Bishop Ingham told synod that “we do not seek litigation, but if all appeals to reason and responsibility fail, we may need to seek relief from the civil courts in order to re-build and restore these parishes after the departure of their leaders and some members of their congregations.”

He said the diocese intends to “act legally to retain all property and assets belonging to these parishes and to the diocese” since schism, which is the “setting up of unlawful authority” cannot be allowed to stand.

Cheryl Chang, legal advisor to the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada, wrote on the network’s Web site that “with respect to the issue of ”˜trespass,’ it is difficult to see how the diocese can claim to be an ”˜owner’ or ”˜landlord’ when they are not on the title to the property, do not control the corporation that holds the title and never ”¦ used the property except with permission of the parish corporation.”

Clergy named in the letter did not return phone calls seeking comment, however a posting on the network’s Web site said parish lawyers and trustees are deciding how to respond.

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Former Sydney Anglican, the Rev David Short, who has been charged with abandoning Anglican doctrine, has now been threatened with charges of trespassing if he sets foot on the property of St John’s Shaughnessy, in moves which could see more Canadian churches forced from their properties.

Mr Short, who is the rector at St John’s, and all other clergy belonging to the Anglican Network in Canada in the Diocese of New Westminster received letters outlining the charges from Bishop Michael Ingham on Monday.

The letters also advised that the clergy were forbidden to ”˜trespass’ on the church properties, exercise any ministry and remove anything from the properties, including books.

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Members of the diocese of the Yukon, meeting in Whitehorse on May 31, failed to elect a new bishop, and Archbishop Terrence Buckle said he would postpone his retirement and remain in office.

Archbishop Buckle, who is 67, had said earlier this year that he would retire at the end of 2008. Canadian Anglican bishops generally retire before or at the age of 70.

Through seven rounds of voting, the 35 delegates assembled at Christ Church Cathedral were not able to give any of the five candidates the required simple majority in each of the two houses of clergy and laity as well as an overall two-thirds majority.

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The diocese of Huron’s annual synod, or governing convention, voted on May 26 to ask the bishop to give clergy permission to bless same-sex marriages, “where at least one party is baptized” and to authorize an appropriate rite.

The margin in favour was 72 per cent in both clergy and lay houses (97 clergy in favour, 36 against; 227 lay people in favour, 87 against).

The diocesan bishop, Bruce Howe, said he “gave concurrence” to the motion based on the large percentage in favour, but he added that he intended to consult with other bishops before acting on the vote.

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It has divided parishioners and brought congregations to court. But a landslide vote in favour of allowing Anglican churches in the Huron Diocese, including churches in Brant and Norfolk counties, to bless same-sex unions has taken many by surprise.

Everett Lampman, 69, former warden and parishioner of St. John’s Anglican Church in Simcoe, said times are changing and sometimes religion has to change.

“Let the Lord have the ultimate decision,” he said. “At first I didn’t think it was right, but I did some reading about it and know some (gay) people and they are no different than you or me.”

Lampman said he was surprised to hear 70 per cent of the elected Anglican delegates and lay people voted in favour of blessing same-sex unions at the annual synod this week.

The decision still requires the approval of Bishop Bruce Howe, head of the Diocese of Huron.

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Several Anglican churches in southern Ontario could abandon their diocese after it passed a contentious motion yesterday that would recognize same-sex unions, an insider says.

A resounding 70 per cent of Anglicans from the Huron Diocese voted in favour of conditionally allowing ministers to bless married, same-sex couples during a gathering in London.

The motion put to the delegates was to ask the presiding bishop to consider authorizing clergy and congregations, comfortable with the idea, to bless a union of two people of the same gender who’ve already legally married in a civil ceremony.

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We believe in the God of Life, who creates and loves people, who acts in history and who promises never to leave us alone.

We believe in Jesus of Nazareth, who is our brother, who wants not to be idolized but to be followed.

We believe that we dwell in the presence of the Holy Spirit; without her we are nothing; filled with her we are able to become creative, lively, and free.

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Bishop Michael Ingham has told his Diocesan Council that he feels he has no option but to protect the property and assets of the Diocese of New Westminster and the Anglican Church of Canada, and warned that the diocese may find itself in the civil courts to do so.

“If a congregation leaves, then it is the responsibility of the diocese to see that the parish continues, and is available for future generations of Christians,” he told the 45-member body that with the bishop governs the diocese between Diocesan Synods.

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Edmonton’s new Anglican bishop won’t be bending the rules in the local diocese for gay couples wishing to exchange marital vows in church.

“Basically, I’m a play-by-the-rules girl,” the Rt. Rev. Jane Alexander said.

“At the present time the national church has said we’re going to talk about this and we will vote again and look at this in 2010. And so that’s what we’ll do.”

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McGill University has bought the Anglican Diocesan Theological College for an undisclosed amount.

“The sale price is between us and McGill University,” college principal John Simons said yesterday. “But all things shall one day be revealed.”

The college says it can no longer afford to maintain the century-old neo-Gothic building on University St. north of Sherbrooke St.

It will however, lease the north wing of the building, known as the Principal’s Lodge, from the university, convert it into a seminary and continue to use St. Luke’s chapel in the building’s south wing, which it will share with McGill as a multi-purpose teaching facility.

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Representatives of the parishes of St George’s (Lowville), St Hilda’s (Oakville) and Church of the Good Shepherd (St Catharines) had argued that sharing the church building created untenable conditions for parishioners. They are now considering their options.

“We are saddened and deeply disappointed that the judge ruled in favour of a sharing arrangement,” said the Ven Charlie Masters, rector of St George’s Lowville. “We attempted this arrangement on February 24th and found it to be terribly difficult. Our parishioners were deeply distressed by the damaging effect the arrangement had on the life and ministry of our congregations. The congregations have experienced much hostility from members of the diocese, particularly since our votes, and they go to church on Sundays for healing and restoration, not to be confronted by conflict and hostility. We are also deeply concerned about the disruption to the community ministries and mission work and those who have benefited from these ministries. We will be consulting with our leadership and congregations to determine the best way forward in light of this decision.”

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The Anglican Diocese of Niagara and three breakaway parishes must share custody of three Southwestern Ontario churches until the courts ultimately decide who holds the keys to the properties, an Ontario Superior Court judge ruled yesterday.

“I accept that although there are fundamental religious disputes between these parties … there is clearly a dispute over property rights,” Madam Justice Jane Milanetti wrote in her 21-page decision.

She ruled that the three parishes and the diocese share possession of St. George’s Anglican Church in Lowville, St. Hilda’s Anglican Church in Oakville, and the Church of Good Shepherd in St. Catharines. She further ordered that the diocese, which is named in the titles of two of the three properties, “have full access to and use of” the three properties between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. every Sunday, as well as other “feast days” such as Christmas.

The order is meant to be in place until the courts decide who owns the properties. Some lawyers have suggested that could take up to a decade.

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More than 30 clergy received licences to serve in the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) from the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone, the Most Revd Greg Venables, on Saturday at a ceremony in South Delta Baptist Church, Vancouver.

The 29 priests and four deacons have left the Anglican Church of Canada and put themselves under the archiepiscopal authority of the Southern Cone because of the disagreement with the Canadian Church over homosexuality.

British-born Bishop Venables, who is 58, also commissioned two Canadian bishops: the retired Bishop of Brandon, the Rt Revd Malcolm Harding, and the former Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland & Labrador, the Rt Revd Donald Harvey, who will be the Moderator of ANiC.

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Standing in a sunlit church, the People’s Gospel Choir of Montreal begin their song with slow formality. Then the tempo picks up, the piano rumbles, and the choristers dance and clap. One woman breaks loose in a kind of frenzy, boogying to and fro with her arms swaying.

All this in an online video to promote the 2008 Anglican-Lutheran worship conference, where the theme is (as you may have guessed) “Order and Chaos.”

From June 25 to 28, 2008, Montreal, Que. will host the third biennial, national Anglican-Lutheran worship conference. Keynote speakers will be Gordon Lathrop, liturgical scholar from Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, and Karen Ward, pastor of Seattle’s Church of the Apostles.

“These conferences are wonderful learning experiences. They bring together really good people who talk both intelligently and critically about liturgy,” said Dean Peter Wall, the conference’s Anglican co-chair. “I think we have a lot to learn from each other, both Anglicans and Lutherans.”

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Read it carefully and read it all.

From here:

The Anglican Bishop for the Diocese of Central Newfoundland plans to tour sections of the Diocese to discuss issues of importance to the church. Right Rev. David Torraville says he is committed to meeting with congregation members to talk about matters such as same sex marriage. Bishop Torraville says they have to look seriously at what’s going on in their own diocese and formulate their own thoughts about it. Bishop Torraville said there are a variety of views on the matter in the Anglican church throughout Canada.

Now to the future and what needs to be done.

I grew up by the sea. As we landed at Vancouver airport., looked as though we would land where my house was, by the sea.

I read the life of a great sea captain. This man never set off on a voyage without going into his cabin without removing a book from a black box in a big chest. He would read, close his eyes and put the book back. No one asked what this was about. On his death at sea, after his burial, his 2 i/c looked at the book. It had a single entry, “starboard is on the right, port is on the left.”

Let us remember in these days of clever people that there are truths which we must observe. These are not secrets for certain people. They are clear directions for all people. “Starboard is on the right, port is on the left.”

The words Jesus is giving to us. As Jesus faced the multitude, hungry and seeking and in great need. He turned to his disciples and said, you give them something to eat. Jesus and his disciples faced a great multitude with a great need. There are many people in need physically and spiritually. There were very few resources. There was a handful of disciples. None of them would have been approved by the diocesan board of ordination. There were very few resources and a handful of loaves and fishes. But Jesus was there.

But God. That is the point at which everything changes. We all have to get to the end of ourselves. You re right you have no where else to go but God.

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For his part, Packer described the blessings that many of Canada’s Anglican bishops’ are willing to give to active gays and lesbians, as well as the bishops’ openness to diverse ways of interpreting the Bible, as “persistent unrepentant doctrinal disorder.”

The author of the 1973 book, Knowing God, which alone has sold more than three million copies, said it is “utterly tragic” that some conservative Anglicans felt they had no option but to leave the Anglican Church of Canada.

Asking himself why God would allow “poisonous liberalism” and its views of God and homosexuality to grow and flourish in Europe and North America, Packer said it must be so the West would eventually realize how dangerous such ideas are — “so the poison will be fully squeezed out.”

Packer maintained it is top leaders of the Anglican Church of Canada, not he and more than 2,000 fellow conservatives in the Anglican Network in Canada, who have changed their interpretation of Christianity since he moved from Britain to Canada more than 29 years ago to teach at Vancouver’s Regent College.

“I’m simply being an old-fashioned mainstream Anglican,” Packer said.

The Bible teaches, he said, that people who feel erotic attractions to people of the same gender “are called by God to remain chaste,” avoiding sexual relationships.

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As a global battle pits senior Anglicans against each other, more than 300 conservative Christians who have broken from the Anglican Church of Canada will gather at an evangelical church in Delta on Friday to welcome their new leader, South American Anglican Archbishop Gregory Venables.

The meeting takes place the same week 11 Anglican Church of Canada clergy in Greater Vancouver resigned from the denomination to serve under the authority of the South American primate, who was asked this week by Canadian Primate Fred Hiltz not to intervene in his jurisdiction.

The gathering of the Anglican Network in Canada Friday and Saturday at South Delta Baptist Church includes 15 congregations, eight from B.C., that have severed ties with the 700,000-member Anglican Church of Canada.

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A high-efficiency furnace seems like a good choice for any aging building. But two?

That’s right, says Rev. Robert Lemon of St. John-in-the-Wilderness church.

When he and his congregation in Bright’s Grove decided it was time to “go green” they opted for two new furnaces so that portions of the church, hall and office can be separately heated.

In one year, the church has saved about $700 in natural gas consumption, making the investment economical as well as ecological. “That’s very good and over time it means the furnaces will pay for themselves,” Lemon said.

St. John-in-the-Wilderness Anglican church is 152 years old and has had numerous upgrades over the years. But in 2006, when an office was added, the congregation began to take energy efficiency seriously.

“We realized we could do better and we began to make changes,” Lemon said.

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A South American Anglican archbishop who adamantly opposes homosexual relationships is coming to Vancouver on Friday despite being told to stay away by Canada’s top Anglican.

Archbishop Gregory Venables, who claims to represent 15 breakaway Anglican congregations in Canada, will speak Friday at a gathering in Delta of the conservative Anglican Network in Canada.

Venables, who has been criticized as a rogue archbishop by Anglican colleagues in South America and elsewhere, is recruiting Anglican congregations in Canada and the U.S. that have opposed the ordination of homosexuals and the church blessing of their relationships.

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Clergy in six Lower Mainland Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) churches… denied charges they have abandoned their ministry.

In February, Bishop Michael Ingham of the Anglican Church of Canada Diocese of New Westminster issued a “Notice of Presumption of Abandonment of the Exercise of the Ministry” to nine Anglican priests and two ordained deacons. These priests and deacons – including world renowned theologian, the Rev Dr J I Packer – all serve in churches where parishioners had voted to join the Anglican Network in Canada.

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The Most Revd Gregory James Venables
Rioja 2995,1636 Olivos,
Province of Buenos Aires,
B1636DMG , Argentina

My Brother in Christ:

In this Easter Season I greet you in the name of our risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

It has come to my attention that you will be participating in the Anglican Network in Canada conference, “Compelled by Christ’s Love” taking place in Vancouver, B.C., April 25-26,2008. Your visit to Canada is without any reference to or consent from my office or that of the Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster. This represents a breach in what is considered normative in protocol among Primates and Bishops throughout the Communion.

I brought this matter before the House of Bishops meeting in Niagara Falls, Ont., last week. While we recognized that your motivation may be pastoral, there was a strong consensus that your visit at this time will further harm the strained relations between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Network in Canada.

The Bishops believe that we have made adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and Episcopal support of all members of the Anglican Church of Canada, including those who find themselves in conscientious disagreement with the view of their Bishop and Synod over matters of human sexuality.

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This is a difficult letter to write but I must let you know that I have submitted my resignation to the Metropolitan of Rupert’s Land effective September 1, 2008. I begin that day a new ministry as Rector of the Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas.

I cannot begin to express my gratitude for the privilege of serving with you these past 17 years, first as Dean and, since 1993, as Bishop. Our sense of call to Texas is a positive one but at the same time I felt that it would be an opportunity for the Diocese to be overseen with a fresh pair of eyes, and to enjoy the excitement and momentum a change of bishop brings.

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The proposed Anglican Covenant could be applied in a variety of circumstances, including lay presidency of Holy Eucharist, according to the Most Rev. Drexel Gomez, Archbishop of the West Indies. Archbishop Gomez delivered the opening address at “An Anglican Covenant: Divisive or Reconciling?”, a conference and panel discussion April 10-12 at The General Theological Seminary (GTS) in New York City.

Archbishop Gomez is chairman of the Covenant Design Group, a task force appointed by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to prepare a draft covenant for the Anglican Communion. Given his position, Archbishop Gomez said it should not be surprising that he speaks with a bias in favor of adopting an Anglican Covenant.

He outlined his role and offered a host of reasons why a covenant is not a foreign concept to the Anglican way of life, but rather is a laudable way to foster trust when the bonds of affection are strained within the Communion are strained. Most of his presentation was spent answering questions from conference attendees.

Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, assistant professor of church history at Church Divinity School of the Pacific, posed the question that if the presenting issue is human sexuality, what other issues could an Anglican Covenant address? Archbishop Gomez said that “if we took a second draft, lay presidency had been mentioned” as one possibility.

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The largest Chinese Anglican congregation in Canada has voted unanimously to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and come under the spiritual care of a South American archbishop. It was not alone. This past February saw an unprecedented exdous of congregations and clergy from the national church as more dioceses voted to bless same- sex unions.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, a 119 year-old Cantonese-speaking congregation, attracts 300 people each Sunday with another 100 attending midweek services and fellowship groups. Although many of its members are young, it is the oldest Chinese Anglican church in Canada. It has a remarkable outreach into Vancouver’s substantial Chinese community. And it helped plant a Chinese ministry at St. Luke’s in 1993. Most of the Chinese who take part in home fellowship groups are first-generation immigrants. Once they learn more about Christianity, many begin to attend church and are baptized as adults.

On Feb. 17 this vibrant, thriving church voted unanimously 203-0 with no abstentions to leave the national church and affiliate instead with the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). “When you have to defend your faith, you grow stronger,” said the Rev’d Stephen Leung, the rector.

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There is something terribly sad about the fighting between the Anglican Church and parishes that wish to break away over the issue of same-sex unions. The fact that people of a shared faith, facing a world with so many physical and spiritual challenges, are wasting time, energy and money in the courts sparks both despair and anger.

Our editorials, as a rule, don’t enter into debates of faith. Those are matters for those directly involved to resolve. And beliefs are not subject to the kinds of arguments editorials usually make.

But this division has become more than an internal debate over religious doctrine. The battle for control of St. Mary of the Incarnation Church in Metchosin brings all religion into disrepute.

Read the whole thing.

(Press Release)

Late this afternoon, a judge of the B.C. Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Sigurdson, ordered the Diocese of B.C (on Vancouver Island). to allow the people of St Mary of the Incarnation (Metchosin) in Victoria, BC, back into their building in time for Sunday services.

At 7pm Friday, April 4, a St Mary parishioner discovered Bishop James Cowan of the Diocese of British Columbia supervising the changing of the locks and installation of a security system at the St Mary church building, 4125 Metchosin Rd, Victoria, BC. No notice was given to the clergy or approximately 185 parishioners who were displaced from the building they worship in and which they built and paid for.

The parish and the diocese had been engaged in a discussion regarding an amicable process to address the property issues with the assistance of Archbishop Terry Buckle. The congregation was hopeful these discussions would avoid the need for court proceedings, so the diocese’s actions came as a complete surprise.

Earlier this year, on February 17, St Mary parishioners voted 105 to 14 ”“ an overwhelming, 88 per cent majority ”“ to seek episcopal oversight and protection from Bishop Donald Harvey and the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). Immediately prior to the vote being taken, the diocese had attempted preemptive action by inhibiting the two priests ”“ the Venerable Sharon Hayton and the Rev Andrew Hewlett. The congregation proceeded with the vote in the absence of the clergy who had been prohibited from having contact with the congregation by the terms of the inhibition.

More recently, a negotiated agreement between the diocese and the clergy and people of St Mary resulted in a Joint Statement, posted to the diocesan website, which says in part, “On behalf of the Diocese of British Columbia, Archdeacon Bryant-Scott has agreed to the continued use of the building of St. Mary of the Incarnation, Metchosin by the Anglican Network congregation pending further discussions with The Most Reverend Terry Buckle.”

“We are very grateful that the people of St Mary will be able to worship in their building again this Sunday,” said Cheryl Chang, a director of the Anglican Network in Canada. “We have said all along that there are serious legal issues as to the ownership of these properties and we have asked the courts to preserve the status quo in the parishes while these bigger issues are being determined. We regret that court proceedings were necessary to defend the right of the congregation to continue worshipping in their church buildings. We continue to pray for and seek amicable discussions to resolve these issues.”

On February 29th, a judge in the Ontario Superior Court issued a short-term interim decision allowing three Niagara-area ANiC parishes exclusive use of their properties. A further hearing was held on March 20 regarding a longer term order, but the judge has not yet released her decision.

Anglican Network in Canada parishes are committed to remaining faithful to Holy Scripture and established Anglican doctrine and to ensuring that orthodox Canadian Anglicans are able to remain in full communion with their Anglican brothers and sisters around the world. Since the ANiC launched its ecclesial structure last November under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, it has received two bishops ”“ Donald Harvey and Malcolm Harding ”“ and 15 parishes.

The real story is not the Anglican schism in Canada of the parishes who have ”˜left’ the Anglican Church of Canada. The real story is how the Anglican Church of Canada is in contradiction with itself and in conflict with the Anglican Communion.

After all, notwithstanding the controversy surrounding his musings on Sharia law, the Archbishop of Canterbury has made it very clear what the mind of the Anglican Communion is in his Advent 2007 letter. “Insofar as there is currently any consensus in the Communion about this, it is not in favour of change in our discipline or our interpretation of the Bible” on these matters of moral order and teaching and, as a result, “it becomes important to clarify that the Communion as a whole is not committed to receiving the new interpretation and that there must be ways in which others can appropriately distance themselves from decisions and policies which they have not agreed.”

This is, perhaps, what some parishes, like St. John’s, Shaughnessy, in Vancouver have done. They have decided to stay with the wider communion in the face of the actions of their diocesan bishop, Michael Ingham, who, after all, has required his priests and parishes either to embrace this “new interpretation” or to allow others to enter into their parishes to bless same-sex unions. So much for toleration. Perhaps, a kind of Sharia law for traditional, orthodox Anglicans might be the counter to such bishops and their synods! And maybe that is what is happening by parishes seeking the oversight of the Primate of the Southern Cone as a way to remain faithful to the Anglican Communion. They have had to “distance themselves from decisions and policies [to] which they have not agreed.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, of course, can no more condone the jurisdictional incursions of bishops than he can admit that there is a new understanding of Scripture that all must willy-nilly accept. But, then, what are the “ways” for parishes in these situations?

The General Synod of Canada in 2007 noted that the matter of same-sex blessings was (a) a matter of doctrine or church teaching; (b) that it was not a matter of core doctrine, in the sense of being creedal (sex, marriage, and moral matters in general are not explicitly named in the Creeds, of course); and (c) that there was to be no local option with respect to dioceses acting on their own. Some, of course, were greatly dismayed at the last motion, thinking that if it is not a creedal doctrine then they are good to go with whatever they want, (echoes of the Righter debacle in the States). Others were relieved that no action had been taken that formally affected the standing of the Anglican Church of Canada in the Anglican Communion.

Others were dismayed at marriage not being seen as a core doctrine; it is, but in the area of moral doctrine, not creedal doctrine. Theologically, of course, this begs the question about the formative nature of scripture and creeds with respect to moral teaching and pastoral practice.

To be sure, nothing was done to stop the Diocese of New Westminster from continuing to do what it has been doing on its own, hence the situation for parishes there. But the motion forbidding local diocesan option has been cavalierly ignored by three other dioceses to date, namely, Montreal, Ottawa and Niagara, who have decided to go ahead with what the General Synod proscribed. And not a whisper of regret, let alone a rebuke, from the Primate Fred Hiltz. And the press seems oblivious, too.

Leaving aside whether the General Synod has any authority to determine new doctrine of any sort, the issue here is about the integrity of the Anglican Church of Canada with respect to its own foundational principles, such as the Solemn Declaration of 1893 which commits the Church in Canada to the Communion. At issue, too, are the vows of ordination that priests have taken which commit them to the ”˜Canterbury connection’. None can be required to subscribe to this “new interpretation.”

Property issues will play out differently in different parts of Canada depending on whether parishes were the creations of diocesan synods or predate synods, and depending on the nature of their legal incorporation. Who holds title? But in the matter of ordination, clergy cannot be required to subscribe to a new interpretation that runs counter to what they signed up for and which commits them to the wider church. But if coerced, what are the options? Charter of Right’s cases or Sharia Law? Or something more mundane like ”˜constructive dismissal’?

And will ”˜progressive’ bishops in Canada, on the other hand, decide to make complaints to the Human Rights Commissions about recalcitrant priests and parishes who refuse to endorse the same-sex agenda, alleging hate crimes? The ironies are huge. Secular courts and law might be used to protect or attack traditional orthodox Anglicans because of the church’s embrace of a secular agenda that lacks the clear warrant of scripture and tradition.

–The Rev’d) David Curry serves at Christ Church, Windsor, Nova Scotia