Reformed Reflections

MAINLINE DENOMINATIONS

Egerton Ryerson, Methodist leader, editor, educator. The educational system of Ontario after 1870 was largely based on a report Ryerson wrote in 1846 while he was superintendent of "common schools." "Ryerson firmly believed that it was both necessary and possible to inculcate those basic Christian values and virtues which were common to all denominations." (Wilson, D. (1966). The Church Grows in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Council of Churches.)

Grant, G. P. (1959). Philosophy in the mass age. Vancouver: Copp Clark.

Our educational institutions at all levels are still largely formed by what is most banal in our society. They have lost what was best in the old European education. They are spiritually formed by the narrow practicality of techniques; they are immediately governed by ill-educated capitalists of narrow interest. (pp. 12, 13)

Education is concerned with teaching young people techniques by which they can do things in the world. There is almost no concern in our educational system with seeing that our young people think deeply about the purpose for which these techniques should be used." ... "Reasonable discussion of moral purposes has almost entirely disappeared from our schools and universities. (p. 38)

Neatby H. (1953). So little for the mind. Clarke, Irwin.

Unfortunately the religious teaching now carried on in most Canadian schools is, as a rule, not an integral part of the programme. Like so many other things, it is pushed in as if in fear of missing something. (p. 331)

... it is worth while to recall again that education is a major Canadian industry and the key Canadian industry, absorbing yearly hundreds of millions of dollars and the energy of more than two million people. The leaders of this industry, harassed and oppressed by the number of things they are required to do, are constantly demanding more money and more help. (p. 333)

Dr. Neatby, Professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan and only woman member of the Royal Commission on National development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences.

Lawr, D. A., & Gidney, R. D. (Eds.). (1973). Educating Canadians. A documentary history of public education. (Updated second edition.). History of Education Department Althouse College of Education, The University to Western Ontario. Toronto: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

In the sixties and beyond the public school was "charged with providing the means of achieving the good society: specialists to man our technology; greater educational opportunity to equalize our social structure; multicultural education for minority groups; schools relevant to all students, not just the few who had traditionally used them for their economic and social advantage. (p. 14)

A frequent complaint from parents and businessmen alike is that schools are failing to prepare young people for the workaday world. Education and employment opportunities are inevitably related, and the rule generally is that the better the education the better the job.

Porter, J. (1977). The vertical mosaic: An analysis of social class and power in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto.

In the image of middle class equality that Canadians have of their society the private school does not belong. It is something associated with the aristocratic societies of Europe, and is rarely if ever thought of as being a significant feature of Canadian life. The publicly sponsored academic high school or collegiate has been viewed as the democratic answer to the educational systems of older societies.

Mark R. MacGuigan, M.P., Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, wrote in his essay, "Unity in the Secular City":

The public school educates for democracy and brotherhood in a way that no denominational school can do, precisely by mingling children of different religious faiths as well as of different social and cultural backgrounds and by engaging in common tasks. Thus, as symbol and reality, the public school performs the work of democracy. From the viewpoint of the state, therefore, it would seem highly desirable that all citizens should be educated in the public system. (p. 157)

(Le Blanc, P., & Edinborough, A. (Eds.). (1968). One church, two nations? Don Mills, ON: Longmans)

(I) The United Church of Canada

In many respects the UC is as Canadian as the maple leaf and the beaver. The UC was formed as a result of consultations between the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Congregational Churches in Canada, and the General Council of Local Union Churches. Only the Evangelical United Brethren and a few independent congregations have joined during the years since the original union. Close cooperation with the Anglican Church makes the UC one of the foremost promoters of ecumenism on the Canadian scene.

The UC has the largest Protestant membership in Canada. It is not hierarchically organized. A moderator is elected by delegates of the biennial council. The moderator is the UC's principal spokesperson. Any public statement he or she chooses to make is considered to be a statement by the UC unless repudiated by his/her executive or the next general council. The result is that the UC's stand on particular issues is never very clear. The locus of power in the UC lies in the permanent bureaucracy, which operates the executive offices. The gay ordination issue has led to severe membership losses. One critic has described the UC as the fastest shrinking church in Canada. Ivor Shapiro comments: "The gay ordination crisis was threatening to empty its pews and its coffers. That's when the United Church of Canada began discovering what really holds it together: not knowing what to believe." (Emphasis is mine.) He notes, "Doctrine, schmoctrine, says the United Church: in this church it is acceptable not to know what to believe." (The Benefit of the Doubt. Saturday Night, April, 1990.)

MacKay, J. I. (1938). The world in Canada. Toronto: The Committee on Missionary Education, The Woman's Missionary Society, Literature Department of the UCC.

The public schools must be given a high place among the institutions which teach people how to live together. It has often been said that children have no race prejudices, no dislike of other children, because of their colour or language, until some older person poisons their minds. I think that is true. It is true also that, as a rule, school teachers are not the kind of people to foster race hatred. Not only do they know that to do so would make their task of teaching and of preserving discipline much more difficult, but they know as well that such a course would be fatal to their main task, that of training boys and girls for good citizenship. Their effort is directed rather to the uprooting of prejudices and dislikes. The children at the school work together and they Play together and the result is wholesome (PP. 123f)

This view on public schools has not changed. In 1962 the Roman Catholic Bishops of Ontario presented a brief to the Prime Minister and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. This brief reviewed the Catholic Position on separate and public schools. Among other things, it requested increased financial support for Catholic schools, and more authority for Catholics in planning curricula. This brief was opposed by the United Church. The Secretary of the General Council, Rev. Ernest Long, signed the UC rebuttal to the brief. The current moderator, Rev. Stan MacKay, favours a course on spirituality in the public school system.

Porter, J. (1965). Chapter XVI: The ideological system: The higher learning and the clergy. The vertical mosaic: An analysis of social class and power in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto.

Grant, J. W. (1967). The Canadian experience of church union. London: Lutterworth.

(11) The Presbyterian Church of Canada

When the United Church was formed, 40 percent of the 380,000 Presbyterians remained outside. They reorganized immediately to form the Presbyterian Church of Canada. The continuing Presbyterians are an interesting and sometimes irreconcilable combination of liberal, fundamentalistic, and reformed theology. Their confessional standards do not "fence off the pulpit." Commenting on the merger, Webster Grant wrote, "It is difficult to think of any event in Canadian Church history that left such a residue of bitterness, breaking up not only congregations but personal friendships and family loyalties." (Canadian Experience, p. 51.)

Bibby, R. (1987). Fragmented Gods. The poverty and potential of religion in Canada. Toronto: Irwin.

Over the years the two churches have become amicable. Ministers of the two churches frequently exchange pulpits and it is common to have joined worship services during the summer. Like the UC, the Presbyterian Church is a member of the Canadian Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The church membership is aging. The average weekly churchgoing stands around 20%. (p. 106)

See also Wilson, D. J. (1966). The church grows in Canada. Toronto: Canadian Council of Churches. p. 139.

With few exceptions the Presbyterian Church takes the same stand as the United Church. A 69-year-old Presbyterian in Hamilton, for example, says:

I disagree entirely with any separate school funding. There should only be a public school system that is sufficient for anyone. And if someone wants to be educated in religion or otherwise, then surely that is why we have churches. Schools are for education. (Fragmented Gods. p. 201)

See also Smith, N. G., Farris, A. L., & Markell, H. K. (1967). A short history of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Toronto: Centennial Committee on History, Presbyterian Publications.

Lutheranism is a term used in reference to the activities of churches which call themselves "Lutheran." Its doctrinal position is embodied in the Book of Concord (1580), consisting of the three ecumenical creeds, the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, Luther's Small and Large Catechisms, the Smalcald Articles, and the Formula of Concord. Justification by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ is the primary doctrine. Good works are the fruit of faith. The believer is justified but still a sinner. The sacraments - baptism and the Lord's Supper - have a prominent place in the life of the church. Baptism is regarded as a means by which the new birth is effected, especially in infants. Lutherans believe that in the Lord's Supper bread and wine the body and blood of Christ Himself are present. The Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sins, the strengthening of faith, and as an expression of union with Him and fellow believers. Lutheranism emphasizes the differences between Law and Gospel. The Law condemns; the Gospel saves. The Law terrorizes; the Gospel comforts. The Law reveals God's wrath; the Gospel reveals God's grace.

Lutherans do not insist on a uniform church polity. Some churches are episcopal in character; some congregational; others tend toward a presbyterial system of government. In worship services Lutheranism tends to be ritualistic. But there are also churches in our time which have a plain order of service.

The Lutheran World Federation is the ecumenical voice of Lutheranism. It was organized at Lund, Sweden, in 1947.

Lutheran doctrine, polity, church structures and federations cannot be treated as completely united. Some Lutherans and Lutheran church bodies have been influenced greatly by modern biblical criticism in recent decades and have repudiated strongly held Lutheran beliefs. (The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. pp. 612ff.)

William Kilbourn notes that in Canada, except in regions where they are concentrated, the Lutheran churches are not well known to the general Canadian public. Many Lutherans are exclusive and do not quickly assimilate. Their churches have grown remarkably since World War II, almost entirely through immigration from Europe. (Religion in Canada. The Spiritual development of a nation, p. 73)

Waterloo County in Ontario has the greatest concentration of Lutherans in Canada. (The Church Grows in Canada, pp. 160ff)

The Missouri Synod, organized in 1847, has assimilated other Lutheran synods, but did not merge with any large Lutheran bodies. It has been rigidly confessional in its theology, subscribing to the Lutheran Confessions because (not in so far as) they were in conformity with the Scriptures. In its church polity it has been congregational, the synod having only advisory jurisdiction over the congregations. It has supported a strong system of parish or parochial schools. It has also maintained two teacher training institutions. The well known "International Lutheran Hour," a radio ministry, has been under the sponsorship of the Lutheran Layman's League, an organization within the Missionary Synod. (The new international dictionary of the Christian church, p. 612)

Anglicans believe that theirs is the church of New Testament times and the early church, reformed in the 16th century, now waiting for the reunion of all Christians.

The Book of Common Prayer is used by all Anglican churches. It is regarded as the distinctive embodiment of Anglican doctrine following the principle of "the rule of prayer is the rule of belief." The Bible is declared to be the Word of God and to contain all that is necessary to salvation. The Nicene and Apostles' Creeds are accepted as confessing the faith of Scripture and classic Christianity.

The Thirty-nine Articles, dating from the 16th century, are not required for explicit assent, but they are regarded as an important historical statement and document. These articles explicitly reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and affirm the doctrine of justification of faith, the Trinity, and the person of Christ as "very God and very Man."

Worship is characterized by an attempt to follow the liturgical year; that is, to read prescribed lessons designed to emphasize that portion of Scripture relating to Advent, Christmas, and so on. Readings from both testaments are required at all normal services. The Prayer Book is saturated with Scripture. In recent revisions it substantially changes. These revisions do not only affect language; they also attempt to include more lay and congregational participation than was possible in the 16th century. These revisions have met strong resistance on the part of many who feel the language to be inferior to the 16thcentury Elizabeth era and that some changes have unfortunate doctrinal implications,1

Bishops are the chief officers of Anglican churches, with archbishops or presiding bishops functioning as "first among equals" with national or provincial responsibilities and administrative authority.3

The Anglican Church in Canada, the name adopted in 1955 by the body previously known as the Church of England in Canada, was the second largest non-Roman Catholic church in Canada. It had achieved a national organization in 1893.6

Within the Anglican church there is a charismatic organization called "Anglican Renewal Ministries," which publishes a quarterly magazine, Tongues of Fire. There is also an Anglican evangelical organization called "Barnabas Ministries."9

The Right Rev. and Hon. John Strachan, D.D. (1778-1867) was a Presbyterian born in Scotland. In 1799 he emigrated to Canada and taught school in Kingston until 1803, when he was ordained in the Church of England and became curate of Cornwall. He was rector of St. James Church, Toronto, from 1813 until 1867, and Archdeacon of York. He was also Senior Executive and Legislative Counsellor of Upper Canada and Chairman of the Board of Education. He upheld the sole right of the Anglican Church to income from the clergy reserves.10

Strachan was the first president of King's College (University of Toronto) until he founded the University of Trinity College in 1851 and served as its first chancellor. 12 Latourette noted, "In the University of Toronto a state institution became the nucleus of a federation in which the colleges of several denominations joined without losing their identity, thereby preserving a more pronounced sympathy with Christianity than was usual in the United States ... Education in Canada was largely the creation of the churches and maintained a Christian emphasis."13

Trinity College provided teachers for Anglican schools. In 1857 the County Council of Welland passed an act establishing a grammar school there. The first two teachers were clergymen and graduates of Trinity College." 14

1 pp. 48ff. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Edited by Walter A. Elwell. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI. 1984.

2 pp. 66f. Hymnody in the Anglican and English Protestant Church. Vincent Lent. The American Organist. January, 1994.

3 p. 48 Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.

4 p. 83 The Canadianization of the Church of England. Richard E. Ruggle. Canadian Society of Church History Papers. 1982.

5 pp. 206ff. The Christian Church In Canada. H. H. Walsh. The Ryerson Press, Toronto. 1969

6 p. 145 Christianity in a Revolutionary Age. The Twentieth Century Outside Europe. Kenneth Scott Latourette. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI. 1969

7 pp. 514ff. The Vertical Mosaic. An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada. John Porter. University of Toronto Press, Toronto and Buffalo, thirteenth printing. 1977.

8 p. 48 Evangelical Dictionary of Theology.

9 p. 128 Fragmented Gods. The Poverty and Potential of Religion in Canada. Reginald Bibby. Irwin Publishing, Toronto. 1987.

10 p. 933 The International Dictionary of the Christian Church. J.D. Douglas, General Editor. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI. 1974.

11 p. 130 Church and Sect in Canada. S.D. Clark. University of Toronto Press. 1948.

12 p. 933 International Dictionary of the Christian Church.

13 p. 42A History of the Expansion of Christianity. The Great Century. Vol. 5. by Kenneth Scott Latourette. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI. Second Printing. 1971.

14 Thomas Brock Fuller. Canadian Society of Church History Papers. 1972-1973.

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