epiScope

A house divided

A breakaway Anglican faction is protesting what they believe is the church's veering from traditional teachings
Rachel De Lazzer
The Hamilton Spectator (Canada)
May 15, 2008

It was an awkward Sunday.

Church members divided, sharing the same building.

One service run by a priest from the national church body, the other by the church's pastor.

Kay Mighton attended the first service at St. George's Anglican in Lowville on February 24 and thought it was "beautiful." A priest from the Niagara diocese presided.

But leaving was uncomfortable.

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Manners

Archbishop against gay unions ignores plea to stay out of Canada
Douglas Todd
Vancouver Sun
April 21, 2008

VANCOUVER - A South American Anglican archbishop who adamantly opposes homosexual relationships is coming to Vancouver on Friday despite being told to stay away by Canada's top Anglican.

Archbishop Gregory Venables, who claims to represent 15 breakaway Anglican congregations in Canada, will speak Friday at a gathering in Delta of the conservative Anglican Network in Canada.

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Anglican leader pulls rival's welcome mat
Charles Lewis
National Post
April 22, 2008

The head of the Anglican Church of Canada has told a controversial archbishop-- the spiritual head of a breakaway group of conservatives -- that he is not welcome in Canada.

Gregory Venables, Archbishop of the South American province of the Southern Cone, will attend a meeting in Vancouver this week of the Anglican Network in Canada, which is opposed to same-sex blessings and liberal interpretations of the Bible.

"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 Fred Hiltz wrote in a letter sent yesterday.

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British Columbia: Breakaway Anglican leader to give talk
Canwest News Service
April 22, 2008

A South American archbishop who adamantly opposes homosexual relationships is coming to Vancouver on Friday despite being told to stay away by Canada's top Anglican. Archbishop Gregory Venables, who claims to represent 15 breakaway Anglican congregations in Canada, will speak at a gathering in a Vancouver suburb. Archbishop Venables is recruiting Anglican congregations in Canada and the U.S. that have opposed the ordination of homosexuals and the church blessing of their relationships. The primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Fred Hilz, wrote a public letter to Archbishop Venables yesterday urging him to stay home and saying that entering his North American jurisdiction "will further harm the strained relations" between Canadian Anglicans.

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Anglican primate blasts South American rival
MICHAEL VALPY
Toronto Globe and Mail
April 22, 2008

Leaders of the Anglican Church in Canada and South America drew beads on each other yesterday with Canadian primate Fred Hiltz posting a letter on the Internet telling South America's Gregory Venables to stay out of the country and Archbishop Venables icily criticizing Archbishop Hiltz's manners in reply.

"My number is there on the Anglican Communion network," Archbishop Venables said in a telephone interview from Buenos Aires. "I mean, this is only my humble opinion, but if somebody really wants to talk to me, they can pick up the phone and talk to me.

"Do you write a personal letter, between primates, on the Internet if you seriously want a personal dialogue?"

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Division leads to disrepute

When churches lose their way
Times Colonist (Canada)
April 08, 2008

There is something terribly sad about the fighting between the Anglican Church and parishes that wish to break away over the issue of same-sex unions. The fact that people of a shared faith, facing a world with so many physical and spiritual challenges, are wasting time, energy and money in the courts sparks both despair and anger.

Our editorials, as a rule, don't enter into debates of faith. Those are matters for those directly involved to resolve. And beliefs are not subject to the kinds of arguments editorials usually make.

But this division has become more than an internal debate over religious doctrine. The battle for control of St. Mary of the Incarnation Church in Metchosin brings all religion into disrepute.

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Locks change again

Anglican rebels regain church
Peter Kuitenbrouwer
National Post
April 07, 2008

Rebellious Anglican parishioners in Victoria won a court order on Saturday allowing them into their church for worship on Sunday, a day after British Columbia's Anglican bishop changed the locks on the St. Mary of the Incarnation Church.

"We are very grateful that the people of St. Mary will be able to worship in their building again this Sunday," Cheryl Chang, a director of the Anglican Network in Canada, said in a news release yesterday.

In February, St. Mary parishioners voted 105 to 14 to separate from the Anglican Church of Canada and seek "protection" from the Anglican Network in Canada, allied with Anglican churches in South America.

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Comings and goings

Taylor resigns from St. Marks
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)

The very Rev. Robert Taylor announced Friday he is resigning as dean of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle.

Saint Mark's is the Cathedral church of the Diocese of Olympia. The Diocese of Olympia is a part of the Episcopal Church.

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St. Luke’s welcomes Rev. Ann Gaillard to its parish
By HEATHER SACKETT
Adirondack Daily Enterprise
March 28, 2008

SARANAC LAKE — Small-town life agrees with the Rev. Ann Gaillard.

The new rector of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Saranac Lake, who was formally installed in a ceremony Wednesday night, has been adjusting to life in this Adirondack village.

“I pretty much worked exclusively in metropolitan areas, and so it’s marvelous being in a small town,” she said. “It has not been difficult to connect with people because everybody does know everybody else.”

Gaillard was born and raised in California and comes from a teaching background. After teaching high school English for a few years in many different areas of the country, including Texas and Philadelphia, Gaillard said she felt as if she was being called to a profession other than teaching. She decided to go to seminary in New York City and was ordained into the Episcopal priesthood in 2005.

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Rev. Mark Eldredge: He finds it really is all about God
Florida Times-Union
3/28/2008

Tell us about your family.

I have a great wife, Patsy, who makes me a better pastor than I ever would have been without her. Three beautiful children: two girls and a boy, the oldest 15 and the youngest 5.

How did you find your calling?

Having grown up active in the church, after college I was done with church and religion in general. Then right after college, with no purpose and tired of living life on my own strength, I discovered that it was never about church and religion anyway, but about a relationship with Jesus. I invited him to be my Lord and savior and committed my life to following him. I said to him that I would do whatever and go wherever he wanted. Through prayer, reading the Bible, and counsel from other believers, I heard God say to me to be a priest. I said yes.

What other churches or ministries have you served?

Before starting Christ Church, in 2006, I was the rector of Epiphany Episcopal Church, also on the Westside of Jacksonville. Before that, I served as an associate pastor in Midland, Texas.

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'The man with the plan wins'
By Kendal Egli
Centretown News (Canada)
28 March 2008

When retired Anglican priest Garth Bulmer says goodbye, he doesn’t like to draw things out.

“Once I decided I wanted to go, I wanted to go right away,” he says, referring to his decision to end his tenure as rector of St. John the Evangelist’s church, the historic Centretown congregation, last December.

“(St. John’s) is a wonderful place and such exciting things go on there all the time,” he says, “but I just basically lost my energy and my passion to lead that community. I started having these experiences like I’d be sitting in a meeting and I’d actually grab my chair because I felt like I needed to bolt . . . When that starts happening, you know it’s time to move on.”

The 62-year-old is esteemed both locally and nationwide for his years of vibrant leadership at St. John’s, which has stood on the corner of Elgin and Somerset streets since 1891 and was once the church where Sir John A. Macdonald worshipped.

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Parishoners lament church's closing
BY CLIFF RADEL
Cincinnati (OH) Enquirer
March 28, 2008

NORTH AVONDALE – Say a prayer for St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church. But not inside the 139-year-old landmark. The church closed Easter Sunday.

“We should have been smiling and rejoicing and exclaiming, ‘He hath risen!’ ” said the Rev. Dr. Napoleon Bryant Jr., the church’s ordained deacon.

“Instead,” added the clergyman who has also has been a parishioner at the racially mixed church since 1951, “the service was as solemn as the funeral of a child.”

Officials with the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio attribute the closing to declining attendance.

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Angry Anglicans

The schism over gays
From The Economist print edition
Mar 27th 2008

SINCE Canada is a generally liberal-minded place, it is no surprise that Anglicans there are among the prime advocates of blessing homosexual unions. What was less predictable was that the conservative backlash against this attitude should be so strong. The upshot is that the country's Anglican church is breaking apart, mirroring the strife in the worldwide Anglican communion.

In 2002 the diocese of New Westminster (which includes Vancouver) became the first in the world to authorise the blessing of same-sex partnerships. Conservatives object that homosexuality is harshly condemned in several verses in the Bible. Liberals call this scriptural fundamentalism and note that being gay is not a matter of choice. In an uneasy compromise, the 1998 Lambeth Conference—a once-in-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops—declared that homosexual acts were incompatible with scripture but that gays were loved by God. In an effort to preserve unity, the communion has called for a moratorium on blessing same-sex unions.

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ANGLICAN CRISIS

A House of worship divided
Worshippers can feel caught in the middle when their congregations leave the national church
Mar 22, 2008
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star (Canada)

HAMILTON–A few short weeks ago, these Anglicans worshipped together, sharing pews and songs and looking to the same learned men before them for guidance and inspiration.

Today, they sit apart, court benches in place of pews. A judge where the pulpit might be, and the parishioners looking to different men – their lawyers – for guidance and inspiration. Affidavits and legal arguments take the place of scripture and song.

"It breaks all of our hearts," says Niagara Archdeacon Michael Patterson, spokesperson for the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, which is in a property dispute with breakaway congregations in the region.

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West Island Anglicans staying put
by Raffy Boudjikanian
West Island Chronicle (Canada)
March 20th 2008

Some Anglican parishes across Canada say they are separating from the Anglican Church of Canada over issues such as blessing same-sex unions, non-traditional prayer books or the ordination of female ministers, but counterparts in the West Island seem completely opposed to the idea.

"At present, there are no parishes that have taken the vote to leave the Anglican Church of Canada," said arch-deacon Lorne Tardy, who has responsibilities in all West Island Anglican churches.

"I have never even heard of such a congregation that even wants to discuss separation," said Rev. Karen Chalk at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mark in Dorval.

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New look

Breakaway St. Chad's will have service
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star
Mar 08, 2008

A week after locking the doors of St. Chad's Anglican Church to all parishioners, the Toronto diocese will hold services tomorrow morning at the church, which last month narrowly voted to split from mainstream Anglicanism in a dispute over same sex marriage blessings.

"We are hoping it will be an opportunity for us all to look at ourselves and how we treat each other," Toronto Archdeacon Peter Fenty said yesterday.

Services will be led by Archdeacon Paul Feheley, principal secretary to Anglican Church of Canada Primate Fred Hiltz, until a new priest can be named.

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Ground rules

Court rules for rebel Anglicans for now
Reuters
March 01, 2008

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A court on Friday ruled in favour of two conservative congregations which broke away from the Anglican Church of Canada and said they can stay in their church buildings for now.

The court battle echoes that being fought in the United States with the Episcopal Church, over whether national denominations can keep the assets of congregations that split away from the national church because they are upset with liberal positions on homosexuality and the Bible.

The decision by a court in Hamilton, Ontario, means two rebel congregations retain exclusive use of their facilities for now. They and the Anglican diocese of Niagara will return to court on March 20 to sort out a longer-term arrangement.

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TEMPORARY USE OF TWO CHURCHES
Breakaway Anglicans make gain
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
March 1, 2008

HAMILTON -- The Anglican Diocese of Niagara for the first time has been denied access to two of its local churches - albeit temporarily - after a growing divide crept into an Ontario courtroom yesterday.

An Ontario Superior Court judge rejected a bid by the diocese to hold two separate services this Sunday and next at St. George's Anglican Church in Lowville, Ont., and St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Oakville, Ont., until the courts decide who owns the properties.

Yesterday's ruling that effectively gives the congregations exclusive use of their church facilities will be in place until the parishes and diocese return to court later this month for a hearing on a longer-term arrangement for Sunday services. The bigger legal issue of who owns the properties will likely take some time to be sorted out.

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A HOUSE DIVIDED
At core of Anglican conflict, a 1,900-year-old tradition
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto (ON) Star
Mar 01, 2008

On his way to Rome to be executed for spreading Christianity, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote letters to leaders of a still-small church emerging around the ideas of Jesus Christ, crucified only decades before.

His letters spelled out what it meant to be Christian and formed the basis of the Catholic Church and, later, the Anglican Church. too. This week, some 1,900 years later, Ignatius's words are echoing in a legal battle over church property.

At issue is what it means to be an Anglican; at stake is who can claim title to three conservative churches that have voted to break away from the Anglican Church of Canada in a dispute essentially over the blessing of same-sex marriages.

For the Anglican Church of Canada, Ignatius's emphasis on loyalty to the local bishop as a defining characteristic of church membership is as important today as it was in the 2nd Century.

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Fitting rules to reality
Ross Readhead
Brantford Expositor (Canada)
March 1, 2008

Adding to the divisions arising within the Anglican Church of Canada today, a group who that calls itself the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) has made a formal request seeking "full, corporate and sacramental union," with the Roman Catholic Church.

Representing sympathetic Anglicans in 40 countries, the TAC is formed ofsome 300,000 members who have broken from the church over the ordination of women and concern regarding adopting same-sex marriages. Stressing belief in seven divinely ordained sacraments, TAC members also affirm apostolic succession, institutional tradition, and the ministry of the Pope as Peter's successor. They appear to feel that if there is not one authoritative voice to speak for the church, then everybody may have an opinion, leading to greater disunity.

Political and social institutions feel safer when bolstered by an ethical establishment, and a fixed code of belief and practice. Those who would seek their religious authority in the church often desire religious conformism and orthodoxy. They prefer to fit reality to rules and customs rather than to fit rules to reality.

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To court in Canada

Talks break down between Anglican Church and breakaway Ont. parishes
The Canadian Press
Feb 27, 2008

TORONTO - Talks between three breakaway Anglican churches in Ontario and their dioceses have failed and the two sides are headed to court in what could be a precedent-setting case over parish ownership, observers said Thursday.

Efforts to settle the property dispute between the Niagara Anglican diocese and three dissenting area congregations in southwestern Ontario - Lowville, Oakville and St. Catharines - collapsed Thursday following several days of tense negotiations.

The two sides agreed on a number of issues, but disagreed on who should maintain possession of the church properties, said Cheryl Chang, director of the Anglican Network in Canada, which supports the dissenting parishes.

The impasse ultimately means the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Hamilton, Ont., will hear arguments Friday about who should conduct Sunday's services - diocese-appointed reverends or those no longer seeing eye-to-eye with the church and seeking to go it alone.

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Anglican Church dispute with breakaway parishes heads to court
February 28, 2008
CBC News

A southern Ontario Anglican diocese and three breakaway congregations are heading to court to determine who owns the churches after a parish breaks ranks.

Attempts to settle the dispute between the Anglican Diocese of Niagara and the dissenting congregations broke down on Thursday after days of negotiations between the two parties' lawyers.

The congregations in Lowville, Oakville and St. Catharines declared their intention to separate from the church over what they described as a "breach of trust."

The two sides are expected to continue their battle at a court in Hamilton, Ont., on Friday.

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Northern exposures

Fractured Anglican groups agree to meet over split
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
Globe and Mail (Canada)
February 27, 2008

Breakaway Anglicans and the national church will sit down for a second day of discussions today in the hopes of reaching a compromise on who gets the keys to two Ontario parishes.

The Niagara diocese had served legal papers recently to gain possession of the property of St. George's Anglican Church in Lowville, Ont., and St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Oakville, Ont., where the congregations have voted to break away in a dispute over theological issues that include the blessing of same-sex unions, which they oppose. So far, 15 parishes across the country have voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada.

The diocese and the Anglican Network in Canada, which represents the dissident parishes, met for the first time yesterday to try to reach a compromise. If they don't succeed, they will be in an Ontario court on Friday.

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Breakaway parishes gird for possible legal costs
CAROLINE ALPHONSO
Globe and Mail (Canada)
February 26, 2008

A group of people in Vancouver has committed to underwrite up to $1-million for a legal fund set up by the Anglican Network in Canada to defend breakaway parishes that refuse to hand over their keys to the Anglican Church of Canada.

Cheryl Chang, a director and a lawyer for the Anglican Network, declined yesterday to disclose the names of donors.

"They haven't actually made the donation at this stage, but they have agreed that if the money is needed they will commit to underwrite it," she said. "They are a group of individuals who go to church and are interested in Christianity and are interested in groups that are willing to stand up for the gospel."

The Anglican Network was formed by conservative Anglicans who oppose a more liberal interpretation of doctrine.

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Anglicans fight over parish properties
Breakaway congregations meet behind closed doors in debate over ownership of three Ontario churches
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star (Canada)
Feb 26, 2008

Breakaway Anglicans and the national church sit down today in a last-ditch effort to resolve a potentially ugly dispute over who gets the keys to three local churches.

The three congregations, in Oakville, Lowville and St. Catharines, all voted recently to split from the Anglican Church of Canada, which they see as having become too liberal. If no agreement is reached at the closed-door session between the churches and the Diocese of Niagara, the matter goes to court Friday.

"It's not in anybody's interest for this to end up in court," said Cheryl Chang, lawyer for the breakaway churches.

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Reverend Carl Reid answers readers' questions about the Anglican split
by Marni Soupcoff
National Post (Canada)
February 26, 2008

When we published columns by the Rt. Rev. Carl Reid and Susan Martinuk about the split in the Anglican Church, we invited our readers to follow up with questions for the authors. Here, Rev. Reid answers some of these queries.

How can we Anglican Catholics claim to provide answers for the Anglican Church of Canada?

I was wondering when someone would balk at my being an appropriate person to answer questions about the Anglican Church of Canada when we have been separate for 30 years.  Of course, over those 30 years there has been a steady trickle of people longing for the beliefs of the Church in which they were raised.  When they come to us, they fill us in on the latest unhappy developments, so it is not as if we are completely out of touch in that regard.

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Anglican split not expected here
About 15 congregations have voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada.
By DEBORA VAN BRENK
London (ON) Free Press (Canada)
February 26, 2008

A flurry of disaffected congregations is leaving the Anglican Church of Canada, but the bishop representing Southwestern Ontario churches doesn't expect a split to take place here.

About 15 churches have voted to split from the Anglican Church of Canada, mostly those wanting the church to definitively reject same-sex unions.

But Bishop Bruce Howe -- who heads the Huron diocese -- which stretches from Windsor up to Tobermory through to Kitchener -- said yesterday that hasn't been the case here.

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Area Anglicans steering clear of same-sex dispute
BERNICE TRICK
Prince George Citizen (Canada)
27 February 2008

Anglicans in Prince George remain free of the dispute causing major splits in churches in southern B.C. and Ontario over the right to bless same-sex marriages.

Rev. Frank Wood of Grace Anglican Church said Anglican parishes in the Diocese of Central Interior "are staying in line with their bishop, Right Reverend Gordon Light," who is aligned with the national House of Bishops which has not agreed to allow parish priests to bless same-sex marriages. "No Anglican priest is authorized to perform the blessing at this time," said Wood.

But a few bishops across the land, believing they are not bound by any ruling, have, or are considering, giving priests permission to go ahead to do the blessings.

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The Lord giveth ...

One Anglican church in Ontario faces both theological and legal concerns
Charles Lewis
National Post
February 23, 2008

OAKVILLE -The first sign that St. Hilda's Anglican Church is under siege is a posting on its front door warning locksmiths who may arrive to change the locks to think twice. The posting says they are walking into the middle of a "legal dispute" between the parish and the Diocese of Niagara and anyone who fools with church property could be liable.

In the six days since the unanimous vote to remove itself from the Anglican Church of Canada, St. Hilda's has been visited by a delegation from the diocese demanding the keys to the building, their senior minister, Paul Charbonneau, has been suspended with pay, and the parish bank account has been frozen. The diocese has already appointed a new minister and he is expected to show up tomorrow.

"I'm not supposed to be on the church property, I'm not allowed to minister in Canada, and I am not to speak disparagingly against the bishops, other priests, or the Anglican Church of Canada," Rev. Charbonneau explained.

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BREAKAWAY CONGREGATIONS
Anglican priests get 'grace period' in diocesan rift
UNNATI GANDHI
February 23, 2008

The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia has temporarily softened its position against a pair of priests who have been suspended for leading a congregation of breakaways.

Diocesan Archdeacon Bruce Bryant-Scott wrote in an e-mail to parishioners on Thursday that he has agreed to a 12-day grace period, during which no disciplinary action will be taken against the Venerable Sharon Hayton, the rector, and Rev. Andrew Hewlett, the assistant priest, of St. Mary's of the Incarnation in the Victoria suburb of Metchosin.

Ms. Hayton and Mr. Hewlett were told a week ago to stop performing their duties "as an ordained priest."

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Local Anglican parishes not involved in vote to split
By W. Brice McVicar
Belleville (Ontario) Intelligencer

Local Anglicans won't be following in the foot-steps of seven Canadian churches who are severing ties with the national church.

Last weekend several churches in Ontario and British Columbia voted to split with the Anglican Church of Canada over same-sex marriage issues. The congregations that had decided to sever from the national church said they had grown frustrated with the liberal drift of the church on matters of same sex marriage and have a desire to hold onto more conservative mores of the traditional church.

The breakaway congregations are now being told to hand over the keys to their churches as, under Anglican Church law, parishes hold their property in trust for the local diocese.

None of the 45 parishes in the eastern Ontario diocese were involved in those votes, according to local Anglican officials.

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Back to his roots for breakaway bishop

Doctrine of church can't be changed, leader of conservative Anglican group says
UNNATI GANDHI
Globe and Mail (Canada)
February 22, 2008

It wasn't until relatively late in his career that the man now fiercely leading an Anglican breakaway group in Canada had his Robert Frost moment.

Donald Harvey, at the time in his sixth year as chaplain of Memorial University where he taught English literature and theology, got a phone call one May evening in 1989 offering him a prestigious $15,000 academic grant to pursue a doctorate in poetry.

Not even an hour later, another call. The bishop on the other end of the line was offering him a dean's position at the cathedral.

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Anglican church rift threatening to spread

Votes this weekend could lead to more defections from national leadership over same-sex marriage
The Star
Stuart Laidlaw
Feb 21, 2008

With two conservative breakaway churches refusing to hand over their keys, the Anglican Church of Canada is looking for a place for its faithful to worship this Sunday.

"We have a pastoral duty to these people," Niagara Archdeacon Michael Patterson said.

"They want assurance that the graveyard where their ancestors are buried will remain part of the Anglican Church of Canada."

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O Canada (cont.)

Breakaway Anglicans asked to hand over keys
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star (Canada)
Feb 20, 2008

Breakaway Anglicans who voted over the weekend to split with the national church over same-sex marriage are being asked to hand over the keys to their church or face legal action to have them removed from the property.

"If they don't turn in the keys, we are planning to go and physically try to take possession of the parishes by showing up and asking them for the keys," Reverend Dr. Richard Jones, secretary of synod for the Anglican church's Niagara diocese, told the Star.

Parishioners at seven churches in Ontario and British Columbia have voted to split from the national church in the past week, including two in the Niagara diocese.

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Clergy at two Anglican churches suspended
Move follows controversial votes on same-sex unions
UNNATI GANDHI
Globe and Mail (Canada)
February 20, 2008

The clergy of two Anglican churches in Ontario have been suspended with pay in the wake of several congregations voting last weekend to put themselves under the authority of a South American archbishop over theological issues that include the blessing of same-sex unions.

The diocese of Niagara yesterday informed St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Oakville and St. George's Anglican Church in Lowville that it was appointing new administrators to the parishes.

Archdeacon Michael Patterson could not be reached for comment, but in an open letter to the parishes, Bishop Michael Bird said both church buildings belong to the diocese, and that new clergy and wardens "loyal to the Anglican Church of Canada" will be placed in the churches.

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Anglican split could spread worldwide
Canadians will not be last to leave: Archbishop
Charles Lewis
National Post
February 20, 2008

The battle taking place inside the Anglican Church of Canada is a microcosm of a larger problem that could see the worldwide Anglican Communion end in division, said the South American archbishop who has been taking dissident churches under his wing.

In the past week, seven Canadian parishes in five dioceses have split from the national church and have put themselves under the authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables, head of the Province of the Southern Cone, which encompasses parts of South America. This week, the Diocese of Niagara in Ontario said it will replace the clergy at its two churches that voted to separate and went on to say that breakaway parishes "are no longer considered officially Anglican." Two ministers in British Columbia have also been suspended.

Archbishop Venables, speaking from Buenos Aires, said he is not happy about the potential for a global division, or what is happening in Canada, but he believes the worldwide Anglican Church has been on this course for more than 100 years, and he is becoming less hopeful for a resolution.

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Parish exodus accelerates Anglican rift
Gay Rites Issue
Zosia Bielski
National Post
February 18, 2008

Seven more parishes voted to officially separate from the Anglican Church of Canada this weekend, widening a rupture that opened in June after the national Church decided to support same-sex blessings.

In Ontario, St. Hilda's in Oakville and St. George's in Lowville voted decidedly to leave over the issue. In a much closer vote, the small Toronto parish of St. Chad's also voted to break off.

Two parishes in Abbotsford, B.C., voted to leave: the small Holy Cross parish and the larger St. Matthews. On Saturday, St Alban's Ottawa parish also voted to separate.

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It’s time to return to the fold
Susan Martinuk
Opinion
National Post
February 19, 2008

Last week, Vancouver's St. John's Shaughnessy, the largest Anglican congregation in the country, overwhelmingly voted to separate itself from the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC).

Since then, seven congregations across Canada have followed its lead. Another 10 opted out long ago and are considering their options. For many others, the "what to do" conversations are just beginning.

Conservative Anglicans are taking this drastic step to separate themselves from a national Church that has increasingly rejected Biblical teachings and core Anglican doctrine. The last straw was when the Church began to bless same-sex unions in 2002.

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Four choose to remain in ACPC
By Cait McIntyre
The News

STELLARTON – St. George's Church in New Glasgow is ready to break free from the Anglican Churches of Pictou County.

Meanwhile, the four other churches of the ACPC have all voted to remain with the group.
Dave Harrison, the senior warden at Christ Anglican Church in Stellarton and the chairman of the ACPC, says the remaining churches can survive without St. George's.

Part of the reason, he says, is that the ACPC used to operate with two priests, Rev. Peter Armstrong and Rev. Kathy Laskey. Rev. Laskey left last fall, but Harrison says one priest can oversee the remaining four churches without conflict.

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Secessionists move north

Anglican Church loses largest congregation
At odds over same-sex marriage
Charles Lewis
National Post
February 14, 2008

The largest Anglican congregation in the country has voted overwhelmingly to leave the Canadian Church and put itself under the authority of a parallel conservative Anglican movement -- a move that may help accelerate a schism and open the way for a nasty legal battle over Church property.

St. John's, which has more than 2,000 members in the affluent Vancouver neighbourhood of Shaughnessy, has been at odds with the Diocese of New Westminster, which lets its churches perform same-sex blessings, since 2002.

The congregation has withheld financial support from the diocese for the past six years as a protest, but now has taken the radical step of breaking off all together.

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Anglican church seeks oversight from bishop in South America
ROBERT MATAS
Globe and Mail
February 15, 2008

VANCOUVER — Moments before they decided to align with an orthodox Anglican bishop in South America, members of Vancouver's St. John's Shaughnessy Church, one of the largest Anglican congregations in Canada, attended a Bible study session.

In the latest development in a controversy that has arisen within several different religions, the conservative Anglican congregation in Vancouver voted on Wednesday evening to request episcopal oversight by Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. If accepted, the Vancouver parish would, in effect, be cut off from the Anglican Church in Canada.

The rector, Rev. David Short, talked a lot about church unity that day, Lesley Bentley, a spokeswoman for St. John's Shaughnessy, said yesterday in an interview.

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Second church set to split
Abbotsford Anglicans rebel against same-sex blessings
Darah Hansen and Chad Skelton
Vancouver Sun
February 15, 2008

Members of an Anglican church in Abbotsford are expected to become the second local congregation in a week to split from Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham over his support for same-sex blessings.

And two more Anglican churches -- St. Matthias/ St. Luke and The Church of the Good Shepherd -- in Vancouver are poised to fill out similar ballots later this month as orthodox followers openly challenge Ingham's liberal vision for the church.

"We are prepared to act on our faith," said Rev. Trevor Walters of St. Matthew's Anglican parish in Abbotsford, whose members will cast their votes Sunday.

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Split from church could mean losing property
Anglican church head warns members of possible property loss stemming from same-sex marriage issues
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 16th, 2008

TORONTO - The head of the Anglican Church of Canada has warned conservative members who split with the church over the issue of blessing same-sex unions that they will lose their church buildings and church funds.

"In our Anglican tradition, individuals who choose to leave the church over contentious issues cannot take property and other assets with them," Archbishop Fred Hiltz said in a letter released yesterday.

The letter comes two days after St. John's Shaughnessy, a large parish church in Vancouver, voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and affiliate itself with a South American Anglican church, which has a more conservative stance on homosexuality.

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St. Matthew's becomes latest church to split from the diocese
Renee Bernard
February 17

ABBOTSFORD (NEWS1130) - Yet another BC Anglican parish has voted overwhelmingly to split from its diocese over the issue of same-sex blessings.

St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Abbotsford becomes the latest parish to decide to join the conservative branch of the Anglican church.

Reverend Trevor Walters says his parishioners took no pleasure in making their decision.

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Anglican congregation votes to split from bishop

Bishop's support of same-sex blessings results in overwhelming vote to part ways
Chantal Eustace
Canwest News Service
February 14, 2008

VANCOUVER - Members of what is described as the largest congregation in the Anglican Church of Canada voted strongly Wednesday to split with Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham over his support for same-sex blessings.

"It means that the community speaks with one mind," said St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church spokeswoman Lesley Bentley, after a preliminary count showed that out of 495 ballots cast, only 11 opposed the split and nine abstained. "What it is is very uniting."

The vote means the church, which has more than 700 members, will break with Ingham and join with the conservative Anglican bishops of the Diocese of the Southern Cone, which includes Argentina and Paraguay.

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No poaching zone

Archbishop speaks out against poaching of priests
MICHAEL VALPY
Globe and Mail (Canada)
January 22, 2008

The world Anglican Communion's titular leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury, declared yesterday he won't sanction priest-poaching in Canada by branches of Anglicanism that disagree with practices of the Canadian church.

It's the first time Archbishop Rowan Williams has directly addressed what's happening in Canada despite earlier letters of protest from Canadian Anglican leaders.

But the archbishop, writing to the Canadian primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, also said he has no authority to prevent what he called "interventions and irregular ordinations" by outside Anglican churches, although he made clear he doesn't support them.

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Anglican leader blasts breakaway groups

Canadian primate also denounces recruiting efforts of South American archbishop to lure Canadians
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star
November 30, 2007

The Anglican Church of Canada is striking back at its orthodox critics.

In a statement to be read out in Anglican churches across the country on Sunday, Primate Fred Hiltz condemns the actions of breakaway members as "inappropriate, unwelcome and invalid" and "deplores" efforts by a South American archbishop to extend his influence into Canada.

"We deplore recent actions on the part of the primate and general synod of the Province of the Southern Cone to extend its jurisdiction into Canada," says the pastoral statement, also signed by four regional archbishops.

Last week, Archbishop Gregory Venables extended an invitation to conservative Canadian Anglicans to switch their allegiance from the Anglican Church of Canada to his 27,000-member church representing Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

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Canada Anglican hierarchy seeks Canterbury rescue
Nov 29, 5:52 PM

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The liberal hierarchy of the Anglican Church of Canada appealed to the archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the world's Anglicans, on Thursday to step in to resolve a battle with conservatives in Canada and Latin America over gay marriage.
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Archbishop Fred Hiltz and fellow Canadian archbishops are angered that the orthodox Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of the Americas has started giving oversight to Canadian congregations that are unhappy with churches blessing homosexual marriages.

"This action breaks fellowship within the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion," the Canadian archbishops said in a statement.

They called on Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the 77 million Anglicans globally, "to make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism."

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Breakaway Anglicans set for fight

$1 million set aside, law firm hired as property battle threatens
November 29, 2007
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star (Canada)

Canada's breakaway conservative Anglicans have a million-dollar war chest to fight pending legal battles over church property and have hired a Bay Street law firm, documents from the groups' recent meeting in Burlington reveal.

"It is possible that we could lose church properties at the end of the day," reads one of the documents, released this week by Anglican Essentials Canada. "However, that day could be very long coming."

The document is from a session on the legal implications of separating from the Anglican Church of Canada that was closed to the media. In it, lawyer Cheryl Chang says the group is confident it has sufficient resources to fight any legal battle.

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Canadian conflicts

Anglicans, archbishop up in arms over schism in church
MICHAEL VALPY
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
November 24, 2007

TORONTO -- The schism in Canadian Anglicanism turned ugly at week's end with threatened fights over ownership of church buildings, hints of swift punishment for rebellious priests and the uncrating of an alternative church structure for clergy and laity who reject openness toward homosexuals.

As conservative denomination members attending a two-day conference in Burlington, Ont., heard plans for the orthodox Anglican Church in South America to establish a parallel jurisdiction in Canada, the primate of the Canadian church announced he would issue a letter next week to be read in all Anglican parishes.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz's letter is expected to be temperate, but to explain that the head of what is known as the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of America, Archbishop Gregory Venables, has committed an outrageous wrong by trying to extend his authority into another church jurisdiction.

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Conservative Anglicans look to the Third World
Theological conservatism vs. liberalism dividing the Church
Charles Lewis
National Post (Canada)
November 23, 2007

For hundreds of years, Anglican missionaries poured out of the West to bring the word of God to those living in darkness.

But the tables have turned in recent years, as those who were evangelized are now doing the evangelizing.

In the U.S. and Canada, Anglicans who believe their national churches have abandoned the Scripture are reaching out to the Global South - the provinces of the Anglican Communion that represent most of the Third World - for spiritual comfort. The flashpoint has been same-sex blessings, but the deeper issue is one of theological conservatism versus liberalism.

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Canadian move pushes Anglicans closer to schism
New Anglican row emerges with gay blessing request
Episcopal bishops see clear statement on gays
By Janet Guttsman

TORONTO (Reuters) - Two congregations with roots in the Anglican Church of Canada have joined a bishop who abandoned the church because of its position on homosexuality, deepening divisions within the worldwide Anglican movement.

The two churches, both in British Columbia, oppose the blessing of gay marriages and will serve under a more orthodox archbishop in Argentina.

"We are sending these churches out to minister ... and help rebuild an orthodox Anglican witness in Canada," Bishop Donald Harvey said in a statement on Friday.

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Anglican Church offshoot launched

Liberal 'poison' blamed for schism
By Charles Lewis
National Post
November 23, 2007

BURLINGTON - A parallel national Anglican Church was launched yesterday amid charges by a leading theologian that the Anglican Church of Canada has been poisoned by liberalism and that is the real cause of the schism now underway.

"Schism means unwarranted and unjustified separation from the rest of the Church [structure], causing an indefensible breach of unity," said J.I. Packer, a Canadian who Time magazine called one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America. "Those who are unfaithful to the heritage are the schismatics. It is not we who are the schismatics."

Prof. Packer said the Anglican Church of Canada has been "poisoned" by a liberal theology that "knows nothing of a God who uses [the Bible] to tell us things and knows nothing of sin in the heart and in the head." He said the Church is being ruined by its attempts to "play catch-up with the culture" by adopting whatever "is the in-thing."

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Second bishop leaves church
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
November 23, 2007

South America's tiny Anglican Church yesterday offered to take under its wing Canadian Anglican congregations repelled by their national denomination's increasingly liberal acceptance of homosexuals.

At the same time, a second retired Anglican bishop - Malcolm Harding of Manitoba - said he would follow the lead of Newfoundland's Donald Harvey and quit the Anglican Church of Canada to become a bishop in the 27,000-member Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of America.

Both announcements were made at the start of a two-day meeting in Burlington of the conservative Anglican Network in Canada comprising 16 parishes.

News that Bishop Harding had defected to the ranks of a conservative Southern Cone brought the crowd to its feet.

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+Ingham blasts breakaways

Anglican gay row 'full-blown schism': Canadian bishop

OTTAWA (AFP) — A theological split in the Anglican Church over homosexuality is now a "full-blown schism," a Canadian bishop said Wednesday, ahead of the expected formation of a breakaway body.

Right Reverend Michael Ingham, whose Greater Vancouver diocese became the first Anglican jurisdiction to formally authorize the blessing of same-sex unions in 2002, accused the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of the Americas of tearing at the rip by poaching congregations in Canada.

He also blasted the South American faction for planning to ordain two deacons in his diocese in westernmost Canada next month, despite his objections.

"Over many, many centuries the rule has been that there is only one church in one geographical area, so we think it's improper" for anyone to try to set up a parallel Anglican church in Canada, his spokesman Neil Adams told AFP.

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Anglican angst

Retired Newfoundland bishop drawing attention over criticism of church
PAUL BANKS
The Telegram
November 19, 2007

Retired bishop Don Harvey agrees his religious convictions are stronger than they’ve ever been. 

In fact, Harvey says they’re so strong he’s prepared to lead some Canadian Anglicans away from the national church, in which he’s worshipped and served as a clerical leader for decades, if it continues to steer away from the gospel.

Harvey, who retired as the bishop for the Anglican Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador (Avalon and Labrador) three years ago, is a well-known orthodox Anglican senior in St. John’s who has been the subject of debate by active bishops, some concerned over his activities within the Anglican community.

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Conservative Anglicans shun Canada for S. America
By Randall Palmer
Mon Nov 19, 2007

OTTAWA (Reuters) - As more sections of the Anglican Church of Canada move toward blessing gay marriages, a group of conservative Anglicans has started pulling out of the Canadian organization and putting themselves under the authority of the main Anglican branch in South America.

The first move happened on Friday when retired Bishop Donald Harvey left the Anglican Church of Canada and became a full-time bishop of the more conservative Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of the Americas.

On Thursday, he will now outline plans to enable conservative Anglican congregations in Canada to join the Southern Cone under his episcopal oversight.

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Niagara's Anglican churches support same-sex blessings
By Jennifer Pellegrini
Niagara Falls Review (Canada)
November 19, 2007

For Ken Cardwell, news members of the Niagara Diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada have voted overwhelmingly in favour of blessing same-sex civil unions is cause for celebration.

“Personally, I think it’s a justice issue,” said Cardwell, who is officially retired but has been serving as an interim pastor in Ridgeway for the past 18 months. “I’m happy to see this come to pass.”

During the two-day annual meeting, known as a synod, in Hamilton Friday and Saturday lay-people and clergy voted 81 per cent in favour of a motion first brought up three years ago to the day, which would allow clergy to bless same-sex unions.

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Countdown in Canada

Anglican bishop expects same-sex motion to pass
MIRKO PETRICEVIC
LONDON (ONT) RECORD
October 27, 2007

It's "highly likely" Anglicans in the Diocese of Huron, which includes churches in Waterloo Region, will vote on same-sex blessings at their next decision-making meeting in the spring, the diocese's bishop says

"I can certainly say it's highly likely that something will come forward," Rt. Rev. Bruce Howe said yesterday in a news conference in London, the seat of the diocese.

When asked if he thought such a vote would pass, Howe said "My guess would be yes."

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Diocese vote asks OK for same-sex blessings
The Winston-Salem (NC) Journal    
October 27, 2007

TORONTO - A second Canadian Anglican diocese has voted to approve the blessing of same-sex marriages.

Delegates at the Diocese of Montreal’s annual synod voted Oct. 19 to request that the bishop grant permission for clergy whose conscience permits to solemnize registered civil marriages, including those between same-sex couples, where at least one party is baptized.

It also asks that the bishop authorize an appropriate rite for same-sex ceremonies and to enact regulations for their use in supportive parishes.

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A certain logic

Anglican same-sex debate not revolt: cleric
Charles Lewis
National Post (Canada)
October 22, 2007

Anyone who has followed the Anglican Church's wrangling over the blessing of same-sex unions would have a right to be confused over the events of the past few months.

In June, the general synod of the whole Church, meeting in Winnipeg, defeated a motion that would have allowed individual dioceses to decide whether their parishes could perform such a rite.

But then on Oct. 12, the Ottawa diocese voted in favour of a motion to allow parishes to perform same-sex blessings. The bishop of Ottawa is now deciding how he will act on the vote. On Friday, the Montreal synod passed the same motion.

Alan Perry, a priest at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Montreal, says that to the outsider, it would seem the local synods are thumbing their noses at the mother Church.

But Rev. Perry, an expert on canon law, said there is a certain logic to what is going on.

"This is the Anglican Church at work in all its messiness," he said in a recent interview.

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Broken wings

Canadian Move Pushes Anglicans Closer to Schism
By Paul Majendie
Reuters
October 16, 2007

LONDON (Reuters) - Faced with a bid from Canadian clerics to bless gay weddings, the worldwide Anglican Communion now faces a real risk of breaking apart over differences between its liberal and conservative wings.

"The train and the buffers are getting closer," said religious journalist and commentator Clifford Longley.

"The Anglican Church is unraveling," Longley concluded as Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams struggled to keep his global flock of 77 million Anglicans together in a bitter war of words over homosexuality.

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Approval

Ottawa Anglicans approve same-sex marriages in vote
Jennifer Green
CanWest News Service

CORNWALL -- Ottawa Anglicans approved the blessing of same sex marriages by a vote of 177 to 97 Saturday, the first diocese in Canada to support the blessings since the national church nixed them this summer.

In June, the Anglican Church of Canada made seemingly contradictory decisions when it ruled that same sex blessings do not contravene core doctrine, then refused to allow local dioceses to decide for themselves how to handle the issue of gay marriages.

Ottawa is the first diocese to broach the issue at the local level since that national meeting in Winnipeg.

The diocese of Montreal is expected to debate a similar motion at its own annual meeting, or synod, next week.

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New life

Harvey church garden grows food, hope
By Jim Hook
Chicago Sun-Times/dailysouthtown.com
July 2, 2007

Tomatoes, greens, cucumbers and peppers rise from the fertile soil of a new community garden in Harvey.

The vegetables grow alongside another tender cultivation -- hope.

"This garden has become a symbol of inspiration for people," said Rev. Rod Reinhart, pastor of St. Clement's Episcopal Church, 15245 S. Loomis Ave. "This garden gives people a message of love, order and respect for the entire community.

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Churches see their mission to care for creation
By Angela Gregory
The New Zealand Herald
July 02, 2007

Churches are urging their congregations to take action on climate change and other green issues.

Anglican, Catholic and other denominations are trying to address concerns about environmental challenges caused by global warming.

An Anglican diocesan climate change action group in Auckland is, for instance, running educational programmes on faith responses to "global climate change and the ecological crisis".

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In service of a higher power
Former Hydro One CEO finds new life in God
By LINDA LEATHERDALE, TORONTO SUN
July 2, 2007

Forgive thine enemies is what Rev. Ellie believes in.

Rev. Ellie is Eleanor Clitheroe, the Hydro One CEO who five years ago was ceremoniously fired for allegedly blowing company money on an extravagant lifestyle, including eight memberships to exclusive clubs and some $330,000 in limo rides for her kids and nanny over three years, despite having a $40,000-a-year car allowance.

Clitheroe claims Hydro One's board approved the spending, and her $30-million wrongful dismissal suit is still in the courts.

In an interview, Clitheroe says it was God who helped her through this trying ordeal that left her feeling broken and marginalized.

And so, she's now reaching out to help others, who also feel broken and marginalized.

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Teens on right path
Church program aids troubled tribal youths
By Cristina Madrid, Correspondent
Whittier (CA) Daily News
7/2/2007

WHITTIER - The second eldest of six siblings, 16-year-old Garrick Logg enjoys playing guitar and hanging out with his friends in his hometown of Holbrook, Ariz.

Taking a break from band practice, he along with 14 other teenagers from their Navajo reservation, are looking at new ways to live life without alcohol, drugs and jail in their future, said the Rev. Earl Gibson of Whittier's St. Matthias Episcopal Church.

Once a gang leader, Logg is now leading his church's youth group, which Wednesday served soup to homeless people at St. Matthias.

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Invitation lists

Gay bishop invited to Lambeth
Ruth Gledhill
Times Online
June 29, 2007

The gay American bishop Gene Robinson, whose consecration in 2003 brought the worldwide Church to the brink of schism, is to be invited to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church next summer, The Times has learnt.

The decision to include the bishop on the guest list makes a boycott by bishops of the Nigerian Church more likely.

The Times understands that Bishop Gene will be able to attend meetings as an official guest but will not have the right to vote on motions at the conference - the meeting of leaders of the world wide Anglican communion which takes place every 10 years.

Martyn Minns, bishop of the conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which is sponsored by the Church of Nigeria, remains off the Lambeth guest list.

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Nigerian man to speak tonight on being gay in his native land
Possible peril: criminalization of homosexuality
By Stephanie Innes
Arizona Daily Star
06.29.2007

The notice on the Anglican Church of Nigeria's Web site warns of a man named Davis Mac-Iyalla: Anyone relating to him does so at his or her own risk.

Mac-Iyalla, a 35-year-old openly gay Nigerian, will be in Tucson tonight as part of a 20-city tour titled "Journey of Truth" to talk about what it's like to be gay in a country that's considering criminalizing homosexuality.

That proposed Nigerian law, which would make homosexuality a crime punishable by prison, has been condemned by the U.S. State Department, the European Union and the United Nations, though it has been supported by religious bodies in Nigeria.

Mac-Iyalla says that contrary to what the Anglican Church of Nigeria claims, he's a devout believer and a faithful member of the church. He is currently living in exile in Togo because of the death threats he received in Nigeria since publicly declaring his homosexuality in 2005. His supporters say he has served as an inspiration to faithful gay Africans.

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