Diocese of Niagara privately declares churches ‘non-viable’

Time for a brief update on the continuing unpleasantness between the diocese of Niagara and ANiC churches, St. Hilda’s Oakville and the Church of the Good Shepherd St. Catherines.

In a recent Clericus meeting, the diocesan priest in charge at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Bruce McPetrie  declared that neither Good Shepherd nor St. Hilda’s have ‘viable congregations’. No kidding, Bruce; how many years of theological training does it take to be able to figure out that a congregation of zero is non-viable.

Which leaves the obvious question: since the diocese of Niagara has been desperately maintaining the charade of needing the ANiC buildings to hold diocesan services, why admit the obvious at this point? Possibly because the diocese is so confident that it will eventually win the court battle, they are already paving the way to closing the buildings and selling them for 30 pieces of silver.

Which brings me to Brian Ruttan, the priest in charge at St. Hilda’s. He has received a commuted sentence from the diocese; his last Sunday at St. Hilda’s was September 14th and he is off to greener pastures in sunny Grimsby. His replacement is Martha Tatarnic, wife of the delightful Dan Tatarnic who, when approached by St. Hilda’s proper for support in our hour of need had this to say: “Dan Tatarnic here, keep your opinion to yourself, it is not worth two cents.”

Martha, welcome to the non-viable diocesan congregation at St. Hilda’s.