[Canada] Anglicans at Crossroads

BC Christian News Vol 24 #5, via a private discussion list | May 2004 | Peter Chattaway

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Anglicans at Crossroads, BC Christian News, Peter Chattaway, May 2004 Vol 24 #5

With a historic national vote on the blessing of same-sex unions only weeks away, the divisions within the Anglican Church of Canada deepened last month as the clergy at four Vancouver-area congregations resigned from the church but said that they do not intend to leave their parishes.

Rev. Paul Carter, whose Immanuel Westside congregation has never officially belonged to the Anglican church, said he and the other clergy - representing St. Simon's in North Vancouver, St. Andrew's in Pender Harbour and Church of Emmanuel in Richmond - are part of a new group which calls itself the Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC).

Carter said the ACiC, which includes two parishes from Vancouver Island, had lost faith in the Canadian church's ability to deal with homosexuality.

He said that he expected the Anglican Church of Canada to "sign off" on the blessing of same-sex unions when it meets for its general synod May 28th. This will be the first national synod since New Westminster bishop Michael Ingham formally endorsed such blessings at a local diocesan synod in June 2002.

Carter said the ACiC is under the temporary authority of five Anglican primates from Africa and Asia. Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini has issued licenses to the clergy, who now report to Bishop TJ Johnston of Little Rock, Arkansas.

"In effect, we have become missionary clergy of the Province of Rwanda here in Canada," said Carter.

However the diocese of New Westminster has indicated that it may fight to keep property associated with the ACiC parishes.

In a statement posted on his diocese's website in early April, Ingham said he was "glad" the four priests had "finally clarified the situation and made it clear they are leaving the Anglican Church of Canada of their own volition."

The statement also said diocesan chancellor George Cadman would meet with the priests "to review with them the future use of the church buildings." Cadman told North Shore News that the parishes led by ACiC clergy remain part of Ingham's diocese, stating: : "Parishioners may choose to leave the Anglican Church of Canada but parishes don't."

Carter said there may not be much property to negotiate, since only two of the ACiC congregations meet in buildings of their own.

The diocese is already facing a lawsuit filed by two former church wardens at St. Martin's North Vancouver, who were dismissed by Ingham over the same-sex issue.

Lesley Bentley, a spokeperson for the other six congregations in the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW), a coalition of conservative Anglicans who are withholding their funds from the diocese, said her group still hopes to find an alternative bishop within Canada.

She expressed concern over a motion to be presented at the general synod, asking delegates to affirm that diocesan synods and bishops have "the authority and jurisdiction.to authorize the blessing of same-sex unions."

Bentley said the motion, if passed, would put the Canadian church in the same situation as the American Episcopalian Church, which has been declared out of communion by several Anglican churches for ordaining an openly gay bishop.

She added that the fight over funds and property in New Westminster could spill over into other dioceses across Canada, if the motion passes. "If it does pass, it will throw everybody into the same turmoil that the Diocese of New Westminster has been in for the last two years."

Steve Schuh, president of the gay Anglican group Integrity Vancouver and a delegate of the general synod, said the motion was necessary because past general synods had avoided dealing with the blessing of same-sex unions.

"By their silence they've said it's a diocesan issue, and now they're being asked to say so explicitly," said Schuh. "If the synod said they do not affirm diocesan jurisdiction, then I assume they're going to take jurisdiction over it. It's going to be up to them to make a decision about it, so then we will have discussion about it in the national church."

Schuh said dioceses in Toronto, Niagara, and Ottawa are especially keen to "move forward" on blessing same-sex unions, if the general synod gives its approval.

Conservative Anglicans have warned that if more dioceses permit same-sex blessings, then more parishes may seek alternative bishops. In March, a task force appointed by the House of Bishops issued a report recommending that dissenting minorities who disagree with their bishops' endorsement of same-sex blessings be given 'temporary alternativeepiscopal oversight." However, the House of Bishops declined to endorse that recommendation when it met in Regina in mid-April.

According to the Diocese of Saskatchewan website, Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews, who chaired the task force, urged the bishops to provide a "safety net" for conservative parishes in case general synod approves same-sex blessings. The discussion was called off when Ingham, who objected to the report, said he had to leave the meeting two days early to attend an event with the Dalai Lama.

Bentley said the bishops' reluctance to officially receive their own task force's report was a sign that the church "doesn't seem to be operating very well.They' creating even greater turmoil by not knowing what to do with the document in the first place."

Schuh, who attends an ACiNW parish, said the task force had failed its mandate by focusing on how to help only one kind of "dissenting minority": "I imagine that gay and lesbian people and their supporters are minorities in most places - in most rural areas anyway, in Canada - and this task force which could have offered equal treatment, completely neglected the pastoral care needs of gay and lesbian people."

Matthews declined to comment on the task force report or the House of Bishops meeting. She is one of the four bishops who may be chosen to lead the Canadian church as its next primate, and did not wish to make any statements that could be "misconstrued as campaigning."

Carter said the ACiC parishes would not have turned to the African and Asian primates for help if the Canadian bishops had appointed an alternative bishop for the conservative parishes in New Westminster.

"The international primates wouldn't have acted if the House of Bishops had done what the primates exhorted them to do in October," he said, referring to a statement in which the primates called on Anglican bishops to ensure that "dissenting minorities" be given "adequate episcopal oversight."

He said other parishes may be joining the ACiC in the near future. "Already I'm getting parishes and clergy from around Canada sniffing around the edges. We're going to see all sorts of things happening if things go down as I fear it will."

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