At least five more Anglican churches — three in British Columbia and two in Ontario — are likely to separate from the national Church over the divisive issue of same-sex blessings by the end of the month. Another four will also vote on similar motions this month.
They will be following St. John’s, the country’s largest Anglican parish, which voted this week to leave the Anglican Church of Canada. The Vancouver parish chose to put itself under the authority of conservative Gregory Venables, the Archbishop of the Southern Cone, which encompasses parts of South America.
Rev. Andrew Hewlett, minister at St. Mary of the Incarnation near Victoria, which will vote tomorrow, received a letter from the bishop of his diocese, James Cowan, that said anyone “found to be acquiescing in or to be actively promoting such a separation” could face “immediate termination of employment without notice or severance.”
He said the vote will go ahead despite the threat because it is the will of his congregation that it happen. He expects the motion to leave the Canadian Church will pass.
With the rupture in the church spreading, now not only in the U.S. – is this going to have an impact on the legal thinking in Virginia and other places where TEC is waging lawsuits?
I was puzzled how such a threat could be made which is so contrary to labor law in nearly every country. Possibly Canadian clergy are in the same category as Catholic clergy in England, namely classified as self-employed, bizarre though that may seem, and thus not protected by labor law.
Ah, but all must fall before the ineluctable onslaught of THE agendites. Heaven itself if it be necessary! What of the mere individual welfare or corporate welfare or provincial welfare or communion welfare or ecumenical welfare? Gnats, merely gnats! THE AGENDA conquers all or all burns!
And so the “realignment” begins. It may seem like a mere trickle now, but it’s certain to pick up momentum since +Don Harvey is in place to receive these congregations on behalf of the Souhern Cone. But as the first churches to take the plunge and make this adventuresome move, the clergy and lay leaders of these few congregations deserve special recognition, support, and prayer.
David Handy+
The New Reformation is underway. Thanks be to God!