Magic Statistics

The Rev Robert Stringer (photo at right) of the Diocese of Saskatchewan has an ambivalent relationship with his illustrious great-grandfather, The Most Rev Isaac Stringer.

Abp Stringer served as Bishop of Yukon from 1905-31 and Archbishop of Rupert’s Land from 1931-34, but he is best known as The Bishop Who Ate His Boots.  He and a companion were lost in a blizzard in northern Yukon for a month in 1909.  The day after they made stew from boot leather, they reached safety.

Having a renowned relative can be both embarrassing and inspiring. Embarrassing because the historical shadow of the Archbishop looms large anytime I gather with people who have heard of my great grandfather. As a fairly shy person such attention can at times be unwelcome (although, there is some protection in the fact that the inquirer is more interested in my pedigree rather than my personal life). Yet the story of my great grandfather is inspiring because of his commitment to the people of the Arctic and the bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to the edges of the world. This for me is the great legacy of the Archbishop. Of course, he will always be remembered for getting lost in the Yukon. A point of history he was willing to use to raise the profile of—thus bringing much need funding to—the mission in the North. First and foremost, Isaac Stringer was a servant of Christ and a missionary to the people of the Yukon.  This inspires me.

Rev Robert Stringer is the first person in the family to be ordained since his great uncle the Rev Randall Stringer, one of the Archbishop’s sons.  He is posted at Meadow Lake, the most northerly town in Saskatchewan.

Rev Rob closes with three prayers for missions from the Book of Common Prayer.

Of thanksgiving: For Missions.

WE thank thee, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to build thy Church in many lands. We praise thee for the light of the Gospel, the labours of thy servants, and the ministrations of thy Church. We also bless thy holy Name for those who have lived, and suffered, and died for thy sake; beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good examples, that with them we may at last attain thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For all Missionary Workers.

O GOD, who willest that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth: Prosper, we pray thee, all those who labour in the Gospel at home and in distant lands [particularly . . . ]; protect them in all perils, and support them in loneliness and in the hour of trial; give them thy grace to bear faithful witness unto thee; endue them with burning zeal and love, that they may turn many to righteousness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For a Parish Mission.

O GOD, our heavenly Father, we humbly pray thee to bless abundantly the efforts that are now being made to turn thy people in this parish to sincere repentance and a more lively faith. Prepare all hearts to receive the seed of thy Word. Grant that it may take deep root, and bring forth fruit, to thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mission is our Lord’s great calling for his church. That these prayers should come to view as the primates of the Anglican Communion prepare to meet together in Tanzania is, it seems to me, very appropriate.  It is my prayer that the decisions made by the primates will enable and encourage Anglicans to focus more attention on mission, so help us God.

Previous related posts:

• 2007 Primates Meeting Prayer Campaign
• Travelling Bishop Stringer Exhibition

Heather Stilwell, long-serving member and former Chair of the Surrey School Board, sought nomination as Conservative Party candidate in Newton-North Delta (a suburban area south of Vancouver, BC), for the next federal election.

She was warned that her background as an outspoken pro-family, pro-life figure would render her unacceptable in the eyes of party brass.  That warning has proven prescient as the party has rejected her nomination papers on a technicality.

Tories informed Stilwell by e-mail Thursday night she wouldn’t be accepted as a candidate in the Conservative nomination because her papers weren’t in order.

At first, they said the school trustee’s criminal record check wasn’t received, then Stilwell faxed it to them. They later questioned whether the people who signed her nomination papers were Conservatives.

She faxed them a new list.

Stilwell said the party informed her she was being rejected because they hadn’t received hard copies.

This is not the first time the Conservative Party has prevented the nomination of a pro-family leader.

[T]he Party forbade social conservative John Pacheco from contesting the Conservative nomination in an Ottawa riding.  Pacheco was the main organizer of the Ottawa Marriage March which drew over 15,000 people to Parliament Hill.  Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, with Pacheco's permission, spoke at that massive rally.  Weeks later the Conservatives denied Pacheco the opportunity to attempt to represent the Party.

At least Mr Pacheco was frankly denied the opportunity to be nominated, but Mrs Stilwell’s rejection smacks of underhandedness and guile.

Although admittedly a controversial individual, Mrs Stilwell’s record of public service and string of school board election victories indicate that she would have been a very strong candidate.

Peace Arch News was unable to contact local riding president Jim Holt for comment; neither did Conservative Party headquarters return phone calls from LifeSite.  What a coincidence!

A comment can be sent to the party at this web page.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's contact information:

• Telephone:     (613) 992-4211
• Fax:              (613) 941-6900
• EMail:            Harper.S@parl.gc.ca

Previous related post: Tory candidates not allowed to answer abortion questionnaires

UPDATE (13 Feb.): The party changed its mind and allowed her back in the race. 

Tobaiwa Mudede is registrar-general of Zimbabwe and a close political ally of Dictator President Robert Mugabe.  He’s been in the job for over twenty years, but it was only with the 2003 passage of Citizenship Amendment Act 12 that he came into his own as a zealous and high-handed bureaucrat.

Zimbabwean law has always prohibited dual citizenship, but the 2003 amendment added a provision that natives whose parents were born outside of Zimbabwe must specifically renounce any claims to citizenship of the country where a parent was born.  Anyone failing to do so is liable to have his or her Zimbabwean citizenship revoked.  This has given Mr Mudede arbitrary power to harass and disenfranchise enemies of the ruling ZANU PF party.  He has made every effort to do just that.

Critics say the amendment was meant to disenfranchise thousands if not millions of Zimbabweans of Mozambican, Malawian, Zambian or British origin who were perceived to be opposed to President Mugabe’s rule and the notorious land reform exercise which began in 2000 and saw thousands of whites driven off their farms and sometimes killed.

These alleged aliens were seen by Mugabe and ultra-loyalists like Mudede as underpinning the white economy by providing the bulk of the labour on commercial farms. They were further accused of voting for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in heavily rigged elections in 2000 and 2002, which nevertheless came near to toppling Mugabe and ZANU PF.

Mudede has revoked the citizenship of many native-born Zimbabweans, but those who contested such actions in court have virtually always been vindicated.

The latest target is Trevor Ncube, owner of the country’s last two surviving independent weekly newspapers.  Mr Ncube is a native-born Zimbabwean but the fact that his father was born in Zambia provides a pretext for refusing to renew his passport and revoking his citizenship.

When Ncube submitted his passport for renewal because it had run out of pages, he was shocked to receive news that he was no longer a Zimbabwean citizen. Mudede declared that Ncube had forfeited his Zimbabwean citizenship because he had failed to renounce his Zambian citizenship in 2001, although Ncube has only ever been to Zambia twice on business trips.

"His [Ncube's] failure to comply with the requirement to renounce Zambian citizenship within the prescribed period automatically meant loss of Zimbabwean citizenship," said Mudede.

On 25 January, the High Court declared Mr Ncube a citizen of Zimbabwe and ordered the reinstatement of his passport.

Critics says there is a ZANU PF political agenda behind Mudede's incessant harassment of people over their citizenship. They suggested that the aim was to strip Ncube of his citizenship as a prelude to shutting down his Zimbabwe Independent and Standard newspapers that are both critical of government policies.

Ya think?

Previous related posts:

• Uncle Bob and his Mugabemobile
• Speaking truth to power in Zimbabwe
• Can Canada force Robert Mugabe to respect human rights?

Now who might that be?

The UK Labour cabinet has been adamant that no one is to be exempted from the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs), under which Catholic adoption agencies would be required to consider homosexuals as potential adoptive parents.  In the view of the Catholic church and its agencies, the SORs violate freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.  Agencies have said they will close their doors or operate in open defiance of the law rather than obey the dictates of the new regulations.

The government insists, however, that the SORs are a matter of fundamental human rights and must override any religious scruples (even though, up until this moment, religious freedom was defended by liberal principles of human rights).  On no account are any exceptions to be countenanced.

Harriet Harman, the Constitutional Affairs Minister, declared that: "You can either be against discrimination or you can allow for it. You can't be a little bit against discrimination."

Mr Peter Hain, like Ms Harman a candidate for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, also criticised the Catholics' attempts to gain an exemption from a specific aspect of the anti-discrimination legislation. This was "a fundamental principle", he said, which should allow for no organisation to be exempt. Charles Falconer, Ms Harman's immediate superior, stated definitively that: "the law applies to everybody".

Well, not quite.  According to the Section 54 of the Equality Bill, under which the SORs are being given effect, this law does not apply to a favoured few. Dominic Lawson, writing in The Independent, spills the beans.

Subsection 1 states that: "It is unlawful for a public authority exercising a function to do any act which constitutes discrimination or harassment"; but Subsection 3 immediately declares that: "The prohibition in Subsection 1 shall not apply to the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the authorities of either House of Parliament, the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service, the Government Communications Headquarters or a part of the armed forces of the Crown which is, in accordance with a requirement of the Secretary of State, assisting the Government Communications Headquarters."

The government official quizzed by Mr Lawson gave national security as the reason for exempting those government bodies.  One can accept that national security provides reasonable grounds for exempting the spies—but the Houses of Parliament?  What national security consideration excuses Parliament from obeying its own laws?  And why is national security valid grounds for an exemption but not freedom of religion?

It is abundantly clear that Labour cabinet ministers who solemnly intone, “the law applies to everybody”, are disingenuous poseurs.  Our Lord’s condemnation of the scribes and Pharisees comes to mind.

h/t: Times Online - Comment Central

Previous related posts:

• Thought crime in the UK?
• Tom Wright denounces Labour government over gay adoption rules
• Church of England gets a conscience clause
• If you think Labour is insufferable now, just wait