Conger

Three more Canadian congregations have quit the Anglican Church of Canada to align with the Province of the Southern Cone following parish meetings this past weekend.

Canada’s largest Chinese Anglican congregation, Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, along with St. Matthias & St Luke in Vancouver quit the diocese of New Westminster, with only one parishioner among the two congregations voting to remain under the oversight of Bishop Michael Ingham.

The Church of the Good Shepherd in St. Catharines, Ontario also voted to secede on Feb 24, giving the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) 15 congregations under the oversight of Bishops Don Harvey and Malcolm Harding.

Responses to the secessions have been mixed.  Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster issued a “notice of presumption of abandonment of the exercise of ministry” to his breakaway clergy, giving them two months to recant.  Should the clergy not back down, under canon law Bishop Ingham may declare the priests had abandoned the ministry of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Diocese of British Columbia, however, stepped back from a confrontation with its breakaway congregation.  In a letter to the clergy of St. Mary’s of the Incarnation in the Victoria suburb of Metchosin, Archdeacon Bruce Bryant-Scott suspended an inhibition issued against the clergy for 12 days, allowing them the opportunity to reconsider their actions.

On Feb 20 the Diocese of Niagara filed suit against its departing congregations, seeking to gain control of the parish property and bank accounts.