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By David F. Dawes
THE GAP between the two sides in the conflict within
the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) just become much wider.
At their annual vestry meeting February 13, members of
the congregation of St. John’s Shaughnessy Church in Vancouver voted
overwhelmingly to leave the ACC.
By February 24, a number of other B.C. churches, as
well as several in Ontario, had followed suit.
The B.C. churches are St. Matthew’s, Abbotsford;
Church of the Good Shepherd, Vancouver; St Matthias and St Luke
Vancouver; and St. Mary of the Incarnation (Metchosin),
Victoria. All of them, except for St. Mary’s, are members of the
Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). The ANiC was formed after Bishop Michael
Ingham approved the Diocese of New Westminster’s 2002 decision to
bless same-sex unions.
 | | Bastion of orthodoxy: St. John's Shaughnessy Church in Vancouver. |
As Canada’s largest Anglican church, St.
John’s drew most of the media coverage for its actions. It was the
first ANiC church to leave both the diocese and the ACC.
The St. John’s motion read, in part:
“In order to remain in full Communion with the
Church of England throughout the world, this parish hereby requests, on an
emergency and pastoral basis, the Episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald
Harvey, under the primatial oversight of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the
Province of the Southern Cone.” The Southern Cone includes countries
such as Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Peru.
“St John’s has shown true leadership both
now and over the past difficult years,” said Harvey in a news
release.
He added: “I look forward to ministering
with them and moving forward together in mission and in full communion with
the tens of millions of orthodox Anglicans worldwide who have been so
supportive of us.”
On February 22, Ingham sent a letter to the clergy of
St. John’s and St. Matthew’s, asking them to inform him whether
or not they have officially left the ACC. The diocese said Ingham’s
letter represented a “notice of presumption of abandonment of the
exercise of ministry.”
“In our church, we have due process,” said
George Cadman, chancellor of the Diocese of New Westminster.
“Under our Canon law, the priests have two months
to come in and show the bishop that they wish to remain with the
Anglican Church of Canada.”
If he receives no word from the clergy, Ingham can
officially declare they have abandoned the ACC. If that happens, the
clergy can appeal that declaration.
“It’s regrettable when anyone leaves the
church,” said Cadman, “but we do need to get clarity on these
matters and get on with the larger work and mission of the diocese, caring
for people.”
Property
Asked if she thought the diocese might try to claim it
had a legitimate right to the church’s property, St. John’s
spokesperson Lesley Bentley said: “I think they have said they will
make that claim.”
If the church’s personnel were dismissed by
Ingham, she said, “I presume our clergy will become licensed by Don
Harvey.”
She said the church has access to a legal fund of $1
million. However, she noted, “Our anticipation is that we
shouldn’t have need to use it.”
While she said the split with the diocese and the ACC
was unavoidable, she observed: “We are sorrowful about it.”
“We regret it when any person leaves the
fellowship of the ACC, and we’re saddened,” concurred Peter
Elliott, the bishop’s commissary, or acting bishop.
 | | St John's rector, David Short. |
He said diocesan officials have “a duty to
protect the assets of the diocese. The parish was set up as part of the
ACC; the heritage of St. John’s is to be a parish of the ACC. The
Diocese of New Westminster is the local manifestation of the ACC; parishes
of the diocese are within this structure.”
The church’s disengagement from the ACC, he said,
was illogical. “It’s like if the city of Burnaby decided it
didn’t like the policies of the government of BC, and wanted to move
to Alberta.” While they couldn’t declare the municipality a
part of Alberta, “they are free to move to Alberta” as
individuals.
Both sides in the conflict made unusual use of media
options leading up to the vote. The bishop videotaped a talk he gave to
members of parishes in his diocese.
According to a news release, Ingham “stressed
that Anglicans belong to a diocesan Church. Dioceses establish parishes
– and not the other way round. There is no legal precedent which
would allow members of a congregation who choose to leave the diocese . . .
to take parish lands, buildings or other assets with them.”
Further, “Ingham insisted that the disputes,
though prominent in secular media, have not diverted the Anglicans in the
Diocese of New Westminster from continuing their Christian mission of
community outreach and care of parishioners.” The Ingham videos were
posted on YouTube.
Crossroads
St. John’s created ‘A Crossroads,’ a
DVD featuring St. John’s rector David Short, and scholar James
Packer, who serves as honorary assistant at the church.”
Short characterized the church’s proposed
‘realignment’ as a “rescue operation” on the part
of the Southern Cone. He likened the conflict to a natural disaster.
“It’s a little like an undersea earthquake
has happened offshore – and the earthquake is high on the Richter
scale. And you don’t see immediate results from the earthquake, until
sometime later – when a tsunami wave washes onto shore, with
devastating effect.”
Same-sex blessings, he said, were “the tip of the
iceberg.” The key concerns, he insisted, were “the uniqueness
of the Lord Jesus Christ [and] the authority of scripture.”
He elaborated: “When a province or diocese
officially votes to overturn part of the gospel, and to say [that]
something that the church has declared will keep us out of salvation
. . . is something that is good and holy . . . [then]
it’s no longer biblical.”
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Asked if his church’s proposed realignment was
“highly irregular,” he responded bluntly: “It is.
It’s also highly irregular to change the gospel.”
Packer expressed concerns that children going to Sunday
school at churches promoting same-sex blessings “will inevitably be
nurtured on a way of understanding the Bible that is misguided from the
start . . . What’s being denied is the doctrine of salvation through
Christ.” Referring to 1 Corinthians 6, he said: “Don’t be
deceived. Those who follow certain lifestyles will not inherit the kingdom
of God.”
Regarding the Diocese of New Westminster, Packer said:
“This church body has forfeited the right to be treated as a church
with which to have fellowship. It’s a church very much out of order
– a church that’s sick and needs to be healed. It’s a
church, therefore, which calls for protest and therapy.”
Meanwhile, he said, the bishop of New Westminster
“is seeking to starve us out.”
Stern warnings
Ingham, however, is not the only official taking a hard
line. Diocese of B.C. Bishop Jim Cowan, in a January 30 letter to member
churches, stated: “No parish or congregation . . . has any legal
existence except as part of the diocese, and any attempt by any person to
remove a parish from the jurisdiction of the bishop and synod is
schismatic.”
Two clergy at St. Mary’s in Victoria have already
been subject to chastisement. Days before the church was gearing up to vote
on whether to leave the ACC, Rector Sharon Hayton and assistant priest
Andrew Hewlett were summoned before Archdeacon Bruce Bryant-Scott. They
were told to make sure no motion was put forth which would affect the
church’s status as an ACC member. On February 15, the archdeacon sent
a letter to the pair, which read in part:
“I am inhibiting you from performing the duties
of your office . . . This means that you may not function as an ordained
priest . . . You are not to discuss this matter with any parishioner. . .
Further, I direct that you stay away from the premises of the
parish.”
“To see such appalling heavy-handed bullying is
incredibly disappointing,” said Bud Boomer, a member of the church.
 | | Turning point: Bishop Michael Ingham fields questions from reporters after the June 15, 2002 synod session which approved same-sex blessings. Photo by Leanne Larmondin. |
The St. Mary’s vote happened without the
participation of the two disciplined priests. “There was a strong
will among the people of the congregation that they wanted to have a vote
and discuss their future,” Hewlett told the Times-Colonist.
Bryant-Scott issued a statement February 21, saying he
had met the two clergy and agreed to a 12-day “period of grace
. . . to explore a variety of options to resolve the issues.”
He noted, however, that the Diocese “has not
actually conceded anything. We still hold title to the land, buildings, and
their contents. The clergy still have disciplinary action proceeding
against them.”
‘Devil’s playground’
Bentley said St. John’s hopes to avoid
civil litigation, terming it “the playground of the devil.”
However, she noted: “No diocesan money was used to build the church.
Our legal team is convinced we will be able to keep the building.”
She added: “[The ACC]has shrunk across Canada by
30 percent over the last 40 years. They don’t need our space.”
Asked to comment on the fact that ANiC congregations
have frequently been described as “dissidents” in various media
reports, Bentley retorted: “I think the true dissident here is Bishop
Ingham. Basically, to advocate same-sex unions is to bless a
sin.”
Ingham issued a warning in a February 6 letter to
officials of the four ANiC churches: “Clergy, wardens and trustees
have a fiduciary responsibility to preserve and protect the assets of the
church . . . Any attempt to betray that trust through schismatic action is
a ground for immediate termination of license or removal from office, and
may well subject those same individuals to civil proceedings also.”
Elliott noted that Ingham’s letter was
“clear” regarding possible punishment for disobedient church
personnel.
However, he said, dismissal might be irrelevant, as
“these clergy seem to be leaving the ACC.” Regarding St.
John’s buildings, he said: “The question of property is
speculative at this point.”
The diocese and the Canadian church, he said, would
hold firm to its position. “General Synod of the ACC supported a
resolution saying the blessing of same-sex unions was not against the core
doctrine of the church. It is considered a secondary issue.”
Citing continuing divisions on the ordination of women,
he said there are “a variety of views on a variety of subjects within
the ACC.”
The blessing of same-sex unions, and the ordination of
an openly gay bishop in the American communion, are points of ongoing
tension as Anglicans prepare for the Lambeth Conference in England later
this year.
Asked whether the St. John’s vote would add
notably to the strife, Elliott said: “Bishop Ingham has been invited
to Lambeth. Most of the bishops in Canada plan to go to Lambeth; they are
in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.”
Bentley, however, said the current situation
“only inflames the fires. This would be a great time for
grace.”
Spiritual drift
Asked why more Canadian churches have not taken a
public stance in support of ANiC churches, Bentley asserted:
“There’s been a lot of spiritual drift within the ACC over the
past 40 years.” She said she believed many ACC clergy, and some
parishioners, were out of touch with scripture. This struggle, she said,
has “forced us to become better educated, scripturally. The one thing
we don’t want to be is disobedient to scripture.”
Elliott said he thought the conflict had strengthened
the ACC. “I travel frequently, and I hear most Anglicans saying they
are proud of the way our church has handled a difficult matter. Some say
they are disappointed that people have walked away from the
church.”
Both agreed that reconciliation between the ACC and
ANiC was still possible. “The diocese’s door is always open to
those who disagree with some of our decisions,” said Elliott.
“We’re still Anglicans,” said
Bentley. “We’re still in communion with the worldwide
communion. I absolutely see hope for reconciliation. With God, everything
is possible.”
March 2008
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