Yes to CCSP!

Posted on August 22, 2008 by thebows99krug

Acts 4:32-5:11. "The whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common."

This verse, and others in the Book of Acts, discloses that the early Christians were socialists. Socialism apparently worked well among the early Christians, That’s because they were "of one heart and soul" and respected each other. After thinking about this I looked up Christian Socialist on the web and found there are Christian socialist parties in a lot of countries.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The International League of Religious Socialists is an umbrella organization of religious socialist movements in political parties throughout the world. Founded in the 1920s, it has member groups in 21 countries totalling 200,000 members. For most of its history it was mainly European and contained mainly Christian Socialist groups, but has recently expanded to the Americas, Africa and Australia and to include more groups with connections to other religions. It is an associate organisation of the Socialist International.

"The member organizations are:

  • · Ernest Burgmann Society (Australia)
  • · ACUS: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Christentum und Sozialismus (Austria)
  • · The Christian Socialist Movement (Britain)
  • · Bulgarian Religious Social Democrats (Bulgaria)
  • · Cristianos por la Liberacion (Costa Rica)
  • · Frente Nacional de Cultos (Dominican Republic)
  • · Kristillisten Sosialidemokraattinen Liitto (Finland)
  • · Bund der Religiösen Sozialistinnen und Sozialisten Deutschlands (Germany)
  • · Religious Socialist Section of the MSZP (Hungary)
  • · Cristiano Sociali (Italy)
  • · Latvian Christian Social Democratic Organisation (Latvia)
  • · Religious Social Democrats (Lithuania)
  • · Trefpunt van Socialisme en Levensovertuiging (Netherlands)
  • · Kristne Arbeidere (Norway)
  • · Contak (Philippines)
  • · ANC Religion and Socialism Commission (South Africa)
  • · Norabideak/Cristianos en el PSOE (Spain – Basque Country)
  • · Satyodaya (Sri Lanka)
  • · Broderskapsrörelsen (Sweden)
  • · Religiös-Sozialistische Vereinigung der Deutschschweiz (Switzerland)
  • · DSA Religion & Socialism Commission (United States)"

It is the last one that peaked my interest. Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a social democratic organization in the United States and the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, a federation of socialist, social democratic, democratic socialist and labour parties and organizations.

Now why is it that the U.S. has a Christian Socialist party while we, in more left leaning and main stream Christian Canada, don’t? The currant NDP which punishes MPs for voting according to their Christian conscience certainly doesn’t qualify. The NDP have moved too far away from their CCF roots and what they were under Tommy Douglas. In my humble opinion Canadian socialists need to return to the days of Tommy Douglas. We need a Canadian Christian Socialist Party (CCSP).

Posted in News and politics | Leave a comment

No to the NDP!

Posted on August 6, 2008 by thebows99krug

I am a long time supporter of the NDP; was at one time a card carrying member.  Lately the NDP both federally and provincially has been advocating policies I do not support.  Now the NDP is trying once again to pass a bill that would make Ontarians automatic organ donors upon death.  I strongly object to such a bill.  We the citizens of Ontario are not the property of the state even when dead. The province has no right to presume it owns or controls the body of its citizens at any stage of that citizen’s life. I will no longer be supporting or voting for the NDP.

Posted in News and politics | Leave a comment

New dim sum place

Posted on July 23, 2008 by thebows99krug

A new Chinese Restaurant has just had its grand opening,
Delightful Cantonese Cuisine (869
Victoria St. Kitchener, ON N2B 3C3).  I’ve already been twice for lunch.  The first time I had something from its lunch
specials menu: fried tofu and beef with black pepper sauce.  Lunch includes choice of wonton soup or hot
and sour soup, a spring roll and steamed rice. This restaurant cooks up very
good Cantonese style food.  Cantonese
style is the style one found most often in high end (like Kwong Chow and Lichee Gardens
in Toronto)
Chinese restaurants of the 1950s and 1960s. 
North American Chinese, the style investigated in the book "Fortune
cookie chronicles," is mostly derived from it.  Authentic Cantonese however, is not
"greasy" spoon but a fine dining cuisine.  This place does it well and the service is
attentive. It definitely brings back memories of my growing up in Toronto’s downtown Chinatown.  I just had to go back to try its dim sum.
They have all my favourites, deep fried squid tentacles, turnip cake, char sui
bao, pot stickers, sticky rice in lotus leaf, har gow, shrimp dumpling, and
shrimp shu mai.  They were out of tentacles
because of the number ordered at their official opening on Sunday but they fried
me up some squid bodies – done perfectly, tender, not a hint of the rubbery texture
you get if not done right. The sticky rice with meat in lotus leaf is every bit
as good as Chrystal
Palace’s (which James and
I think are the best in the Region.) The shrimp rolls as good as Cameron’s; all
the dim sum was good. But really outstanding was the radish cake (the correct
name for turnip cake); it was served cubed on a bed of lightly fried bean
sprouts and onions.  I’m going to come
back often just for these wonderful radish cakes.  One thing that really brought back memories
was the red hot sauce beside the hot Chinese mustard in a yin yang circle. in
the 50s and 60s, all the Chinese restaurants used to put such a red and yellow
filled dish on the table.  That hot
mustard is wonderful with barbecued pork; it also works with dim sum.

Posted in Food and drink | 1 Comment

On Holy Matrimony

Posted on June 2, 2008 by thebows99krug

I have been asked what my opinion is on
marriages where the husband and wife don’t intend to conceive children, or
where one of the potential parents is infertile. I think the question of
whether a couple doesn’t want or can’t have children is irrelevant to the question of a rite for same sex unions and to what Holy Matrimony is about. The BCP’s main prayer
(admittedly omitted where the woman is past child-bearing age) reads, " O
MERCIFUL Lord, and heavenly Father by whose gracious blessing mankind is
increased: Bestow, we beseech thee, on these thy servants the heritage and gift
of children, and grant that they may also live together so long in godly love
and honesty, that they may see their children christianly and virtuously
brought up, to thy praise and honour; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen." The whole sacramental rite of
Holy Matrimony is aimed at family – father, mother and children – mirroring the
Holy Family in heaven. Holy matrimony is so much more than a loving couple
living a life in service of God. The Epistle is Colossians 3.15 which talks of
husbands loving their wives and children obeying their parents and fathers not
provoking their children.
Posted in Religion - Anglican | Leave a comment

Blessing of Same-Gender Unions motion

Posted on April 23, 2008 by thebows99krug

Quotations

· "Each individual’s journey through life is unique. Some will make this journey alone, others in loving relationships – maybe in marriage or other forms of commitment. We need to ponder our own choices and try to understand the choices of others. Love has many shapes and colors and is not finite. It can not be measured or defined in terms of sexual orientation." From the Statement of Affirmation and Reconciliation by the Quaker meeting in Aotearoa.

· "Marriage is a union between one man and one woman, designed of God to last so long as they both shall live." From the Westminster Confession of Faith – approved by the General Assembly 1647

While I support my government’s decision to allow same-sex marriages through the civil process, I am not comfortable with fully equating it with an Anglican Church marriage. Civil marriages were initiated by man through the state while church marriages were instituted by God and therefore are sacred, holy and central to the community of the Church.

Marriage was adopted by Christians from Jewish practice. Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding in Cana where he turned water into wine. He was blessing an existing practice, not initiating something new. This Cana marriage was truly sealed by God and was a sign of the love uniting Christ and his Church.

I have some misgivings about the motion which has been placed on the agenda for this year’s Diocese of Huron synod;

MOTION CONCERNING THE BLESSING

OF SAME GENDER MARRIAGES

Preamble:

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada has affirmed the integrity and sanctity of same-gender unions, and has resolved that the blessing of same-gender unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada. With that in mind, we the people of the Diocese of Huron believe that we are being called to move forward in a caring and loving way to include the faithful gay and lesbian couples of our Church by blessing their loving and committed marriages.

Respecting the positions of those within our Church who cannot agree with the blessing of same-gender unions, for theological reasons and as a matter of conscience,

 

Moved: The Rev’d Greg Little Seconded by: Maureen Campbell

Be it resolved:

That this Synod request the Bishop grant permission to clergy, whose conscience permits, to bless the duly solemnized and registered civil marriages between same-gender couples, where at least one party is baptized; and that the Bishop authorize an appropriate rite and make regulations for its use in supportive parishes.

Not all of "we the people of the Diocese of Huron" believe we are being called to bless same-sex unions. If we were truly being called by God then the issue would not be tearing our church apart. A call is uniting, never divisive. It’s more likely we are being called to come up with a statement of affirmation and reconciliation with the world-wide Anglican Communion.

In the early undivided church, there was no appropriate rite initiated either by God or by man for blessing same-sex unions. The Anglican sacramental rite of Holy Matrimony is not appropriate. Holy Matrimony confers on the heterosexual couple the grace they need for attaining holiness in their married life. It consecrates them for the mission of building the Church family, which includes the responsible acceptance and upbringing of their children. The rite provides grace for accomplishing that mission. Same-sex civil unions, lacking the ability to conceive children, do not have the same mission as a heterosexual marriage. The Canadian civil marriage gives the same-sex marriage all the civil rights and privileges of a heterosexual marriage, but it does not give a mission.

I am not opposed to blessing such civil contracts as a same-sex marriage; but keep them in context and bless all personal contracts and friendships. I am opposed to establishing an "appropriate rite" for blessing same-sex marriages in isolation from the full Canadian Anglican Community. No Synod or Bishop on its own should initiate a new rite, especially if not based either in scripture or in the early church, in isolation from the whole Church.

I feel the motion needs to be amended by removing "authorize an appropriate rite and make regulations for its use in supportive parishes." You don’t need such a rite or regulations to bless a contract or friendship if that is all you are doing – blessing a loving relationship. The blessing should be a simple blessing, part of a regular service welcoming the new couple into the parish, that bestows nothing new and simply blesses a loving couple and their civil union. Don’t make it a back door to full Holy Matrimony status. Replace "

that the Bishop authorize an appropriate rite and make regulations for its use in supportive parishes" with "that the Bishop authorize an appropriate prayer or blessing and allow for its use in supportive parishes."

Posted in Religion - Anglican | Leave a comment

Why kill the pigs?

Posted on April 15, 2008 by thebows99krug

Two articles in
today’s (April 15, 2008) Waterloo Region Record caught my eye.  Ottawa to pay pork producers to kill
off pigs as market collapses announces that Ottawa will pay pig farmers
up to $50 million to slaughter their breeding pigs if they agree to wipe out
their entire herd and stay out of the hog business for three years. Ottawa
hopes to reduce the glut and bring prices back up.  Global food crisis may wipe out seven
years of progress  reports on
"a rapidly escalating global food crisis..[reaching]..emergency
proportions…"  UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for "short-term emergency
measures…to meet urgent food needs and avoid starvation and longer-term
efforts to significantly increase production…"  I hope I’m not the only one to see a serious
problem with Ottawa’s hog policy in light of the global food crisis. These are
breeding hogs that could be used in areas of the world where people are
starving, to help them raise food to lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.
Why waste all these hogs?  Why not send
them to subsistence farmers in the Third World? 
Surely there are philanthropic organizations that would pick up the
shipping costs. Our hog farmers might feel better about a solution to Canada’s
hog glut if they could actually help alleviate the global food crisis.  Much better than slaughtering all those hogs.

Posted in News and politics | Leave a comment

CBC suggestion could work for Waterloo Libraries too

Posted on March 14, 2008 by thebows99krug

Just this week a CBC radio commentator suggested putting drop off boxes for spent batteries in Toronto libraries.  The municipality then would contribute $0.05 to the library board for every spent battery deposited in the collection box.  Hey it would keep spent batteries out of land fill.  Surely citizens would welcome this opportunity to contribute directly to the library’s budget.  It would have to be over and above what the cities normally contribute to the public library.  Very good idea don’t you think?
Posted in Libraries and Librarianship | Leave a comment

A suggestion to Kitchener City Council

Posted on January 19, 2008 by thebows99krug

Some more thoughts on clearing of snow and ice from
City of Kitchener
streets..

                The walks of those who do not comply with the by-law will
not get shovelled for a least a few days after a major snowfall.  Home and business owners have 24 hours after
the snowfall ends to clear their sidewalks. 
Then someone has to report them, another day or two. Then a by-law
enforcement officer visits and issues a warning, yet another day or two.  The walk can go un-shovelled for up to a week
by which time there can be yet another major snow fall and we start over. This
definitely does not help the physically challenged nor Councillor Geoff
Lorentz’s mail person colleagues..

                Then there is the problem of what to do with owners
who are in hospital or on vacation during a big snow or ice storm.  Do they deserve a whopping big
fine just because they could not make arrangements for someone to shovel while
they are away?  You can end up in
hospital for a lengthy stay without any prior warning and a person going on
vacation can often forget this detail.

                Good citizens with no signs of a health problem can end
up dead from shovelling snow as was the case in the heart attack death while
shovelling snow during the last big storm of a prominent parishner of my
church.  The proposal to have city crews
clear all walks will actually save lives.

                I do not like the fine system on principle. Municipalities
are governed by municipal councils NOT ruled by them. The job of municipal
council is to make decisions about municipal financing and services. 
Because land owners owe fealty to the Queen, representatives of the state may
order them to maintain the roadway and / or crown land adjacent to their
property but it is not appropriate for city council to make such orders.   We elect city council to govern not rule and
they do not represent the monarch as provincial and federal governments do.

                I realize that the $3.8 million proposal to have city
crews clear all walks would have added to my tax bill and adding such a cost
would not go over well with voters.  I’d
like to suggest that the city come up with a proposal where city blocks or
neighbourhoods could opt to pay for such a service in their tax bill by a local
vote and simple majority.  I understand
that admittedly some time ago, this was how sidewalks were originally installed and paid for
in Kitchener and why some streets to this day do not have sidewalks.  Neighbourhoods that opt in would be exempt
from the fine. I think this issue is worth a second look for the sake of saving
lives and making Kitchener
more pedestrian friendly.

Posted in News and politics | Leave a comment

Citywide snow and ice clearing

Posted on January 18, 2008 by thebows99krug

I’m not pleased with Kitchener council
rejecting the $3.8 M proposal to have city crews clear all walks. Increasing
the fines for property owners who fail to keep the side walks in front of their
homes and businesses clear of snow and ice is not a solution.  The fine will be just another cost of doing
business in Kitchener
for businesses and absentee property owners. 
It will be added to the price and rent they charge.  It will not get the sidewalks cleaned.  Who it really hurts are all the senior citizens
who live in their own homes and the disabled who will still face uncleared
sidewalks. Shovelling snow has already caused one death that I know of and I’ve
seen the difficulty a physically challenged student had getting to school after
the last big snow fall. I can’t help but note that the majority of councillors
are physical fit and not yet senior citizens. I urge them to reconsider; we
senior citizens are increasing in numbers and we vote. Mississauga
and Kingston to name but two Ontario cities have had citywide ploughing
of sidewalks for years.  Get with it Kitchener.

Posted in News and politics | Leave a comment

Blessing same-sex marriages

Posted on December 15, 2007 by thebows99krug

I support my government’s decision to allow same-sex “marriages”
through the civil process but I chose to qualify such marriages by emphasizing
the word “civil” – they are “civil marriages”. 
(I wish my local MP, Karen Redman, had stuck to her well thought out
compromise and not whipped senior Liberals to vote for the present Canadian
definition of “marriage”.) The new definition is not the same as the
traditional church definition.  The
Church marriage down through the ages unites a man and a woman as husband and
wife for the purpose of the formation of a family unit, procreation and the
education and nurturing of children.

I believe that same-sex marriages are not compatible with Anglican Church marriages.
I am extremely worried that the issue of blessing same-sex unions may split the
Anglican Church in Canada
and get us thrown out, along with the U.S. Episcopalians, of the world-wide
Anglican Communion.  I really don’t
understand the Dioceses of New Westminster, Ottawa
and Montreal
voting to allow the blessing of such unions. 
Same-sex marriages are contracts or civil unions.  They differ from a bond of life long friendship
between two same sex persons in that there is a sexual element and the contract
seeks to legitimize the sexual relationship. Friends also make a lifelong
commitment though there is no exclusiveness. The Church does not bless
friendship or general contracts so why should it bless same-sex marriages?  If you are going to bless same-sex marriages
then make it different from the traditional church marriage and include all
committed friendships. Friendship is indeed blessed!

Posted in Religion - Anglican | Leave a comment