St. Chad’s Anglican Church sits empty after the Toronto diocese changed the locks and told all parishioners to go elsewhere, in response to the congregation voting recently to split from the Anglican Church of Canada.
“They’ve locked us out of the building,” said Cheryl Chang, a lawyer for the breakaway parishioners. “They’ve closed the building to worshippers.”
In a press release, the diocese said the west-end premises will remain closed to all parishioners for an unspecified “cooling off period” following a vote last month in which the small congregation voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada in a growing dispute over same-sex marriage blessings.
The Diocese invests little money in these properties. The people who do are kicked out and the locks changed to prohibit them from entering.
Simple Question: Why would anyone give money to support a property that belongs to another entity – and that entity has shown a propensity to take the property away when convenient?
Another Simple Question: What gospel is this diocese spreading?
In the sidebar, the article has this helpful list – we might want to keep it and update it for reference and prayer.
St. Chad’s appears to be alone in Toronto. Sounds like Cheryl Chang must be representing all of them. An earlier article said she
was a director of ANiC who is also a lawyer.
Yes, let’s all cool down. Meanwhile, we will work for reconciliation by locking you all out of your church home. Yes, that will bring you back into the fold. (/sarcasm)
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
And they will know we are Christians by our love. We really do need to get 60 minutes to do an expose.
Picking up on chips:
Oh, they’ll know we are Christians by our padlocks, by our padlocks,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our padlocks
Oh, they’ll know we are Christians by our inhibitions, by our inhibitions,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our inhibitions
Oh, they’ll know we are Christians by our lawsuits, by our lawsuits,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our lawsuits…
Kind of catchy, don’t ya think?
There’s nothing like seeing the gospel at work in our Canadian dioceses. Bravo! First get rid of the Bible, then Jesus, and now just lock everyone out. Now that’s the Kingdom of God at work – a people for God’s glory and name.
I suspect that there is more to this story than meets the eye. If you notice in the picture, the signatures at the bottom of the letter are the Rector’s Warden and the People’s Warden, and not the diocesan bishop’s.
My understanding is that there was a great deal of acrimony and dysfunction in this parish that was related more to personality and competency than theology. I don;t think this is a poster child for conservative martyrdom.
I suspect the last commenter (CPM, #8) is correct — if I am remembering rightly, the vote at St Chad’s was 12 to 10 with two abstaining, which argues for a fractured community with lots of problems.
AAY
And now, all of those locked out should just go home. Go home and write out requests for transfer from the Anglican Church of Canada. Secondly, write out bills for the hours this year spent in teaching, Meals on Wheels, etc., etc., etc. and present those to whatever person they ought. At least present gas reimbursements for attending meetings, getting up earlier to turn the heat on, and etc. Let the flood of paperwork begin…all, of course, with certified letter, requiring receipts.
My comment/suggestion over at SF:
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Not a mandate to be sure. Only 24 parishioners. Wonder why it is so small? Perhaps it is because the ACoC has so compromised the Gospel message that people have turned elsewhere?
How about this? The church have two services: ACoC and ANiC and see who attracts more parishioners? But the powers that be would rather have an empty building than face embarrassment.
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I don’t think that there has been any sharing of facilities in the U.S. or Canada. Unfortunately, this makes too much sense. Katherine “Sue? – It’s what we do.” and her sidekick, Fred Hilz would have the inhibitions flying if anyone proposed this.
Frankly, I think the idea of both groups worshipping in the same buiding but at different times is a great way to handle the differences.
I also agree that the powers that be would have a very hard time with that solution.
Jim Elliott <><
#5 Chips: Really….60 Minutes? Like the way CBS(USA) handled “Guns of Autumn” or partial birth abortion? Pick another broadcast network.
Actually, I understand the sharing of the facilities was begun in the Diocese of Olympia (Washington) in 2 churches in the Oak Harbour, Poulsbo (I think) area. This was more than a year ago, and I haven’t heard what’s been happening since.
Dear ComoxPastor, I looked up the two parishes you mentioned. The vote at St Charles Poulsbo was unanimous. They have a video for parishes considering splitting off. Really great quality. Found here:
http://209.242.151.9/creative/choose/Decision_MED.wmv
They are both with Recife.
The Episcopal St. Stephens has one of the funniest (as in major funny business) graphs of the it’s statistics. Found [url=http://12.0.101.92/reports/PR_ChartsDemo/exports/ParishRPT_34200881213PM.pdf]here[/url]. If you take a look, you will see the graph stay constant with 2002 data for three years. In 2006, you see the St. Stephen’s Episcopal with an ASA of ~10. It is apparently meeting in the chapel. On the [url=http://www.ststephenepiscopal.com/Aboutus.html ]website[/url] of the Episcopal remnant, I was amused at the link to the legal agreement between the two parishes. It reads: The Covenant Between The Diocese of Olympia and the church [i]called[/i] “St Stephen’s Anglican Church”. The actual linked document doesn’t have any of this silliness. The agreement is through 2014. I am sure that this agreement saved the diocese gazillions of lawyers fees. Quite reasonable. Don’t look for such level headedness in the future.
As I said, the church in Poulsbo, St. Charles had a unanimous vote, and there is no St. Charles Episcopalian.
This does simplify matters doesn’t it? The Anglican Church has *thrown out* a congregation. Go elsewhere. Exactly. Leave Anglicanism. Is there something these parishoners have missed? Any clearer way that God could put the message? Years ago I used to wonder what it would
take to get the Episcopal Church to throw me out; what bizarre belief could I adopt? Turns out there is no such thing, but now for believing these folks have been shown the door. Bless them. Now they can get on with being Christians, someplace other than Anglicanism. Otherwise if you want to still be in communion with Anglicans, the easiest way is to show up and say you aren’t baptized. You will be ushered forward for communion with all speed.
If this doesn’t make sense, you probably just had your church door locked and you should be glad for it.