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By David F. Dawes
THE GAP between the two sides in the ongoing conflict over same-sex blessings within the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) just got 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.
The 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 Achbishop Gregory Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone."
The Southern Cone includes countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay and Argentina.
"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."
St. John's is considered the largest Anglican church in Canada. It is one of four BC members of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC); the others are St. Matthew's Abbotsford; St. Matthias and St. Luke's; and Church of the Good Shepherd.
ANiC churches have opposed the blessing of same sex unions ever since they were approved by Bishop Michael Ingham and the Diocese of New Westminster in 2002. St. John's is the first ANiC church to leave both the diocese and the ACC; the others are expected to hold votes in the near future.
Lesley Bentley, a spokesperson for St. John's, told CC.com 495 ballots were cast at the meeting and 97.7 percent of them were in favour of the motion.
Property
Asked if she thought the diocese might try to claim it had a legitimate right to the church's property, she 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."
Bentley 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, Bentley observed: "We are sorrowful about it."
Peter Elliott, the bishop's commissary, or acting bishop, concurred: "We regret it when any person leaves the fellowship of the ACC, and we're saddened."
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 had a videotape made of a talk he gave to 17 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
 | David Short -
Rector - St. Johns |
St. John's created A Crossroads, a DVD featuring St. John's rector David Short and author J.I. Packer, who serves as honorary assistant at the church.
Short characterized the church's proposed 're-alignment' 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."
Asked if his church's proposed re-alignment was "highly irregular," he responded bluntly: "It is. It's also highly irregular to change the gospel."
Packer said the current struggle was unique in church history; the closest comparable situation, he asserted, occurred in the 4th century, when the Arian faction of the church denied "the truth of the Trinity."
He also 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, of Christ."
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 from the rest of the Christian world."
The bishop of New Westminster, he said, "is seeking to starve us out."
Stern warnings
Ingham, however, is not the only official taking a hard line. Bishop Jim Cowan, of the Diocese of British Columbia, stated in a January 30 letter to member churches: "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 jurisidiction of the bishop and synod is schismatic."
Ingham pursued the same line of reasoning 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."
The bishop made some attempt at conciliation, stating: "There may be clergy and laity who, in good conscience, feel they cannot remain members of the Diocese . . . . Resignation of office and the seeking of a spiritual home elsewhere is the honourable and appropriate course of action for such persons."
However, the letter concluded with a warning: "I strongly urge you to take no action that would force me or the Diocese to seek relief in the civil courts to ensure your compliance with the responsibilities to which you are subject."
Just before the St. John's vote, ACC Archbishop Fred Hiltz also intervened, in a letter which stated: "My hope is that no parish will take action that would compel parish or diocesan leaders to resolve property disputes in the civil courts. Such actions would not only be costly in terms of financial resources but also destructive of the witness of the church in the world."
Bentley expressed similar sentiments the day after the vote; civil litigation, she said, would be "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: "We have no interest in attacking the diocese. I'm prayerful about it. [Ingham] doesn't need the building. The church has shrunk across Canada by 30 percent over the last 40 years. They don't need our space."
If the church lost the building, she said, "then we as a congregation would find an alternative house. But we see no reason why it needs to happen."
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'Dissidents'
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."
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." He noted the fact that St. John's has both a legal team in place and a large legal fund. "They are clearly prepared . . . for a legal decision in relation to the property. It sounds like they want to take it to the courts."
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," he said.
Citing continuing divisions on the ordination of women, he added that 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 responded simply: "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 St. John's decision "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.
St. John's 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," he said. "Some say they are disappointed that people have walked away from the church."
Both interviewees agreed on one thing: 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. This problem is not insurmountable."
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Should the Bishop be impeached for not following his commitment when he was ordained to the senior position?