Conger

The Anglican Church of Canada’s united front against the breakaway congregations and clergy of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) received a major blow last week after a diocesan synod voted to recognize the secessions.

“All of these churches have by their decisions stayed within the Anglican Communion,” the synod of the Diocese of Athabasca said on April 26, disputing assertions made by Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster and other Canadian bishops that by quitting the Canadian Church the secessionists were no longer Anglicans.

The Northern Alberta-based diocese adopted a series of resolutions affirming that it was in “full communion” with ANiC and its sponsor, the Province of the Southern Cone.

The diocese also expressed “its dismay” at the attempts by several bishops to respond to the secessions by turning to the civil courts. “By resorting to the civil courts so readily, the bishops of those dioceses where there are dissident parishes and clergy have displayed so visibly that, to them, the issue is power, not the will of God,” synod said, according to a statement posted on the diocesan website.

Archbishop John Clarke, metropolitan archbishop of Rupert’s Land, and Bishop of Athabasca stated the diocese’s intent was to remain “in communion with as wide a range of our brothers and sisters in Christ as is possible.”

The vote was not a step towards quitting the Canadian Church, he noted, writing “be assured that the Diocese of Athabasca is as deeply committed as ever to the Anglican Church of Canada and to the Anglican Communion.”

However, Archbishop Clarke criticized the push towards permitting same-sex blessings in the Canadian Church, expressing his disappointment with dioceses who abused the language of the church’s canons and prayer book to achieve their political ends.

“We believe that we are bound to adhere to the decisions of General Synod, not only in the letter but also in the spirit,” he said. “We understand the decision of General Synod 2007 not to endorse the right of dioceses to bless same-gender unions as meaning that it was the mind of General Synod that we should not proceed at this time.”

The Canadian House of Bishops has rebuffed a request from the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) to negotiate a settlement of property disputes, saying the national church has no power to act.

Property issues “are always resolved within dioceses” Archbishop Fred Hiltz said following the April 15-18 meeting in Niagara Falls, Ontario. “I don’t hold any title to property. General Synod doesn’t hold any title to property,” explained the Canadian church leader.

Bishop Don Harvey of ANiC said he was disappointed the bishops would chose litigation over dialogue, but was not surprised. “I had hoped the Primate would have attempted to facilitate negotiations between the dioceses and the Anglican Network parishes.” Four parishes in British Columbia and Ontario are currently in court with their dioceses, and more lawsuits are expected from dioceses seeking to regain control of breakaway congregations.

On April 11, Bishop Harvey wrote Archbishop Hiltz seeking a meeting with national church leaders and bishops “to discuss the possibility of pursuing alternate dispute resolution mechanisms (i.e. negotiation, mediation or arbitration) to address the outstanding issues”

“It would be much better for everyone concerned if we could work out some interim arrangements between ourselves without the necessity of resorting to the civil courts,” he said.

However, Archbishop Hiltz said it was too late. “Our hope has been that we would be able to resolve our differences outside of court,” Archbishop Hiltz told the Anglican Journal, however once dioceses began suing clergy and congregations, it altered the equation. “We can’t be weighing in once the processes are started,” he said.

In other business, the House of Bishops meeting held closed door discussions on the church’s divisions over homosexuality. At the end of their meeting, the bishops released a statement affirming their “shared episcopal ministry” scheme that would allow alternative pastoral oversight for traditionalists at odds with liberal bishops.

Conservative Canadian bishops told the Anglican Journal they would “continue to try to take a stand. What people mean is they want to know orthodox bishops will faithfully represent orthodox positions on the faith both in what we say in this house and how we vote and also when we are back home in our own dioceses.”

Suffragan Bishop Larry Robertson of the Arctic explained that conservative bishops would continue to witness to the faith within the structures of the Anglican Church of Canada. ” If I believe homosexual behaviour is wrong and that any form of sin leads us away from God, then the loving, caring pastoral way is to say ‘You have to change your ways.’ The pastoral way is to make a person whole.”

Canadian theologian James I Packer and eight other evangelical clergymen have issued a statement affirming they have not abandoned the Anglican Communion by seceding from the Diocese of New Westminster and the oversight of Bishop Michael Ingham.

Writing in response to Bishop Ingham’s “Notice of Presumption of Abandonment of the Exercise of the Ministry” the nine priests and deacons on April 21 said they it was their “intention to remain members of the Anglican Church,” but under the jurisdiction of a different Province of the Communion.

In February Bishop Ingham served notice on the six clergy after their congregations voted to quit the Anglican Church of Canada and affiliate with the Anglican Network in Canada under the jurisdiction of Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone.

The six wrote that Bishop Ingham’s Notice had failed to affect their status on moral, canonical and legal grounds. The Notice was insufficient under Canadian canon law, they explained as it did not enumerate the grounds for their alleged abandonment. However, they acknowledged that they had quit the Anglican Church of Canada as it, and Bishop Ingham had “departed from historic orthodox Anglican teaching and practice in defiance of the Lambeth Conference, the Windsor Report and the Primates of the global Anglican Communion.”

In order to be faithful to their “ordination vows, we must leave your jurisdiction, and by this letter, we hereby relinquish the licences we hold from the Bishop of New Westminster. Each of us will receive a licence to continue our present parish ministries from Bishop Donald Harvey, who, as you know, is under the jurisdiction of the Primate of the Southern Cone. In this way, we will be able to continue our Anglican ministry within the Anglican Church, under the jurisdiction of and in communion with those who remain faithful to historic, orthodox Anglicanism and as part of the Anglican Communion worldwide,” they said.

The conservative clergymen’s response to Bishop Ingham, came the same day as a protest from Bishop Ingham and Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz over a scheduled visit by Bishop Venables to the breakaway congregations on April 25-26.

“Your visit to Canada is without any reference to or consent from my office or that of the bishop of the diocese of New Westminster. This represents a breach in what is considered normative in protocol among primates and bishops throughout the Communion,” Archbishop Hiltz wrote.

Bishop Venables noted Archbishop Hiltz’s request to “stop interfering in the life of this province” was not germane as the congregations were not members of the Anglican Church of Canada.

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.

Indian activists disrupted Palm Sunday services at St. James’ Cathedral in Toronto, unfurling a banner and denouncing the Anglican Church over its role in Canada’s Indian residential school’s scandal.

An activist group called “Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared” (FRD) have accused the Anglican, Catholic and Congregationalist churches of Canada of having been complicit in the “genocide” of Indian children. It has demanded the church reveal the burial sites of children who died while in the church’s care over the past two hundred years.

Protestors attempting to read a statement before the altar were stopped by the Cathedral vergers and escorted from the building by police. The Palm Sunday incident followed a protest the previous Sunday at the city’s St Michael’s Roman Catholic Cathedral.

On May 18, 2007 FRD activists staged a sit in at the headquarters of the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver demanding residential school records.

“Eyewitnesses describe how Anglican Church officials flogged children to death at the St. George’s residential school in Lytton, B.C. in 1952″ alleged FRD’s Kevin Annett. “Rows of little skeletons were unearthed at the Anglican school in Alert Bay, B.C. in the late 1960’s. Eyewitnesses were sterilized with an X Ray machine at the Anglican Carcross school in the Yukon, during the 1950’s. This church is responsible for genocide,” he claimed.

On April 15, 2006 the Indians activists wrote Bishop Michael Ingham asking him for his cooperation in their investigations, and seized the building after not having received a response for over a year.

While FRD’s claims have not been substantiated, the legacy of European-Indian relations in Canada remains controversial. In 1993 the Anglican Church of Canada issued an apology for its role in any abuses that may have taken place in Church-affiliated residential schools.

On March 5, Archbishop Fred Hiltz said he represented a “church that was complicit in a system that took children far from home and family, took their clothing, cut off their hair and punished them when they spoke their own language. Some of our staff abused children. The Anglican Church has so much for which to be so sorry.”

The Canadian government has announced plans to form a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine the legacy of the schools system which operated up through the 1970’s.

An Ontario court declined to lift an order granting temporary control of church properties to three breakaway congregations that have left the Anglican Church of Canada for the Province of the Southern Cone.

On March 20, Justice Jane Milanetti let stand a Feb 29 order denying a request from the Diocese of Niagara for immediate possession of St. Hilda’s, St. George’s and Good Shepherd Anglican Churches. The three Ontario churches were part of a group of parishes across Canada that last month defected to the Anglican Network in Canada under the metropolitan authority of Bishop Gregory Venables of Argentina.

Following a full day of testimony and oral argument, Justice Milanetti said she would reserve her decision on the diocese’s custody petition until a later date.

“We are very thankful that we are able to maintain our ministries in the buildings through Easter as there was much uncertainty. We look forward to continued worship there as long as the courts permit us to do so.” said Canon Charlie Masters, rector of St George’s.

“We deeply regret that it was necessary to defend the right of these congregations to maintain their ministries in the buildings where they have always worshipped,” said Cheryl Chang, a director of the Anglican Network in Canada. “It is our hope and prayer that we could resolve all issues through amicable discussions but at this point, we are at the mercy of the courts and we await this decision.”

Attorneys for the diocese have argued that under Canadian canon law, parishes are creatures of the diocese, and have no existence independent of their bishop. The parishes have countered the diocese’s claim, saying the Canadian Church’s deviation from traditional moral teachings had abrogated any trust it may have held over the parishes.

A full adjudication of the ownership of the parish properties is likely to take several years.

An American and a Canadian have been appointed bishops in the Anglican Church of New Zealand. On March 16, the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia confirmed that the former Bishop of Edmonton (Canada), the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews had been elected Bishop of Christchurch, and that the Dean of Dunedin, the Very Rev. David Rice, was elected Bishop of Waiapu.

Currently bishop-in-residence at Wycliffe College, Toronto, Bishop Matthews (54) served as Bishop of Edmonton from 1997 to 2007, and came second in the race for Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada at its General Synod last June.

The Primate of the church in New Zealand, Archbishop Brown Turei said he looked forward to welcoming Bishop Matthews into the church of these islands. “I’m sure that, with all her experience, she will make a good contribution to our life and witness.”

News of Bishop Matthews’ proposed appointment was leaked midway through the election process. In New Zealand, bishops are elected by a diocesan synod. The bishop-elect’s name is then sent to the House of Bishops for confirmation, and then to the General Synod for confirmation. Only after all three bodies have endorsed the choice, is the name announced.

The New Zealand Church dismissed assertions that Bishop Matthews would be a
“controversial” choice. “Despite media speculation, Bishop Matthews is careful and moderate on controversial issues such as the blessing of same-sex relationships. Indeed, she is known internationally for her theological orthodoxy and her resolve to maintain unity,” the statement announcing her election said.

“Speaking personally, I think a number of things stand in the way of blessing same-gender marriages or unions,” Bishop Matthews said in the New Zealand statement.

The church needs to decide whether gay marriage is a “faithful development of the Christian doctrine of marriage,” while also reconciling clashes between diverging “personal and corporate conscience.”

“By taking the time to do the theology thoroughly and well, we will ease the acceptance of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters. To be impatient is to risk even further hate and violence against those we have ignored for too long,” she explained.

Born and educated in the United States, Bishop-elect David Rice emigrated to New Zealand ten years ago and was received into the Anglican Church after serving seven years in the Methodist Church in America. The Dean of Dunedin for the past six years, Bishop-elect Rice stated he was pleased to become bishop “of a moderate to liberal diocese. If anybody looks at my track record, they’ll see that’s a very good fit.”

ANiC executive director Cheryl Chang in Dar es Salaam, Feb 11, 2007

The Bishop of New Westminster has charged theologian JI Packer with abandoning the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Dr. Packer, along with the other clergy of St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church in Vancouver, was served with a “Notice of Presumption of Abandonment of the Exercise of the Ministry” by Bishop Michael Ingham on Feb 21.

They were accused of having “publicly renounced the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada,” and for having sought admission “into another religious body.”

Dr. Packer has been a critic of the innovations of doctrine and discipline within the Anglican Church of Canada and has lent his support to the secession vote. Unless he recants or disputes these actions, Bishop Ingham will depose him from the ministry of the Anglican Church on April 21.

The threat from Bishop Ingham comes in the wake of the Feb 13 vote by the parish to quit the Anglican Church of Canada and to affiliate with the Anglican Network in Canada under the oversight of the Province of the Southern Cone.

An honorary assistant at St. John’s for the past 20 years, the 82-year old theologian is generally held to be one of the leading evangelical scholars within the Anglican tradition and was labeled a “doctrinal Solomon” by Time Magazine.

Author of “Knowing God,” Dr Packer was educated at Wycliffe Hall and served his curacy at Harborne Heath in Birmingham. From 1955-1961 he served as a lecturer at Tyndale Hall, Bristol, as Librarian then Principal at Latimer House, Oxford, from 1961-1969, Principal of Tyndale Hall in 1970, and Assoc. Principal of Trinity College, Bristol from 1971 to 1979 before joining the faculty of Regent College, Vancouver where he currently serves as Professor of Theology.

Lawyers for ANiC are viewing the notice of presumption of abandonment of communion and are preparing a response, a spokesman said.

Under Canadian Canon XIX, if Bishop Ingham deposes him for abandonment, Dr. Packer may appeal the ruling to the Metropolitan of British Columbia and the Yukon, Archbishop Terry Buckle, who “shall attempt to mediate between the parties” and if unsuccessful refer the matter to the provincial ecclesiastical court for review.

The Primate of Canada has written a pastoral letter to the Church urging calm in the wake of over a dozen parish defections to the Province of the Southern Cone.

On Feb 28, Archbishop Fred Hiltz called the departures a “fracture in the body of Christ.”

While there had been a “huge amount of attention is given to those who are considering leaving the Anglican Church of Canada, there are a host of other people who continue to struggle over issues of sexuality and unity. They do that from both very conservative perspectives and very liberal perspectives, but it is so clear that they intend to remain loyal members of the Anglican Church of Canada.”

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 the Anglican Network in Canada tells 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 timing of the parish secessions was dictated by the Canadian church’s practice of holding its annual meetings in February. The “congregations are taking this step now” of secession “because when the offer of Adequate Episcopal Oversight became available at the end of November” from the South American church “the parishes were asked to go through a period of discernment with their congregations to discuss the implications of the offer before taking such a vote.”

ANiC asked “all the parishes vote in this window of time so that we could stand together, to build the church and defend our ministry at the same time,” she explained.

“We had been contacted by many faithful Canadian Anglicans who were in distress after the General Synod in June, where they voted that same sex blessings were “not in conflict with” the core doctrine of the church,” Mrs. Chang said.

Traditionalists have “watched the Niagara, Ottawa and Montreal dioceses proceed to follow the diocese of New Westminster, with the support of the Primate and the [church] hierarchy” alter the Church’s traditional doctrine and disciple. The Southern Cone had offered traditionalists a “safe haven for these faithful people in order to help them remain fully Anglican and continue their orthodox Anglican witness.”

Protestations by Archbishop Fred Hiltz that the ‘Shared Episcopal Ministry’ scheme crafted by the Canadian House of Bishops would provide adequate protections for traditionalists were not persuasive Mrs. Chang said.

The Shared Episcopal Ministry programme envisioned the Church as a static entity that would only decline. It “does not allow for church planting,” allow congregations to hire new priests, and keeps the existing churches under the thumb of a “hostile bishop.”

“It forces congregations to financially support and have partnership with a church that is teaching a different gospel and that is in a broken relationship with the global Anglican Communion,” Mrs. Chang said.

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.

Canadian bishop Victoria Matthews has been tipped to be the next Bishop of Christchurch in New Zealand.

On Feb 17 the diocesan electoral synod selected Bishop Matthews, who served as Bishop of Edmonton for ten years until last year and presently is “bishop in residence” at Wycliffe College, Toronto.

The New Zealand Herald described Bishop Matthews as a “controversial Canadian woman” who “had signaled support for blessing gay marriages, but was not expected to break with tradition.” It said her appointment “may be vetoed at the final stage, when it is put to the general synod” as her views on gay marriage might cause the conservative diocese of Polynesia to block her election.

Under New Zealand canon law, the successful candidate’s name is passed to the House of Bishops for ratification, and then to the General Synod for confirmation. Sources in the New Zealand church tell The Church of England Newspaper Bishop Matthews has been endorsed by the House of Bishops and her name will now be passed to the Synod for confirmation.

An official announcement is expected around mid-March. The new bishop’s installation date is set for June 14.

Bishop Matthews has twice stood for election as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada and came a close second in the June 2007 election that saw Archbishop Fred Hiltz take the top spot. Last week the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams also appointed Bishop Matthews, whose reputation is that of a moderate conservative to the Windsor Continuation Group—the next commission chartered by Dr. Williams to ease the Anglican Communion through its difficulties over homosexuality.

The former Edmonton bishop—Canada’s first female diocesan bishop—was the swing vote in the House of Bishops on the June Synod’s most contentious issues. Bishop Matthews voted with the majority that held same-sex blessings were a moral good, but also voted with the majority that refused to permit their use in the Canadian church.

The Guardian broke the story of Bishop Matthews’ election on Feb 22, reporting that she had bested the Dean of Southwark, the Very Rev. Colin Slee for the post. The Church in New Zealand has declined comment, stating the election process is still unfolding.

On Feb 15, The Press of New Zealand reported that six candidates had been nominated for the post, a “British clergyman and one from Canada were also contenders.”

Church spokesman Lloyd Ashton told Canada’s Anglican Journal, “What has happened is there has been a leak to a U.K. newspaper and it is quite regrettable that confidentiality has been breached.”

The three part confirmation process is “not a rubber stamp,” he noted and bishops selected by the diocesan synod have not been confirmed by the Church. In 1985 Canon Paul Oestreicher was elected Bishop of Wellington by the diocese, but his election was vetoed by the House of Bishops.

Canon Oestreicher observed his “being a Quaker gave them an excuse to veto the election. It was my [pacifist] politics they didn’t like.”

The secession of 8 Canadian congregations to the Province of the Southern Cone has drawn mixed reactions from conservative church leaders in Canada.

While supporters of the breakaway group believe secession will strengthen the conservative movement in Canada, others disagree saying they are not ready to quit the Church.  However, “most orthodox Anglicans are dismayed that this conflict has been allowed to escalate to this point,” Bishop Anthony Burton of Saskatchewan told The Church of England Newspaper.

Canada’s largest Anglican parish was the first to go.  On Feb. 13, St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver voted 475 to 11 to quit the Diocese of New Westminster and accept the oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey and the Province of the Southern Cone.

Over the weekend seven more parishes from the dioceses of British Columbia, New Westminster, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara joined St John’s in defecting to the Southern Cone.

A further five may follow by the end of the month as Canadian parishes are required to hold their annual parochial meeting by the end of February.  Should a parish wish to secede at any other time of year, it must call a special parish meeting, giving proper notice to the congregation and the diocese.

The Anglican Network in Canada, (ANiC)—the ecclesial body overseeing the breakaway parishes—stated the parishes were motivated by concern over what “is happening in the Anglican Church of Canada.”

The secession was a salvation issue.  The Canadian Church was rewriting its “teaching on fundamental, historic Christian teaching, such as the authority of the Bible and salvation through Jesus Christ alone,” they said.

In a pastoral letter released the same day as the St. John’s vote, Canadian Primate Fred Hiltz said there was no need for congregations to break away.  The House of Bishops’ “Shared Episcopal Ministry” plan provided for congregations in “conscientious disagreement with the Bishop and Synod over the matter of the blessing of same sex unions” to receive adequate oversight from conservatives, he said.

However, if congregations did leave there would be legal and canonical repercussions.

Those who “leave the Church” cannot “take property and other assets with them,” he noted.  “My hope is that no parish will take action that would compel parish or diocesan leaders to resolve property disputes in the civil courts,” Archbishop Hiltz said.

Diocesan bishops also issued pastoral letters counseling against schism.  On Feb 15 the Bishop of British Columbia suspended the clergy of one parish the day before their congregation was scheduled to vote.

Bishop James Cowan told the clergy of St Mary of the Incarnation in Victoria
“you may not function as an ordained priest,” nor were they to “discuss this matter” with their parishioners, and “Further, I direct that you stay away from the premises of the parish.”

Archbishop Hiltz’ protestations of proper pastoral provisions were not persuasive, ANiC said.  It had sought “appropriate spiritual care and oversight for parishes like these which remain faithful to orthodox Anglican teaching, - but to no avail.”

ANiC’s Bishop Donald Harvey welcomed the vote.  “St John’s has shown true leadership both now and over the past difficult years,” he said.  “I look forward to ministering with them and moving forward together in mission and in full communion with the tens of millions of orthodox Anglicans worldwide who have been so supportive of us.”

Retired Sydney Bishop Ken Short said the vote by the Vancouver congregations led by his son David Short “shows the value of the strength of biblical preaching at St John’s over the past few decades, and because of that people are strongly standing for what the word of God says.”

However, the Dean Peter Elliot of Vancouver, a spokesman for the Diocese of New Westminster, told The Church of England Newspaper he was “saddened” by the vote as it was “unnecessary.”

The Anglican Church of Canada had been “deeply involved” in the “Windsor Report process”, Dean Elliot said, and remained engaged in a conversation over the developing doctrine and discipline of the Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Panel of Reference had commended the Canadian Church’s Shared Episcopal Ministry programme to the wider Communion as a viable alternative form of episcopal oversight, he observed.  However, a “small group did not find it persuasive.”

Bishop Burton said he understood the “frustration” felt by the ANiC churches, but for “a variety of conscientious reasons,” could not follow them out of the Church.

“The great majority of orthodox Canadian Anglicans think that the best course of action is to work for renewal within the Church rather than giving up on it, and patiently to work through the Windsor process,” he explained.

The Rt Rev Victoria Matthews, Bishop of Edmonton with Queen Elizabeth II. Photo taken May 25, 2005 in Edmonton. Published in the Church of England Newspaper with the permission of the Edmonton Sun.

The Bishop of British Columbia has written to the clergy and lay leaders of his diocese warning them that any attempt to quit the Anglican Church of Canada for the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone will elicit a swift reprisal.

On Jan 30, the Rt. Rev. James Cowan stated that “persistent rumors” had come to his attention that in “some parishes across Canada” attempts would be made to “approve separation of the parish from the local diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada,” seeking to transfer to the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.

Any attempt to leave was “schismatic” and a betrayal of a “fiduciary trust” to the diocese and would result in the “immediate termination of license or removal from office,” Bishop Cowan wrote.

Clergy “acquiescing in” or “actively promoting” the withdrawal of parishes from the diocese would be dismissed from office without “notice or severance,” he said. Those clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese of British Columbia who could not “in good conscience” remain in the Anglican Church of Canada, should seek a “spiritual home elsewhere.”

In November, Canada’s Council of General Synod wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams asking him to condemn the secession of two retired Canadian bishops to the Southern Cone, and the creation of a temporary missionary jurisdiction in Canada for traditionalists.

On Jan 9 Archbishop Fred Hiltz wrote to the Primates of the Communion, and appealed again for Dr Williams to act.

In a letter made public on Jan 21, Dr. Williams said he had “no canonical authority to prevent these things” but could not “support or sanction such actions.”
On Oct 14, Dr. Williams stated the “the organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial structure as such.”
“Separatist solutions” weakened “that basic conviction of Catholic theology” he said.

The Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador has demanded a loyalty oath from his clergy, following the defection of his predecessor Don Harvey to the Province of the Southern Cone.

On Dec 18, Bishop Cyrus Pitman summoned the diocese’s 41 clergy to attend a Jan 21 service at St. John the Baptist Cathedral to renew their ordination vows and receive new licences.

Bishop Pitman denied he was engaged in a “power grab”, but told the Anglican Journal “I just felt I needed to have my name on them as the bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador.”

In his letter Bishop Pitman said that although he valued “people’s individual conscience, and our Church has always accommodated a diversity of opinion. However, I would expect any clergy involved in the Network and working to the establishment of a parallel jurisdiction to the Anglican Church of Canada would do the honourable thing and resign their positions, relinquishing their licences to exercise ordained ministry in this Church as their leader has done.”

Bishop Pitman has also dissolved the cathedral chapter, which counted several supporters of Bishop Harvey amongst its six canons. However, “it is not a punitive thing,” he said, as he wanted to appoint new members that “will reflect the diversity of the diocese.”

Bishop Harvey told Transcontinental Media he was “hurt” by Bishop Pitman’s attempt to make him a non-person. “Even if I left and became a non-Christian of sort, it shouldn’t devalue any documents I had issued. The fact I’m going to another legitimate part of the same communion, should make it all the less the reason for having any problem with me,” he said.

The episode was a “sad reflection” on the Canadian Church. “They are very strong on talking about inclusivity and reaching out to all people with all kinds of views, unless you happen to be a conservative. Then you’re an unpopular member,” Bishop Harvey said.

The Primate and Metropolitans of the Anglican Church of Canada have released a pastoral letter rejecting the South American church’s oversight of Canadian traditionalists, and have appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury for assistance.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz and the church’s four metropolitan archbishops said they “deplore recent actions on the part of the primate and General Synod of the Province of the Southern Cone to extend its jurisdiction in Canada through the Essentials Network Conference.”

South America’s reception of breakaway congregations and its licensing of two retired Canadian bishops to exercise episcopal ministry on behalf of South American primate Gregory Venables “breaks fellowship within the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion,” they argued and was unnecessary.

“Our bishops have made adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and episcopal support of all members … including those who find themselves in conscientious disagreement with the view of their bishop and synod over the blessing of same-sex unions,” they wrote on Nov 29, urging Dr. Rowan Williams to condemn the South American putsch.

Bishop Venables told Canada’s Anglican Journal his church would not back down from its support of embattled traditionalists.

The Canadian archbishops were guilty of “either denial or hypocrisy” by appealing to the ancient customs of the church, he said.  “They have broken historic agreements - the Lambeth Conference agreement and the Windsor Report - to go ahead with blessing same-sex relationships. To use that argument against us is a bit odd, to say the least.”

Nor was the claim of an adequate provision for pastoral oversight for traditionalists plausible, he said, as it was not created in full consultation with conservatives, he noted.

The issues at stake were greater than a dispute over homosexuality, Bishop Venables said.  “The sexuality issue is the presenting issue, but there are things about Scripture, about who Jesus is. The creeds have seen Jesus Christ as the son of the God and the one way to God the father.”

A Canadian Anglican has been appointed to head up the World Council of Church’s (WCC) Faith and Order Commission.The Rev Canon John Gibaut, a professor of Anglican Studies at St. Paul University—a Roman Catholic college in Ottawa—begins work Jan 1.   from the Anglican Church of Canada, will head the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order as of January 2008.  A member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations, Dr. Gibaut has also served on national and international ecumenical dialogue commissions.

As it continues to “call the divided churches to healing and reconciliation,” the work of Faith and Order Commission is “as exciting and demanding today for the ecumenical movement as it was in the 1920s and beyond,” Dr. Gibaut said. “The ongoing challenge is to broaden the circles and conversations around Faith and Order issues,” he adds.

The Commission on Faith and Order is mandated to study questions of faith, church order and worship which bear on the unity of the church, and also to examine social, cultural, political, racial and other factors which affect that unity.

The Rt Rev. Don Harvey (left) and the Rt. Rev. Malcolm Harding (right). Bishops Harvey and Harding were received by the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone in November 2007 and will exercise episcopal ministry on behalf of Presiding Bishop Gregory Venables in Eastern (Harvey) and Western (Harding) Canada.

Photo taken at the ANiC conference in Burlington, Ontario on Nov 22, by Marilyn Jacobson

A second Canadian bishop has quit his church to join the Province of the Southern Cone.  On Nov 22 the retired Bishop of Brandon, Malcolm Harding announced he had relinquished his license in the Canadian Church and would exercise episcopal ministry in Western Canada on behalf of the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables.

“I am deeply grieved that the church I have loved and served for over 30 years has left me no choice,” Bishop Harding said.

Speaking to the members of the Anglican Network in Canada meeting, Bishop Harding said his secession had been driven by his despair over the theological direction taken by the Canadian Church. “I now realize that we cannot have unity at the expense of truth.  I cannot in conscience travel the path that the Anglican Church of Canada is traveling, away from historic Christian teaching and established Anglican practice.”

Bishop Harding now joins the retired Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador Don Harvey in offering episcopal oversight to Canada’s embattled traditionalists.

Leaders of the Global South coalition of Primates offered their encouragement.  The Primate of the Middle East Bishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt said his diocese offered its wholehearted support and thanked “God for your Faithfulness and stance for the Gospel.”

In a television interview Bishop Harvey said traditionalists were “continuing in the Anglican Communion as we have known it.  It is the Anglican Church of Canada which is schismatic. It has not been faithful.”

He did not see the Anglican Church of Canada “coming out of this without a split.  The polarities are so extreme.   To negotiate you have to give up something.  What we are standing for are the essentials.”

The Canadian Church has denounced the secessions and announced that the Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz would issue a pastoral letter on Dec 2 responding to the news.  The bishop of New Westminster Michael Ingham last week said “this is a full-blown schism now within the Canadian church and it is a direct attack upon the catholicity of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Canada’s Council of General Synod (CoGS) said Bishop Harvey’s secession was unnecessary, unlawful and unfortunate.

They demanded the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams do something, asking him to “make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church.”

However, Lambeth Palace has so far remained officially silent, with sources familiar with the negotiations to create a parallel Anglican church in Canada telling The Church of England Newspaper that Dr. Williams had been briefed on traditionalists’ plans.

Two independent congregations announced on Nov 24 they would come under the protection of the South American church.  Two dozen Anglican Church of Canada parishes are expected to join in the coming weeks.  However Canadian church officials have threatened litigation against any congregation that seeks to leave the church with its parish property.

Bishop Donald Harvey has quit the Canadian Church for the Church of the Province of the Southern Cone.

On Nov 16 the retired Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, and moderator of the traditionalist Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) announced he was “resuming full-time Episcopal ministry” on behalf of “biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are distressed and feel they no longer have a home in the Anglican Church of Canada.”

Bishop Harvey’s secession has prompted howls of protest from the Canadian Church, which has demanded that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams denounce him.

The secession also comes one week before ANiC’s annual conference, and may presage a wholesale defection of Canadian traditionalist congregations and clergy to the South American Church.

On Nov 8 the Canadian primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz told the National Post conservatives may bolt over Canada’s swing to the left on gay blessings.  “There may come a point we have to acknowledge that and respect their decision.”

“If they feel they cannot stay and withdraw other parishes with them, obviously it’s a sad moment for the Church. But I also think at that point you don’t fight. You don’t fight. You have to acknowledge the situation, acknowledge the pain, acknowledge the brokenness,” Archbishop Hiltz said.

The Canadian diocese of Niagara has voted to permit gay blessings. On Nov 17 the diocesan synod voted 239 to 53 to allow clergy to solemnize gay unions, if at least one of the spouses were baptized.

Bishop Ralph Spence gave his assent to the decision, making Niagara the third Canadian diocese to adopt same-sex blessings since the June meeting of General Synod. However, the bishop’s assent to gay blessings in Niagara places him at odds with the statement he coauthored at last month’s meeting of the Canadian House of Bishops, which reaffirmed the church’s ban on gay blessings.

Bishop Spence acknowledged the disparity between the two positions, but noted the votes to affirm gay blessings by the dioceses of Montreal and Ottawa had undercut the force of the ban. However, he continued to affirm the House of Bishops’ call for a “generous response” to the contrasting views on gay blessings.

He told the Anglican Journal that he did not believe his actions would impact his role as chaplain to the staff of the 2008 Lambeth Conference. “My role at Lambeth is not constitutional. I will be chaplain to all the workers and make sure all the safe church practices are followed,” he said.

His Lambeth duties will also include “helping out with disciplinary matters” he told the Hamilton Spectator in April. “If somebody needs to be straightened out on their conduct or behaves inappropriately, I’ll be helping them understand what the appropriate conduct will be,” Bishop Spence said.

Over 50 speakers addressed the convention during the debate on gay blessings. Supporters argued gay blessings were a matter of justice, while opponents said it violated church teachings, scripture, and the decisions of General Synod and the House of Bishops.

The Rt. Rev. Ralph Spence, Diocese of Niagara photo.

Bishop Spence said he was “very proud” that his diocese had taken a “leadership role” in moving the Canadian Church “forward on this issue.”

However, the Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, Bishop Don Harvey, said Niagara had “chosen to walk away from centuries of Christian teaching and defy the consensus within the Anglican Communion.”

The Rt. Rev. Donald Harvey, retired Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, announced Nov. 16 that he had quit the Canadian Church and will be “resuming full-time Episcopal ministry” on behalf of “biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are distressed and feel they no longer have a home in the Anglican Church of Canada.”

Bishop Harvey is moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC), a group of traditionalist members of the Anglican Church of Canada aligned with the Anglican Communion Network in the U.S. His departure comes after the Canadian House of Bishops said it would launch a disciplinary investigation into complaints that he had participated in unauthorized episcopal acts in Canada and the U.S.

“This is a full-blown schism now within the Canadian church and it is a direct attack upon the catholicity of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster in a recent interview with Anglican Journal, the church’s editorially independent newspaper. “It is one thing to hold differing opinions as many Anglicans obviously do on matters of sexual ethics. It’s quite another thing to establish alternative ecclesial bodies, which is schism.”

Bishop Harvey’s departure came one week before the annual conference of the ANiC, and may presage a wholesale defection of Canadian traditionalist congregations and clergy to the South American province. Bishop Ingham said he had written to Bishop Harvey prohibiting him from ordaining two deacons at a parish in his diocese next month. He has also written to the candidates and the clergy of four ANiC parishes in his diocese warning them of possible disciplinary action if they participate.

According to its website, ANiC’s national conference on Nov. 22-23 will “outline details of the option available to biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who are in ‘serious theological dispute’ with the Anglican Church of Canada and want to be recognized as ‘fully Anglican’ and in the mainstream of global Anglicanism.”

In his letter to Archbishop Hiltz relinquishing his membership in the Canadian Church, Bishop Harvey said “this decision was not made lightly or for any other motive than the realization that I cannot continue to follow the obvious path that the Anglican Church of Canada is taking.”

On Nov. 17 the Council of General Synod said Bishop Harvey’s secession was unnecessary as an “appropriate provision for pastoral care and episcopal support” already existed.

“Interventions in the life of our church, such as ordinations or other episcopal acts by any other jurisdictions are inappropriate and unwelcome,” council members said. “In particular, we cannot recognize the legitimacy of recent actions by the Province of the Southern Cone in purporting to extend its jurisdiction beyond its own borders.”

The Canadian church’s governing body between meetings of General Synod called upon the Archbishop of Canterbury to defend Canada, requesting that he “make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church.”

Published in The Living Church.

Canada’s House of Bishops has renewed its moratorium on same-sex blessings.

In its Oct 25-30 meeting in London, Ontario, its first since General Synod held in June that while same-sex blessings were a moral good the Church would not permit their use, the House of Bishops said there would be no policy change on gay blessings.

Clergy may celebrate a Eucharist and intercessory prayers with a same-sex couple, but they were not permitted to perform a same-sex wedding or blessing.

In a pastoral letter to the church, the bishops said they had “heard reports from several bishops who spoke of the effects of General Synod’s resolutions on same-sex blessings and these reflections ranged from parts of the country where this issue is paramount in the life of the church to others areas where it is only a very small part of the church’s life or scarcely considered at all.”

The Bishops of Montreal and Ottawa told the meeting they had not yet decided how to respond to the requests by their synods to authorize gay blessings.  The Bishop of New Westminster noted that the eight parishes whom had requested his permission to celebrate gay-blessings would be allowed to continue, he would not authorize further requests from other parishes.

In private session, some bishops voiced concerns over retired Bishop Don Harvey of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, saying his support for embattled traditionalists was undermining their authority.

The Anglican Journal reported that Bishop Michael Ingham of New Westminster said that “it is one thing to have traditional views; that’s all right, but not to undermine lawful authority put in place by synodical action.  There was a consensus in the house to ask the primate and metropolitans to deal with the situation.”

The bishops also gave a mixed response to the US House of Bishops’ New Orleans statement after meeting in small groups.  Bishop George Bruce of Ontario said his group believed the US had gone a long way towards responding to the Primates, but was alarmed by the growing split within the Communion.

Bishop Ron Ferris of Algoma said his group heard “double speak” from the American bishops, and saw no evidence of substantive compliance.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz noted the Council of General Synod, the church’s governing body between meetings of General Synod, would take up the topic at their Nov 16-18 meeting and then forward Canada’s view to Dr. Rowan Williams.

The Montreal diocesan synod has asked its bishop to authorize the blessing of gay civil marriages.

Following two hours of debate on Oct 19 the resolution passed both houses of synod, by a margin of 44 to 25 amongst the clergy and by 59-32 in the lay order, making Montreal the third Canadian diocese after New Westminster and Ottawa to vote for gay blessings.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Diocese of Ottawa has voted to approve public rites for the blessing of same-sex unions.  The Oct 13 vote by the diocesan synod makes Ottawa the second Canadian diocese to approve gay blessings, but the first to act since the June meeting of General Synod declined to allow the church to permit gay blessings.

However, the Bishop of Ottawa the Rt. Rev. John Chapman told a news conference that he has not yet decided whether he will give his assent to the resolution passed by a vote of 177 to 97.

The resolution requests the bishop “grant permission for clergy, whose conscience permits, to bless duly solemnized and registered civil marriages between same-sex couples, where one party is baptized; and that he authorizes an appropriate rite and guidelines for its use in supportive parishes.”

In three hours of debate, supporters of the resolution recounted personal anecdotes about their experiences with gays and lesbians, saying the Church needed to change its moral teachings to “reach out” to them.  Justice and inclusion called for nothing less, one speaker said.

Traditionalists countered that the move would put the diocese at odds with 2000 years of Church teaching, contradicted the plain words of Scripture and repudiated the calls made by the wider Anglican Communion to desist from such actions.

The conservative pressure group the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) said it was “deeply saddened” by the vote. “Unfortunately, the synod has chosen to reject the pleas of the global Anglican Communion, and ‘walk apart’ from the vast majority of Anglicans.”

At last June’s Canadian General Synod Bishop Chapman voted for resolution A186 which stated the blessing of same-sex unions were “not in conflict with the core doctrine” of the Anglican Church.

He also supported resolution A187 which affirmed the “authority of any diocesan synod” with the “concurrence” of the bishop to “authorize the blessing of same-sex unions.”  Resolution A186 was adopted by Synod, but resolution A187 failed by two votes in the House of Bishops.

However in his diocesan charge, Bishop Chapman warned against clergy taking unilateral action.  “Leadership that does not take its lead from the bishops and councils of the church–national and local–cannot be tolerated. Our missional strength can only be fully realized when we stay together,” he said.

The Diocese of Montreal will debate a similar resolution at its synod Oct 19-20.  The Ottawa vote is expected to be a topic of conversation this week when Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz pays his first call since his appointment to Lambeth Palace to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.

The Diocese of Ottawa will test the Canadian church’s stance on gay blessings with a resolution seeking authorization to bless gay civil unions.

On Oct 12-13 the Ottawa synod will take up a resolution put forward by members of the gay pressure group Integrity that seeks permission from the bishop for clergy “whose conscience permits, to bless duly solemnized and registered civil marriages between same-sex couples, where one party is baptized; and that he authorizes an appropriate rite and guidelines for its use in supportive parishes.”

In its June meeting in Winnipeg the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada adopted a resolution stating “the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada” but also defeated a resolution “to authorize the blessing of committed same-sex unions.”

Bishop John Chapman of Ottawa said in a statement that if the motion passes, “it will leave the matter with the bishop to render a decision.”

In 2002 the Diocese voted to refer a similar motion to authorize gay blessings to a committee charged with studying the matter.

The Ottawa vote will come four days before Canada’s new primate Archbishop Fred Hiltz meets with Dr. Rowan Williams at Lambeth Palace and will be the first test of the synod rebuke of gay blessings.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury will meet Canada’s new Primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz on Oct 16, the Canadian Church has announced.

Elected primate of Canada in June, Archbishop Hiltz will hold a private meeting at Lambeth Palace with Dr Williams
and is expected to discuss the Canadian Church’s stance on gay blessings. Canada’s General Synod held that same-sex
blessings are a moral good, but declined to authorise their use.

Meeting in Winnipeg from June 19-25, the 38th triennial General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada adopted a resolution stating “the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada” but also defeated a resolution “to authorize the blessing of committed same-sex unions.”

Archbishop Hiltz said he would raise the issue of gay blessings as a “pastoral measure.”

A report commissioned by the Diocese of Ottawa has recommended that it allow up to a third of its congregations to close.

Of the 131 congregations, an independent strategic planning report recommended that eight rural parishes be shuttered, and 34 congregations be treated as “final generational parishes” and be “allowed to live out their natural life cycle, but all support systems be removed.”

Between 1991 and 2001 the diocese, which includes portions of Ontario and Quebec, lost 7000 members. Average Sunday attendance in approximately 40 parishes averages less than 25 communicants per week, while only one in three of those still affiliated with the church attend services each week.

In a letter to the Diocese, Coadjutor Bishop John Chapman sought to allay fears the diocese would close the marginal parishes immediately. The “study’s recommendations are simply that: recommendations,” he said, adding that “nothing will be acted upon in haste or precipitously.”

“If the recommendation is accepted for your congregation” that support be withdrawn, “we are going to explore new, more appropriate and cost effective ways to minister to it — by using new parish configurations staffed in part by lay readers and retired clergy,” Bishop Chapman said.

The £37,000 study, however that while many parishes were all but moribund, an equal number were doing well and several were thriving. It also urged the diocese to build a new church in a growing suburb of Barrhaven southwest of Ottawa.

Anglicans were “like Buicks,” Canon Jim Stevenson told the Ottawa Citizen. “We’re keeping our old customers, but we’re losing their children.”

The fallout from the report’s recommendations had been mixed, he said. While some members of redundant parishes were angered by the findings, “A lot of people heard what they already knew.”

The Anglican Church of Canada has faced significant declines in attendance and income in recent years. At the June meeting of General Synod in Winnipeg, the national church reported a shortfall of C$486,000 for 2006 due in part to losses sustained by the Church’s Anglican Book Centre in Toronto. In 2005, expenditures exceeded income by C$1.1 million with revenue declining to C$13.71 million from C$14 million.

The Canadian Church came under pointed criticism from some leaders of the Global South coalition in the wake of its General Synod votes on human sexuality. The Global South Steering Committee said it was “dismayed” by Canada’s decision that “same-sex blessing is not core doctrine” and called the decision not to permit the authorization of same-sex blessings a “temporary restraint” as some Canadian bishops continued to flout the recommendations of the Windsor Report.

Speaking to an audience in Florida in May, the Primate of the West Indies, Archbishop Drexel Gomez was not sanguine about the prospects for revitalization, saying the Anglican Church of Canada was in the “dying process.”

Canada’s first woman bishop, the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews announced on Aug 2 she was resigning as Bishop of Edmonton, telling her Diocese “God is now calling me in a different direction.”

The resignation of Bishop Matthews (53) has come as a surprise to many church watchers in Canada. Elected the church’s first woman bishop in 1993 as a suffragan of Toronto, Bishop Matthews was elected the first and only woman diocesan bishop in 1997.

“Some will wonder if I have health concerns, and others will ask if I am angry at the Anglican Church. The answer to both questions is no,” Bishop Matthews wrote.

“I am well and I love our church. I am an Anglican and hope to always minister in accordance with the grace and mercy of Christ our Saviour.”

Bishop Matthews stated she had no job waiting for her after she leaves Edmonton. Following two years of prayerful reflection, “most recently I have become convinced that I am meant to resign as your Bishop before knowing what comes next. While this is a bit disconcerting, I am proceeding in obedience to what I believe is God’s will.”

In 2004, Bishop Matthews was nominated to stand for election as Primate of the Canadian Church. However, she had to stand down after learning she had breast cancer. Following a seven month medical leave of absence, she returned to her diocese, and in June stood a second time for Primate, coming a close second to the winner, Bishop Fred Hiltz of Nova Scotia.

“Being Bishop of Edmonton has been a blessing beyond what words can express, and I am deeply grateful for your love, your prayers and the ministry we share in Christ our Saviour,” Bishop Matthews wrote.

Educated at the University of Toronto, she trained for the ministry at Yale, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1980. She has never married.

The Rt. Rev. Gerald Mpango, Bishop of Western Tanganyika and the Rev. Canon Charlie Masters, President of the Anglican Essentials (Canada) Coalition following Sunday services at the Dar es Salaam Cathedral on Feb 11, 2007. First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Canada’s General Synod has held that same-sex blessings are a moral good, but has refused to authorize their use by the Church. The divided result has angered both liberals and conservatives.

The decisions have kept the Canadian church together and within the orbit of the Anglican Communion, but sidestepped the request of the Windsor Report and the Feb 2007 primates meeting for a clear statement of affirmation of the Communion’s statements on human sexuality.

Like the 2006 US General Convention, General Synod responded with a mixed message, further burdening Archbishop Rowan Williams as he seeks to find common ground within an increasingly fragmented Communion.

Meeting in Winnipeg from June 19-25, the 38^th triennial General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada turned to the issue of same-sex blessings on June 23, accepting the conclusions of the St. Michael Report prepared by the Primate’s Theological Commission. Chaired by Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews, the St. Michael Report concluded the blessing of same-sex unions was a matter of doctrine, but not a “core doctrine” in the sense of being creedal. As such, the report concluded, it should not be a Communion-dividing issue.

Delegates debated a compromise resolution submitted by the Council of General Synod, the governing body between meetings of Synod that called for a super majority of 60 percent to approve same-sex blessings. Doctrinal issues require a two-thirds vote over two synods, while other issues require a simply majority at one Synod. Supporters of same-sex blessing advocated the lower threshold and the resolution was defeated.

Debate began on the afternoon of June 23 and continued the following day on the resolution stating “the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada.” Following a strong debate, the resolution was adopted by a vote of 152 to 97 among the clergy and laity, and 21 to 19 among the bishops.

The conservative lobbying group, Anglican Essentials reported that both Bishops Hiltz and Matthews supported the vote.

A resolution permitting dioceses “to authorize the blessing of committed same-sex unions” came before Synod and after vigorous debate was approved in the lay order 78 to 59 and in the clergy order 63 to 53, but failed in the House of Bishops 21 to 19, thus defeating the bill. Bishop Matthews voting against,Bishop Hiltz in favor.

The following day New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham withdrew a resolution that would have permitted his diocese to continue to allow blessings of same-sex unions.

Bishop Ingham told the Toronto Globe & Mail the Synod vote was a victory for homophobia. “To say that the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with doctrine is a hugely significant thing,” he said. “But to say at the same time there’s no doctrinal conflict but we’re not going to [do] anything about it is inertia - it’s institutional inertia rooted in homophobia.”

“I think everyone’s a loser” from the vote Bishop Ingham told the Winnipeg Free Press. “Traditional Christians can’t take comfort in the vote and those who want to move on are held back by a small number of bishops.”

Chris Ambidge, a spokesman Integrity, a pro-gay lobbying group said the divided vote sent “mixed messages” to the Church and made no sense.

The conservative Anglican Network in Canada coalition said it was “deeply grieved by the decisions of General Synod.” By “declaring that same sex blessings are compatible with Anglican core doctrine, nothing now stands in the way of these blessings continuing,” they argued.

In other business, General Synod voted to reject the proposal to alter the membership structure of the Anglican Consultative Council and to allow the primates ex officio membership. Canadian ACC delegate the Rt. Rev. Sue Moxley argued such a change would dilute the presence of women and lay people within the Church councils.

The Bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Rt. Rev. Fred Hiltz has been elected primate of the Anglican Church of Canada by delegates to the church’s 38^th General Synod on June 22.

Bishop Hiltz, (53) was elected on from among four candidates nominated by the House of Bishops. The most liberal of the four candidates, Bishop Hiltz bested Edmonton Bishop Victoria Matthews on the fifth ballot and his election preserves the status quo amongst the primates’ ranks.

Elected assistant bishop of Nova Scotia in 1995, he became diocesan bishop in 2002. Nominated to stand for primate in 2003, Bishop Hiltz declined to run. A member of the Church’s Council of General Synod from 2001 to 2004, he has also served the Anglican Communion as Co-chairman Anglican-Lutheran International Commission.

A supporter of same-sex blessings, Bishop Hiltz said his role as primate would be as “a servant of the people of God (whose) ministry is the gather the Church, to unite its members in a holy fellowship of truth and love, and to inspire them in the service of Christ’s mission in the world.”

The election of Bishop Hiltz came as a surprise to many observers, as Bishop Matthews was favored to take the post. In the Canadian church candidates for primate are nominated by the bishops and elected by the lay and clergy members of synod.

While the scratched conservative votes went to Bishop Matthews in the third round, liberal voters moved from Matthews to Hiltz. While arguing same-sex blessings were not part of the church’s ‘core’ doctrine, Bishop Matthews opposed introduction of same-sex blessings at this time, while Bishop Hiltz was on record favouring the innovation.

The third round saw Bishop Hiltz with a majority in the lay order with 53 clergy and 73 lay votes, and Bishop Matthews with a majority in the clergy order with 62 clergy and 64 lay votes. The fourth round saw support for Bishop Matthews falter as she polled 60 clergy and 62 lay votes to Bishop Hiltz 56 clergy and 75 lay votes.

On the fifth ballot Bishop Hiltz was elected polling 60 clergy and 81 lay votes. Bishop Hiltz was installed as primate on June 25 with the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu preaching at Winnipeg’s cathedral.

The former Bishop of Alaska, Mark MacDonald begins his dual ministry as an active member of the American and Canadian House of Bishops this week. On June 22, Bishop MacDonald will take office as national bishop for all indigenous persons in the Anglican Church of Canada.

On June 8, Bishop MacDonald was also confirmed by the Navajoland Area Mission in the United States as its area bishop. Created in 1978, the Navajoland Area Mission was carved out of the dioceses of Arizona, Utah and the Rio Grande and serves the Navajo Indian reservation. Its bishop is appointed by House of Bishops and serves under the American church’s Presiding Bishop.

On Jan 4 Canadian Archbishop Andrew Hutchison appointed Bishop MacDonald Canada’s first National Indigenous Bishop. Bishop MacDonald will be one of two active Anglican bishops with cures in two different provinces. The Church of Pakistan’s suffragan bishop for the Arabian Gulf, Bishop Azad Marshall, is also episcopal vicar of Iran in the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East and will be consecrated Iran’s diocesan bishop in August.

The place of the Anglican Church of Canada within the Anglican Communion will be settled this week as the Church gives its response to the Windsor Report at its 38^th triennial General Synod in Winnipeg. Delegates will debate regularizing blessings of same-sex unions and will elect a successor to Archbishop Andrew Hutchison at the June 19-25 gathering.

Clergy and lay delegates and bishops from the Church’s 30 dioceses and districts will kick open Synod with a Eucharist at Winnipeg’s St. John’s Cathedral on the evening of June 19 and begin the legislative session on June 20, meeting in the ballroom of the Marlborough Hotel.

Synod will open with the election of officers and consideration of various reports from the church’s boards and committees. On June 22 the lay and clergy members will elect a new Primate from among four candidates chosen by the House of Bishops.

Nominated at the April 19 House of Bishops meting, Bishops George Bruce of Ontario, Fred Hiltz of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Bruce Howe of Huron and Victoria Matthews of Edmonton, represent the liberal, conservative and corporatist wings of the Canadian church.

On June 23 Synod will turn to the most contentious issue before, them and discuss blessings of same-sex unions. Lobbying by interest groups to influence the outcome of the voting has been strong, and in May the House of Bishops hinted they would block attempts to regularize same-sex blessings, asking for further study of the issue.

In 2005 the Canadian government approved gay civil marriages, while the Diocese of New Westminster has permitted blessing of same-sex unions for several years. However, the national Church has so far blocked attempts to solemnize gay unions.

Resolutions before the Synod seek to permit dioceses to adopt a “local option”, allowing each to set a policy on blessing same-sex unions, while a second resolution calls for the church to begin a national discussion about “equal” marriage.

The Canadian Church was facing its hour of decision, the Rev. Linda Fisher Privitera, chaplain to Integrity Ottawa, said. “Pastoral care of the GLBT believing community is at a crisis point when the Church itself is wounding us by questioning our faith and by refusing to bless our good loves. It is hypocritical for the Church to affirm our relationships as holy and life-giving, as the General Synod did three years ago, and still refuse to live into the actions implied by such affirmation.”

The conservative Anglican Essentials Coalition agreed the choice facing the Canadian Church was stark. If motions approving same-sex blessings were approved, “it will be understood that the Anglican Church of Canada has chosen to ‘walk apart’ from Canterbury and the international Communion.”

Last month the bishops of the province of Rupert’s Land asked the issue of same-sex blessings be referred to the Primate’s Theological Commission. The bishops of Athabasca, Arctic, Brandon, Calgary, Edmonton, Keewatin, Qu’Appelle, Rupert’s Land, Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon wrote it was not feasible for the delegates to “be in a position to determine whether the blessing of same-sex unions is scripturally sound and theologically consistent with core doctrine.”

Permitting same-sex blessings without laying a proper theological foundation was improper, they argued. “While there has been a huge amount published on these matters from both sides of the question, there is no one Canadian Anglican position paper that we as a church own and can use to help others engaging this question,” wrote the bishops. “If the blessing of same-sex unions is consistent with core doctrine and right, then it is incumbent upon us to help educate Anglicans, and other Christians, in Canada and around the world.”