Bishop Donald Harvey has been received into the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone under Primate Gregory Venables. The Southern Cone encompasses much of South America, from Tierra del Fuego in the south to Peru in the north.
In becoming a bishop of the Southern Cone, Bishop Harvey has come out of retirement and is resuming full-time episcopal ministry. He will now be free to offer episcopal oversight to biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are distressed and feel they no longer have a home in the Anglican Church of Canada.
“By receiving Bishop Harvey upon his departure from the Anglican Church of Canada, the Province of the Southern Cone is responding to the ongoing crisis and brokenness in the Anglican Communion,” said The Most Revd Gregory Venables.
Update: There is more here.
We seem to have dogs in adjoining mangers.
While I respect the desire of the bishops of the Anglican Church in Canada to make “adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and episcopal support of all Canadian Anglicans” it appears that some Canadian Anglicans, like some American Episcopalians, are unable in good conscience to remain in a church which endorses behavior that the large majority of the Anglican bishops at Lambeth believe incompatible with Scripture.
These people do not abandon their Anglican heritage by rejecting the authority of General Synod any more than the American Episcopalians who have rejected the authority of the General Convention have abandoned their Anglican heritage. They are no longer members of “our church” and to call the ministry of retired bishops – Harvey, Cox, Bena, Fairfield, etc. – “inappropriate and unwelcome” is somewhere between hubris and silliness.
I am as sorry to see division in the Canadian church as I am to see division in the Episcopal Church. I am not yet convinced that the rejection of the good advice of Lambeth 1998 by the General Conventions of 2003 and 2006 and the diocesan synods in Canada that have endorsed same sex marriages in church is of necessity church-dividing, but I respect those who follow their consciences out of the ACC and TEC and into other provinces of the Anglican Communion.
Tom Rightmyer in Asheville, NC
“The Council of General Synod, meeting in Mississauga, Ont., from Nov. 16 to 18, 2007, has received with concern the news that Bishop Donald Harvey has voluntarily relinquished, effective immediately, the exercise of ordained ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, and intends to be received into the Province of the Southern Cone (in South America). Bishop Harvey, retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, has been a valued member of our church, and his decision is a source of sadness.
The Anglican Church of Canada welcomes and respects freedom of individual conscience and the theological convictions of its diverse membership. Our General Synods have consistently sought to honour every voice as we work patiently through contentious and difficult issues before our church. Our bishops have made adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and episcopal support of all Canadian Anglicans. We value and respect the diversity of the worldwide Anglican Communion and have expressed our commitment to its ongoing life, even as we also ask for respect and understanding of our own.
To this end we wish to make clear that interventions in the life of our church, such as ordinations or other episcopal acts by any other jurisdictions are inappropriate and unwelcome. In particular, we cannot recognize the legitimacy of recent actions by the Province of the Southern Cone in purporting to extend its jurisdiction beyond its own borders. We call upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church. They aggravate the current tensions in the Anglican Communion.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the world, and our primary task as Christians is to make this Gospel known through action and word. We strongly support our Primate’s view that the Church in Canada and throughout the world should make Christ and His mission its central focus. We therefore call upon all our members, lay and ordained, to commit themselves to this priority, and to respect the structures and authority of the Church.
We ask your prayers for our continued fellowship in the Spirit and our unity in the bond of peace.”