Manitoba parish votes to join ANiC
The congregation of St Bede’s Anglican Church in Kinosota, Manitoba voted overwhelmingly yesterday, October 15, to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishops Donald Harvey and Malcolm Harding of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …
– Full press release at the Anglican Network in Canada.
Invitation to CofE members to support Vancouver churches
Members of the Church of England have been invited to express their support for the Anglican Network in Canada parishes, including St. John’s Shaughnessy, where David Short is Rector.
The petition, and background information, is available at this link. The actual petition reads:
We, the undersigned, as active clergy and lay members of the Church of England, stand with those parishes in Vancouver that are part of the Anglican Network in Canada, affirming that they are authentically Anglican.
Australian readers (who therefore cannot sign this petition) are urged to continue in prayer. Formore information, please see the St. John’s website.
(Photo: David Short and James Packer at St. John’s Shaughnessy.)
The great Anglican divide
While about 20 parishioners pray under the old wooden beams of the church, most of the congregation is farther south…
Last February, most of the St. George’s congregation broke away from the umbrella of the Niagara Diocese, citing creeping liberalism in the Anglican Church of Canada… This weekend, the congregations of two more churches – one in Ottawa and one in Hamilton – voted to join the Anglican Network in Canada.
– Report from The Hamilton Spectator in Ontario. (Photo: St. George’s Lowville.)
Two more Ontario parishes join Network
The congregations of St George’s in Ottawa and the Church of St Peter in Hamilton both voted with overwhelming majorities today to come under the episcopal oversight of Bishop Donald Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and under the Primatial authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
The two congregations demonstrated strong unity in making these decisions. At St George’s the vote was 130 in favour and 27 opposed, while at St Peter’s, 42 voted in favour and one was opposed. Attendance at both parish vestry meetings was unexpectedly high. …
– See the full press release from the Anglican Network in Canada.
(Photo: St. Peter’s Hamilton.)
Another church votes to join ANiC
St. Aidan’s Anglican Church in Windsor, Ontario, Joins the Anglican Network in Canada.
“At a special vestry meeting held earlier today, St Aidan’s became the 19th ANiC parish and the 11th former Anglican Church of Canada parish to vote to join ANiC this year. The vote was:
- 109 In Favour
- 0 Against
- 0 Abstained. The vote was unanimous.”
– from the St. Aidan’s website. The ANiC has issued this press release.
Canadian primate seeks faceoff with ‘rival leader’
“The head of the Anglican Church of Canada wants a face-to-face meeting with his South American counterpart, who earlier this year claimed jurisdiction over 10 Canadian congregations in a growing split over same-sex marriage blessings. …
Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, however, says he would find it ‘difficult’ to attend such a meeting.”
– Report from The Toronto Star. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney.)
Letter from the Trustees of 4 Vancouver churches
“As Trustees and members of ANiC, we have repeatedly invited the diocese and its representatives to sit down and negotiate a resolution with us on the matters in dispute. We have sought alternative resolution methods through the House of Bishops in Canada and again with all the dioceses involved. Every attempt has been refused…”
– The trustees of St. John’s Shaughnessy, Good Shepherd Vancouver, St. Matthew’s Abbotsford, and St. Matthias & St. Luke’s Vancouver write to their Congregations. Read it all at the St. John’s Shaughnessy website.
Canadian Primate aims to stop Venables
Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has asked Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to facilitate a meeting between him, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil Archbishop Mauricio de Andrade and Anglican Province of the Southern Cone Archbishop Gregory Venables to discuss cross-border interventions. …
Hiltz, Andrade and Jefferts Schori have repeatedly asked Venables to stop intervening in the internal affairs of their provinces.…
– Report from Episcopal Life Online.
Related: This 35 minute video: Conversation with Archbishop Venables, from August 2nd, is worth watching.
Vancouver parishes ask for clarification
Four Vancouver-area Anglican Network in Canada parishes are asking the courts to clarify their trustees’ responsibilities in response to hostile action taken by a diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada.…
– Press release from the Anglican Network in Canada – via VirtueOnline.
Anglican Network in Canada: Open letter to Primates
5 September 2008
Open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates of the Anglican Communion
After consulting with my Primate, Archbishop Gregory Venables, I report with great sadness that two Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) churches under my jurisdiction – St Matthews (Abbotsford, BC) and St Matthias and St Luke’s (Vancouver, BC) – received letters on 26 August 2008, informing them that the Bishop of New Westminster had taken action on 10 July 2008 to seize control of those parish properties. The letters also notified the wardens, trustees and parish councils that Bishop Michael Ingham had dismissed and replaced them and ordered the clergy to vacate the church buildings by mid-September. It is clear that our other two ANiC parishes in Vancouver, St. John’s Shaughnessy and Church of the Good Shepherd, will receive the same action in the near future.
This is the fourth Canadian diocese to act in this way against ANiC churches which have come under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. …
– Read the full letter from Bishop Don Harvey, Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada as a 48kb PDF file (direct link).
See also our earlier stories –
New Westminster takes steps against Southern Cone clergy.
New Westminster moves to seize control of ANiC parishes.
St. John’s Shaughnessy responds to New Westminster.
New Westminister letters to parishioners.
Vancouver Magazine on St. John’s Shaughnessy
“On a Sunday morning earlier this year, hundreds of Anglicans pour through the doors of St. John’s Shaughnessy Church. The stately grey building at the corner of Granville and Nanton is home to a well-heeled and diverse congregation: parents with a clutch of teenage sons, elderly women in wheelchairs, youthful couples.
Sitting near the front with her husband is soft-spoken, 72-year-old Gail Stevenson, who has attended the church her whole life. Closer to the back, sitting all by himself, is 46-year-old Steve Schuh. Many of the parishioners sit in the same pew week after week—pews that may soon be pulled out from under them. …”
– Jonathan Graham at Vancouver Magazine reports on the challenges facing St. John’s Shaughnessy and like-minded churches in that city. (Hat tip: Ed Hird.)
St. John’s Shaughnessy responds to New Westminster
From St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver –
The Diocese of New Westminster (DNW) initiated action against St. Matthew’s Abbotsford and St. Matthias – St. Luke Vancouver on August 26th and is seeking to take over governance of the parishes. We are deeply disappointed by this action as it fails to recognize:
- repeated attempts by the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) parishes to seek dialogue before litigation;
- repeated statements from the Primate of Canada that any such action will damage the public witness of the church;
- repeated calls from the Anglican Communion to refrain from such hostile action
It is a sad irony that the Diocese invoked Canon 15 on the same day that the Archbishop of Canterbury released his Pastoral Letter to all Bishops of the Anglican Communion reflecting on the recent Lambeth conference saying: Read more
New Westminster moves to seize control of ANiC parishes
From the Anglican Network in Canada
On August 26, 2008, the Anglican diocese of New Westminster informed St. Matthew’s in Abbotsford and St Matthias and St Luke’s in Vancouver that the bishop had dismissed the parish Wardens and other officers (Trustees) that were duly elected by the congregation and appointed new Wardens who are more “loyal” to the bishop. According to their press release, these actions were taken to regain “control of the parishes”, which includes control of the properties and buildings. Read more
New Westminster takes steps against Southern Cone clergy
“The Diocese [of New Westminster] has taken steps under Canon 15 towards removing clergy who have left the Anglican Church of Canada rather than accepting the decisions of the Diocesan Synod and General Synod.
The Diocese has invoked the provision that returns control of the parishes to the Diocese, an action that was approved by Diocesan Council.
The parishes are St. Matthew’s Abbotsford and St. Matthias and St. Luke, Vancouver…
No steps have been taken at present at Good Shepherd, and at St. John’s Shaughnessy, Vancouver, two other parishes where former diocesan clergy remain who have left the Anglican Church of Canada…”
– from the Diocese of New Westminster. A press release (pdf format) may be found here.
Church denied leave to appeal
Anglican Network in Canada, 11 July 2008:
Today, a judge of the BC Court of Appeal, Madam Justice Rowles, denied a request by the congregation of St. Mary of the Incarnation in Metchosin (St. Mary’s), for leave to appeal an earlier decision related to use of their church building. Read more
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…