Canada injunction: CEN 4.11.08 p 7. April 13, 2008
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Canada, Church of England Newspaper, Property Litigation.trackback
A Canadian Court has issued an injunction barring the Bishop of British Columbia from seizing the parish property of a breakaway congregation.
On the evening of Friday, April 4, Bishop James Cowan and a party from the diocese changed the locks and installed an alarm system at the parish of St Mary of the Incarnation in Victoria, forbidding use of the property to secessionists who had voted en masse in February to quit the Canadian church for the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC)—a traditionalist group backed by the Province of the Southern Cone.
At a press conference the follow day, Bishop Cowan said the diocese had “asserted” its “ownership of the property.” While the “blessing of same-sex unions is a presenting issue” dividing traditionalists from the hierarchy of the Canadian church, Bishop Cowan said, the dispute had “far more to do with authority, the interpretation of scripture, what it is to be communal as a church.”
St Mary’s clergy, the Ven. Sharon Hayton and the Rev. Andrew Hewlett, had “relinquished the exercise of ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada,” the bishop said, and announced that he would lead services at the parish on April 6.
However, late that afternoon British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Jon Sigurdson ordered Bishop Cowan to give the breakaway congregation unfettered access to its church.
The bishop’s decision to take physical possession of the church came as a surprise, the parish said. A statement posted on the diocese’s website noted the diocese had “agreed to the continued use of the building” by the congregation “pending further discussions” mediated by Archbishop Terry Buckle of the Yukon, the metropolitan of the province of British Columbia.
“The congregation was hopeful these discussions would avoid the need for court proceedings, so the diocese’s actions came as a complete surprise,” a parish spokesman said.
Bishop Cowan countered that the mediation meeting with Archbishop Buckle had taken place on March 15, and “no other meetings have been suggested, or arranged” and that the parish “was on notice that the Diocese could act at any time.”
He charged the Court had been “misdirected by the Counsel” for the congregation, but said he will abide by the order.
“We are very grateful that the people of St Mary will be able to worship in their building again this Sunday,” said ANiC director Cheryl Chang. “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,” she said.
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