The British Columbia Court of Appeal has handed a defeat to the breakaway congregations in the Diocese of New Westminster, giving trusteeship of the property of four breakaway parishes to the diocese. However, the court rejected the diocese’s plea that it be given control of a multi-million dollar bequest made to one of the parishes.
The “Anglican ministry in Canada is ‘as defined by the ACC [Anglican Church of Canada]’,” Justice Mary Newbury held in a decision released on Nov 15, citing statements by the Archbishop of Canterbury that the only official Anglican body in Canada was the ACC.
While the court’s ruling advances the diocese’s campaign to regain control of the congregations, it may come to haunt the ACC and its relations with the wider Anglican Communion. The court’s summary of facts states the Canadian church has authorized same-sex blessings, appearing to contradict claims made by Archbishop Fred Hiltz to the Anglican Consultative Council in July that the ACC’s general synod had not done so.
The court held the “ACC is autonomous and doctrinal change is a matter for the General Synod. That body has chosen to permit same-sex blessings, albeit in the rather unenthusiastic wording of the 2007 [general synod] resolution, and the Bishop and Diocesan Synod of New Westminster have chosen to pursue the matter to the extent they have – despite the opposition of many of their parishioners,” the court stated.
The court questioned whether this decision to forge ahead with gay blessings was wise.
“Presumably the Bishop and the Synod [of New Westminster] have chosen to take the risk that the policy allowing same-sex blessings will indeed prove to be ‘schismatic’; or that clergy in the Diocese will for the foreseeable future find themselves ministering to vastly reduced or non-existent congregations.”
But that “is their decision to make in the structure that the Anglican Church takes in Canada,” the court ruled.
In finding for the diocese, the court said it looked to trust and canon law. “The purpose of the trusts on which the parish corporations hold the church buildings and other assets is to further Anglican ministry in accordance with Anglican doctrine, and that in Canada, the General Synod has the final word on doctrinal matters.”
The court added that it was not saying the breakaway parishes were “not in communion with the wider Anglican Church – that is a question on which I would not presume to opine. I do say, however, that members of the Anglican Church in Canada belong to an organization that has subscribed to ‘government by bishops.’ The plaintiffs cannot in my respectful opinion remove themselves from their bishop’s oversight and the diocesan structure and retain the right to use properties that are held for purposes of Anglican ministry in Canada.”
In its second ruling, the court dismissed an appeal lodged by the diocese that held that moneys left to Good Shepherd Church to support the Chinese Anglican community in Vancouver should go to the diocese. The court noted that as nearly all Chinese Anglicans in Vancouver had quit the ACC for ANiC, “making the funds available to the ANiC congregation would come closest to fulfilling Dr. Chun’s charitable intent.”
The ruling effects four congregations including St. John’s Shaughnessy Church, the largest Anglican parish in Canada with nearly 1,000 parishioners.
In a pastoral letter to his diocese dated Nov 21, Bishop Michael Ingham said “no one should have to choose between their faith and their church. I invite you all to join with me in the work of healing and reconciliation, mutual forgiveness and forbearance, so that we may move forward together in humility with God’s grace.” He hoped the four congregations would “remain in communion with Canadian Anglicans” and “stay in the churches where they worship” while he worked with them to appoint clergy loyal to the diocese.
Extract from The Church of England Newspaper.Nov 26, 2010
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