful ways to gather, listen, pray and break the isolation and loneliness of this period of physical distancing.
Beyond The Plate episode 2
/This time of pandemic has shown us that churches and faith communities need to reach beyond traditional forms of giving in order to survive and thrive. Change has been thrust upon us - there's no going back.
Join me Thursday at 11am for a Facebook Live discussion with Peter Misiaszek, Director of Stewardship Development for the Diocese of Toronto as he takes us through ways to encourage generosity even during digital worship services, how to run fund raising events without the event, and take a look at next generation digital giving platforms.
Invitation to Dio Convocation 2020 - Online Event!
/Bishop Mary would like to remind you of the Dio Convocation taking place this Monday (May 4th) at 7:30 pm. You need to register to attend. Here below is the is the invitation/message from Jesse Zink, Principal.
Dear colleagues,
It has become obvious that the Covid-19 pandemic means we will not be able to hold Convocation as usual this year. Restrictions on the size of gatherings make an event of this size impossible for early May.
However, there is nothing I like more than gathering people together to celebrate the accomplishments of our students—and we can still do that. Convocation this year will be an online-only event on Monday, May 4, 2020 at 7:30pm. We will pray together, grant degrees and diplomas, award prizes, reflect on the year, and have a special Convocation address from the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Most Rev. Linda Nicholls. While some aspects of our usual event won’t be possible to translate online, I hope that we will preserve the essential elements of celebration of accomplishment. In addition, we will invite those students graduating this year to join us again in May 2021 for a public, in-person recognition of their accomplishment.
Convocation is, of course, free but to preserve the security of the event we are asking that people register beforehand on Zoom using this link.
At the end of our Convocation, we will toast our graduates and award winners. Please bring a celebratory drink to join in.
As part of Convocation, we would like to share some photographs from the past year. If you have pictures of the college community “in action” and you are willing for them to be used in this way, please e-mail them to Beth Reed at bethreed@montrealdio.ca.
Beyond the Plate with Neil Mancor - New Episode (04/30/20) 10 am EST
/Beyond the Plate with Neil Mancor - New Episode
On Thursday, April 30th, My guest is Peter Misiaszek, the Director of Stewardship Development for the Diocese of Toronto. Peter is one of Canada’s foremost thinkers and practitioners in faith-based stewardship development and is always ahead of the curve in thinking about new ways for churches to encourage generosity.
Continuing our focus on Generosity in an age of COVID-19, Peter is going to take us through ways to encourage giving at online services, “non-event” event fundraising and third generation digital giving platforms. Definitely not one to miss!
