Life As Performance Art 41

There are fourteen Anglican churches in the tony West Side of Vancouver, including downtown and the West End. The diocesan office happens to be located smack dab in the backyard of the wealthiest church in the wealthiest neighbourhood. There are just five parishes in the poorer and more populous East Side. Go figure. Most .of the West Side parishes are made up of congregations that reflect the local high income stats. Not so sure about the east side churches, though the three that I have visited indicate that they do not especially represent their neighbourhoods. For all the tub-thumping and grandstanding the Anglican church tries to do for marginalized people, especially for Queers and First Nations people, and especially for Two-Spirited, since they happen to be both native and queer, they are not very willing to actually be the people they want to so publicly defend. Some clergy, especially if they are women, very proudly display their solidarity with First Nations people by wearing clerical garb and chasubles with native art motifs. Cultural appropriation, anybody? And they are careful to call themselves "settlers", just to show how very guilty they feel for being white and privileged oppressors, or at least the descendents of the white privileged oppressors, since they have coasted through life on White Privilege. They are likewise solicitous of the queer people, and some even have rainbow-coloured stoles that they take out of mothballs for Pride Week. I even know some openly gay priests, some married to their same sex partners. But I find it hard to be persuaded that they weren't ordained because of their sexual identity and not despite it, or because it wasn't an issue. Now, keep in mind, Gentle Reader, that I am a queer man myself, asexual and not part of the gender binary, so I am being very careful about where I throw my stones. But the gay male clergy I have known have been the most useless and inexcusable twits that I have ever seen behind a clerical collar, and I am persuaded that they were appointed out of a hidden program of affirmative action in the Anglican Church, because they have appeared primarily focussed on advancing LGBT rights (nothing wrong with that!) but as pastors and theologians and people of integrity they have all been sadly wanting! Yes, very noble, and such solidarity. It is nice that some churches have meal and outreach programs for people on low incomes. But I remember once when a former rector of St. James in the Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest postal code,, now deceased, long ago crowed proudly at me about how in his lovely church, rich and poor all met together at the same high altar. And I replied, "and that's the only place where they meet." Now, I am actually, having a much better time than this at my current parish church, which does seem to have a lot of well-off burghers and gentry. But at least I'm making friends with some of them, feel treated with respect as well as kindness, though I have to admit it is still damn awkward. I don't expect any of them to become voluntarily poor must to make me feel comfortable. Neither do I want any of their money, though I won't grumble if anyone shells out for a couple of my paintings. But it's still awkward, and I often feel like I'm on some kind of strange and unknown territory, which I likely am.