[Ed. Note: The Rt. Rev. Malcolm Harding's, (Manitoba) sudden departure from the Anglican Church of Canada to the Southern Cone and the Most. Rev. Gregory Venables, Archbishop, is a shock to the Canadians. They long expected the Rt. Rev. Don Harvey's defection last week but did not expect any other priest or bishop to follow. These two may well open the floodgates. Cheryl M. Wetzel]
http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/index.php/2007/11/24/anglicans-archbishop-up-in-arms-over-schism-in-church/#more-2469
November 24th, 2007 Posted in Anglican Network in Canada, Canada |
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.
Archbishop Hiltz is also expected to make clear that congregations that vote to leave the Canadian church wouldn’t be taking their buildings with them, a subject much discussed at the Burlington conference.
In the United States, the Anglican Episcopal diocese of Virginia is fighting 11 congregations in court over ownership of church buildings. The congregations voted recently to quit the Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Anglican Church in Nigeria.
In Canada, national Anglican leaders for the most part pointedly have made no comment on dissident activities, likely out of a desire not to polarize the issue any more than it already is.
They were caught by surprise when a second retired bishop, Right Rev. Malcolm Harding of Manitoba, announced that he would turn in his Canadian minister’s licence and join the South American Anglicans. He follows in the footsteps of retired Newfoundland bishop Donald Harvey.
And what has brought matters to a head is the South American church’s formal intrusion into Canada and the plans announced by Bishop Harvey to ordain priests in Canada.
Well-sourced reports said that Canadian priests who have been flirting - if not climbing into bed - with the South Americans and a parallel church could find themselves disciplined in the next few days by their bishops.
The executive body of the Canadian church, the Council of General Synod, issued a statement at its meeting this month asking Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, titular leader of the 77-million-member world Anglican Communion, to tell the South Americans to cease and desist.
Archbishop Williams has remained silent.
“His silence doesn’t surprise us,” a senior Anglican cleric said yesterday, speaking only for background.
“But, as you know, when you avoid confrontation, you can wind up causing confrontation.”
The senior cleric said that if, as reported in one British newspaper, Archbishop Williams was exploring the idea of recognizing parallel jurisdictions, the world church would likely be irrevocably fractured.
