The Presbyterian Church in Canada is the name of a Protestant Christian church, of Presbyterian and reformed theology and polity, serving in Canada under this name since 1875, although the United Church of Canada claimed the right to the name from 1925 to 1939. According to the Canada 2001 Census 409,830 Canadians identify themselves as Presbyterian, that is, 1.4% of the population.
The Canadian roots of the Presbyterian Church in Canada can be traced to both Scottish settlers and French Huguenots, and the first Presbyterian churches formed in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, following such European Protestant Reformation theologians as John Calvin and John Knox.
Once the largest Christian denomination in English-speaking Canada, in 1925 some 70% of its congregations joined with the Methodist Church of Canada and the Congregationalist Union to form the United Church of Canada. The terms Continuing Presbyterians and Non-Concurring Presbyterians were then used by those who did not participate in the merger, until the legal right to use the name "Presbyterian Church in Canada" was regained in 1939. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that although the institutional Presbyterian Church in Canada may legally have merged with the Methodist Church, the United Church had effectively vacated the name and it remained available to the non-concurring Presbyterians. It also was a benefit to have support from Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir, and from Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King.
Read more about Presbyterian Church In Canada: Background and Roots, The Presbyterian Church in Canada 1875–1925, 1925 and Since, Missions and International Partnerships, Ecumenical Relations, Further Details (Polity), Communication
Famous quotes containing the words presbyterian, church and/or canada:
“He is a Presbyterian first and an artist second, which is just as comfortable as trying to be a Presbyterian first and a chorus girl second.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“When the Church of Jesus
Shuts its outer door,
Lest the roar of traffic
Drown the voice of prayer:
May our prayers, Lord, make us
Ten times more aware
That the world we banish
Is our Christian care.”
—Frederick Pratt Green (b. 1903)
“What makes the United States government, on the whole, more tolerable—I mean for us lucky white men—is the fact that there is so much less of government with us.... But in Canada you are reminded of the government every day. It parades itself before you. It is not content to be the servant, but will be the master; and every day it goes out to the Plains of Abraham or to the Champs de Mars and exhibits itself and toots.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)