Property settlements in Ontario announced: The Church of England Newspaper, June 10, 2012 p 7.

The congregation of St Hilda’s leaving church for the last time. Photo: David Jenkins

Three Ontario parishes of the ACNA have reached a settlement with the Diocese of Niagara to end five years of litigation following their secession from the Anglican Church of Canada.

On 31 May 2012 the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) announced that the congregations of St. George’s in Burlington, St. Hilda’s in Oakville and the Church of the Good Shepherd in St. Catharines would turn over their properties to the diocese on 1 June.

The agreement allowed the congregations to keep certain “worship, liturgical and memorial items”.  Each party also agreed that it would be responsible for its own legal costs and would foreswear any further litigation.

The diocese also agreed to pay to one departing congregation the costs of recent property improvements.  The diocese and congregations also agreed to share the proceeds from the sale of a rectory.

The three Niagara congregations were among a dozen parishes that voted in February 2008 to quit the Anglican Church of Canada and join ANiC.  Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz condemned the departures, writing on 28 Feb 2008 that the defections were unnecessary.

The capacity for a “breadth of theological perspective” was part of the Anglican “heritage that we continue to cherish, Archbishop Hiltz said.

However, defections were been driven by a desire to remain Anglican, the executive director of ANiC told The Church of England Newspaper.

“If we did not offer them an option by the end of the year,” Cheryl Chang told the CEN, many said the “would leave Anglicanism altogether.”

The Diocese of Niagara did not respond to our query as of our going to press, but a warden at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Patricia Decker, stated the parish was “deeply grateful to God for this settlement which frees us from the threat of further litigation.”

Mrs. Decker stated the congregation was “not naïve about the challenges of continuing our ministry in temporary rented facilities, but these inconveniences are completely overshadowed by the joyful anticipation of new ministry opportunities and the blessings God has in store for us as we take this step.”

First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.