Goodbye St. Hilda’s
Anglican Samizdat reports on the sale and demolition of the former St. Hilda’s Anglican Church building in Oakville, Ontario. The congregation lost it to the Diocese of Niagara in 2012 after leaving the Anglican Church of Canada. via Anglican Eessentials Canada blog.
Related: Earlier ACL posts.
Bishop Charlie Masters at GAFCON 2013.
St. Hilda’s says goodbye to a building
“Today was our last Sunday worshipping in the building that has been known as “St. Hilda’s” for the last 53 years. A negotiated settlement with the Diocese of Niagara will result in the building being turned over to the diocese on June 1st. …”
– Anglican Essentials Canada blog reports on the last service at St. Hilda’s Oakville in Ontario.
Photo: David Jenkins. More photos here.
St. Hilda’s Anglican Church isn’t just in a theological battle
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 said 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. …
“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. …
Full story from The National Post.
From the St. Hilda’s website:
“As far as the congregation of St. Hilda’s is concerned, Pastor Paul is a man of God and, in spite of being ‘suspended’ by the Diocese of Niagara, is still our Pastor.”
(Photo courtesy St. Hilda’s Oakville.)
Accommodation is not Guidance
“On Tuesday 11th December the House of Bishops published ‘Pastoral Guidance for use in conjunction with the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith in the context of gender transition.’ Whilst sharing the desire to show pastoral care, the content of the Guidance causes me deep concern and I support the request from the Bishops of the Society of St Wilfrid and St Hilda for the reception of the Guidance to be reviewed. I note too the personal reservations expressed about it by the Chair of the House of Bishops’ Delegation Committee, The Rt Rev’d Julian Henderson, and commend the recent critiques produced by the Church Society and the Church of England Evangelical Council.
The Guidance represents a way of accommodating the request from the General Synod that the House of Bishops consider devising a liturgy for the welcome of transgender people. However, in doing so it has raised many more questions than it answers. These include:
- The appropriateness of this Guidance for the range of circumstances in which transgender issues might be raised with clergy;
- The theological underpinning for the unconditional affirmation of trans people
- The nature of the services within which the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith is to be set
- The pressure that might be felt by clergy to conduct services that would raise issues of conscience for them
- The wider implications of such services (eg where transitioning has been a factor in a family break up or where those who have requested such services subsequently request a marriage service)
- The relationship of this Guidance to the work currently being undertaken in the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) Project.
Accordingly, I would support any move to change the status of this Guidance so that it is seen as a contribution to the LLF Project, rather than a finished product of the House of Bishops.”
– Bishop of Maidstone Rod Thomas has posted this statement on this website.
Earlier: Bishop Andy Lines on the Church of England’s guidance on liturgies to celebrate gender transition.
Diocese of Niagara moves to sell vacated buildings
Anglican Essentials Canada reports that the Diocese of Niagara is moving towards selling property vacated by two Ontario congregations – St Hilda’s Oakville (vacated in May) and Church of the Good Shepherd in St Catharines.
Earlier related posts on this site.
Photo: David Jenkins.
All you need is ‘love’
Bishop Michael Bird, Anglican Diocese of Niagara, in a letter to the National Post , claims –
“… whether a man loves a woman or another man, or a woman loves a man or another woman, to God it is all love …”
– in response to this article about St. Hilda’s Anglican Church Oakville, which left the Anglican Church of Canada.
h/t the Anglican Essential Canada blog. (Photo: Diocese of Niagara.)
Ontario churches to meet elsewhere
Members of two Anglican churches are choosing not to worship in their buildings tomorrow in the wake of a court order that they share the facilities with the diocese they have left.
A Superior Court ruling on Monday required three breakaway churches to share the property Sunday mornings until ownership is decided…
– Report from The Hamilton Spectator.
See also St. George’s Lowville and St. Hilda’s Oakville. (Photo: Rev. Charlie Masters, St. George’s Lowville)
Ontario churches disappointed by decision
A press release from the Anglican Network in Canada –
A judge in the Ontario Superior Court in Hamilton, Madam Justice Milanetti, has ordered three southern Ontario Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) parishes to share their building facilities with a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada pending the resolution of a trial over who is legally entitled to exclusive possession.
Read more
Anglican Church of Canada chooses litigation over negotiation
News Release from the Anglican Network in Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops has rejected an overture from the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) to seek negotiated settlements of property disputes rather than pursue litigation.
Bishop Donald Harvey, moderator of ANiC, expressed his disappointment, and said that, while he was fully aware of the sensitivities of “diocesan autonomy” and wasn’t surprised at this response, “I had hoped the Primate would have attempted to facilitate negotiations between the dioceses and the Anglican Network parishes.” Read more
All not well in the Diocese of Niagara
“We had hoped that with the coming of our new Bishop, the church would redirect its efforts and return to its historic roots. We had hoped for a Shepherd who would care for his flock. …”
– frustration echoed in this newsletter (PDF file) from All Saints’ Niagara Falls (via St. Hilda’s Oakville). See also these comments on the state of the diocese from LC.Net/Canada. (Image: McMaster University Library.)
Parishes Grateful for Interim Court Order
A judge in the Ontario Superior Court in Hamilton, Mr. Justice James Ramsay, has ruled today that, for the next couple of weeks, the Anglican Network in Canada parishes of St George’s Lowville and St Hilda’s Oakville can retain exclusive use of their church facilities. …
– from a press release from Anglican Essentials Canada.
Diocese of Niagara: ‘Negotiations in vain’
“The Diocese of Niagara and two breakaway parishes represented by The Network entered into good faith negotiations Tuesday to reach an agreement on temporarily sharing two local Churches, St. Hilda’s in Oakville and St. George’s in Lowville, however, no agreement could be reached specifically on the issue of shared services.
The matter will now be resolved in a court hearing tomorrow…”
– Press release from the Diocese of Niagara. (Photo: Bishop Ralph Spence of Niagara.)
Competing services held at Ontario church
More than 100 members of [the Rev. Paul Charbonneau’s] flock turned out for what could be the last service he celebrates at the half-century-old building on Rebecca St. in the town’s west end. …
The Diocese parachuted in a relief reverend yesterday morning, ostensibly to preach to disenfranchised St. Hilda’s parishioners upset by the move. The only problem? There weren’t any. …
Story from The Toronto Star. See also the latest reports from St. Hilda’s Oakville.
Clergy at two Ontario churches suspended
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. …
Rev. Paul Charbonneau, the rector at St. Hilda’s, said in an interview yesterday that he intends to stay with his flock, perhaps at another venue, despite receiving a letter stating he is under discipline for “breaking the canons,” he said. …
Story from The Globe and Mail (Toronto).
See also Diocese of Niagara; St. Hilda’s Oakville and St. George’s Lowville.
(Photo of the Rev. Paul Charbonneau courtesy St. Hilda’s Oakville.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…