The Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) has followed through on its plans to set up an alternative Anglican structure for theological conservatives "who find themselves unable to stay in the Anglican Church of Canada but want to stay connected to the Anglican Communion."

At its conference Nov. 22-23 in Burlington, Ont., the ANiC made a formal offer to provide "alternative episcopal oversight" to Anglican parishes in Canada.

Photo: Sue Careless  

That oversight will be provided by retired Canadian bishop Donald Harvey, who is now a bishop with the Southern Cone, a South American province of the worldwide Anglican Communion under the authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables (right).

At the conference, which 280 people attended, it was announced that a second retired bishop, Malcolm Harding, formerly of the Manitoba diocese of Brandon, has also become a bishop in the Southern Cone. He will assist Harvey, particularly in Western Canada.

Both Harvey and Harding have relinquished their licences to exercise ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada. They were received as bishops of the Southern Cone just prior to the conference.

The ANiC grew out of a movement that began in 2002 after the Diocese of New Westminster approved the blessing of same-sex unions. However, conservatives say the primary issue is not homosexuality but biblical faithfulness.

Outline of the new structure

At the conference, the ANiC established a seven-person executive and a budget of $130,000 to carry the organization until March 1, 2008, by which time a full denominational structure will be in place. That structure will start with an annual budget of $750,000, and its first General Synod will be held in November 2008. A celebration marking the beginning of the new structure will be held in the Vancouver area April 25-27, at which Archbishop Venables of the Southern Cone is scheduled to officially welcome the Canadian parishes that wish to join his province.

The ANiC is asking the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) for 90 days of grace in which parishes can consider the issues and freely choose whether to move from the ACC to the ANiC without being pressured or harassed by the denominational hierarchy.

Two congregations have already formally joined the new structure. St. John's in Richmond, BC is an 80-member congregation that started in 2005 and was never part of the ACC. Church of the Resurrection in Hope, BC was started after Archie Pell, rector of Christ Church in Hope, was dismissed by New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham. Most of the congregation chose to follow Pell in starting a new church.

Other parishes may take longer to decide. St. John's Shaughnessy Church in Vancouver, one of four parishes still in the Diocese of New Westminster which have not paid dues to the ACC since 2002, has not yet made a decision on its future, though its rector Rev. David Short is a member of the ANiC executive. "It is a congregational decision. We need to do it in unity, carefully and prayerfully," Short told the media. A vestry meeting will be held in February.

One of the complicating factors is that most church buildings and other financial assets are held in the name of a diocese, and parishes which choose to accept the ANiC option may have to leave their buildings behind, as the dozen or so churches of the Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC), which left the ACC three years ago, had to do.

However, representatives of the ANiC said they have "a very good legal case to make." They have assembled a volunteer legal team and a $1 million legal defence fund.

"Our view is that we haven't moved anywhere, but that the Diocese of New Westminster and the ACC are moving away from the Anglican Communion and biblical teaching," Short said. On that basis, Short said parishes that choose to accept the ANiC option "are willing to defend our properties." However, his "great hope" is that it will not come to that and that the parishes will be able to reach an "amicable agreement" with the ACC. "We don't want to do anything that would harm the reputation of Christ," he said.

Clergy who leave will also lose their pension plan and other benefits, although part of the pensions are protected, and the ANiC plans to have an alternative benefits package in place by March 1.

Short said there will be a cost for those choosing the ANiC option but it will be far less than the intangible costs of not making a decision, in terms of "the coherence of our witness, and the freedom to proclaim the gospel and be part of the Anglican Communion."

Bishop Ingham has said that the ACC can tolerate a wide variety of theological opinions but it cannot tolerate schism, the setting up of an alternative church.

However, renowned theologian James I. Packer told the ANiC conference, "Schism is always a sin, but realignment may become a duty."

"Those who are unfaithful to the heritage are the schismatics," Packer told the National Post. "It is not we who are the schismatics."

The Primates’ Council, composed of the archbishops who head the 38 Anglican provinces around the world, have been demanding that the ACC and the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the USA cease their support for homosexual unions. However, since both the ACC and TEC have refused to change their positions, Anglican provinces in the southern hemisphere have begun offering "alternative episcopal oversight" to conservative parishes in North America. Last December the Diocese of San Joaquin voted to leave the Episcopal Church and join the Province of the Southern Cone under Archbishop Venables (see page 1).  

Short said the current development is "a temporary interim measure so we can move ahead with ministry while the global Communion continues to deal with this issue."

The ACiC is already under the jurisdiction of the African province of Rwanda and therefore is not likely to join the ANiC. However, both groups say they are "in full fellowship" with each other, and the ACiC had representatives at the ANiC conference.

The ACiC and the ANiC and eight other groups have joined together in the Common Cause Partnership, which met in Pittsburgh at the end of September and agreed to work toward some sort of joint organization over the next 15 months.

The partners hope to come together to form a "parallel province" recognized by the worldwide Anglican communion alongside the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church. And if the ACC and TEC continue to defy the worldwide Anglican Communion on issues such as same-sex blessings, the new province may become a "replacement province," with the ACC and TEC expelled from the worldwide Communion.

Jim Coggins is Associate Editor of B.C. Christian News/  www.canadianchristianity.com.

For further developments see Primate’s letter.