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  ANiC Newsletter: April 15, 2008
... pdf version
    

April 25-26 “Compelled by Christ’s Love” conference registration
Registrations are coming in nicely, all speakers are confirmed, and the finishing touches are being made. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so quickly so that we can better plan our catering requirements. The deadline is April 21. Registration is $125 for the two day conference, including some meals. If you have registered and paid but haven’t yet received a registration confirmation, please contact Zenia as soon as possible. If you register online using PayPal, you can be more certain of meeting deadlines. For conference information, see our website.


Bishop Don writes to the House of Bishops
Bishop Don has written to the Anglican Church of Canada’s (ACoC) bishops, who are meeting this week, asking for a meeting of representatives from the ACoC and ANiC to discuss alternatives to litigation. He says, “I think we can all agree that such litigation has been damaging for the mission of the church and is a poor witness to the very people with whom we are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, neither the Anglican Church of Canada (ACoC) nor ANiC will end up a “winner” in the courts and we will both find our mission hindered by the distraction and cost of such litigation.” Please pray with us for amicable discussions and alternate dispute resolution mechanisms. The Anglican Journal reports that the bishops decided to discuss the issues of sexuality and realignment behind closed doors.


Membership choice
Thanks to everyone who responded to our request to let us know how you wish your Network membership designated under the new structure – as an ANiC membership or a AEN membership. Please note that you can join ANiC or transfer between AEN and ANiC after the April 21 requested reply date. However, your prompt responses will help us organize our records. Finally, please let us know if you change your email address – either by emailing membership@anglicannetwork.ca or simply replying to an email from us.


Parish developments
Vancouver Island – St Mary’s
After Bishop James Cowan of the Diocese of BC personally supervised the changing of the locks at St Mary of the Incarnation late on Friday April 4, the parish successfully sought an injunction. The judge’s short-term order allowed parishioners exclusive use of their building and instructed the diocese to turn over the keys and instructions to the security system. St Mary’s was given four weeks to apply for a longer term order – much like the situation with our Niagara-area churches. The diocese is able to apply to set aside the order on two days notice
On the StandFirminFaith blog, Sarah Hey, in discussing the St Mary saga, says we shouldn’t be surprised when bishops of the establishment churches behave in unethical ways. She says we have four years of precedent (more in the Diocese of New Westminster).

Toronto – St Chad’s
St Chad’s wants all our members and friends in the Toronto area to know that ANiC has a parish in the Toronto area that would welcome a visit. St Chad’s continues to worship at 11am Sunday’s at the Toronto Heritage Adventist Church, 24 Innes Avenue, Toronto.

Niagara – St Hilda’s, St George’s (Lowville) and Church of the Good Shepherd
We are still awaiting the judge’s decision regarding whether the three parishes will be allowed continued exclusive use of their properties while the decision of ownership is being decided.


Media coverage of Anglican Network in Canada
Victoria Times Colonist – April 5 2008 – Rebel Parishioners locked out of
Metchosin… church

Victoria Times Colonist – April 6 2008 – Court Restores Access for Anglican Rebels
Victoria Times Colonist posted our news release on their website
Canwest News – April 6 2008 – Judge orders Vancouver Island church open to
breakaway parish

Canadian Press – April 6 2008 – BC… judge orders… diocese to let parishioners
use church

The National Post – April 7 2008 – Anglican rebels regain church
Catholic Insight – April 2008 – Anglican doldrums and Catholic ecumenists
Globe and Mail – April 7 2008 – Top BC court order lets parishioners back in church
Victoria Times Colonist editorial – April 8 2008 – When churches lose their way
Victoria Times Colonist letters to the editor:
The Venerable Sharon Hayton – St Mary’s aligned with majority of Anglicans
Greg Robinson’s letter – Real issue is secularization of Anglican Church
David Stocks – Churches slow to accept change
John Cribdon – Female priests also once derided by Anglicans
Anglican Planet – April 2008 – profiles ANiC parishes
Anglican realignment begins in BC, parishes leave ACC: Canada’s largest Chinese Congregation votes unanimously to leave
More realignment in Niagara, Ottawa and Toronto: Court gives temporary rights of property to parish against diocese


Catholics discouraged from ecumenical ties with liberal Anglicans
The Catholic Insight, in an April 2008 article, encourages ecumenical talks exclusively with Anglicans upholding traditional Christian doctrines – rather than with “post-modernist secularizers among Western Anglicans”. The article, which discusses the crisis in the Church in Canada, says the Anglican Communion has tried to be “all things to all people” and “
…has separated itself from classical Christianity both in Canada and in the American- European world. Although, on the surface, the question is over same-sex unions, the deeper problem is that over the last 50 years the Anglican Communion has abandoned the understanding of Christian moral teaching, together with adopting an ever more liberal interpretation of Scripture. As a consequence, the once two million members of the Anglican Church in Canada of the mid-nineteen-sixties, have shrunk to fewer than half a million in 2008.”


News shorts – Canada
At its synod, April 4-6, the Diocese of Saskatoon narrowly defeated a same sex blessing motion – 41 opposed, 38 in favour and four abstained.


News shorts – USA and North America
The
Diocese of Ohio abruptly changed tack and began litigation against five parishes that had voted to realign out of the TEC in 2005. This is a break from what had been amicable negotiations. Suspicions have been raised that it was pressure from the TEC and the Presiding Bishop that caused its sudden change. In a Cleveland newspaper story, CANA Bishop Martyn Minns has called the TEC’s choice to sue rather than negotiate “…"a national effort on the part of the Episcopal Church to basically crush any dissenting voice."

Virtueonline reports that the Bishop of Florida, Samuel Howard, fired 22 priests – all of whom had challenged the Episcopal Church on issues related to sexuality and on the abandonment of the authority of scripture. The article stated that “…most of the priests have entered into formal association with Continuing Anglican jurisdictions that are orthodox in faith and morals.” Here is the Jacksonville Times-Union’s story.

The TEC presiding bishop has inhibited the
Right Revd Edward H MacBurney. This inhibition comes just four days after the death of Bishop MacBurney’s son. Bishop MacBurney is the retired Bishop of Quincy. Our Common Cause Partner, Forward in Faith responded with this news release explaining the circumstances and pointing out the hypocrisy of the TEC’s actions. The Presiding Bishop has since temporarily lifted the inhibition to all Bishop MacBurney to officiate in his son’s funeral.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori emailed TEC bishops April 8 polling them on whether to hold an extraordinary meeting in May. The purported purpose of this meeting is to deal with deposing Bishop Bob Duncan. The Living Church says that, “According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, David Booth Beers, chancellor to the Presiding Bishop, recently sent an e-mail to about two dozen Pittsburgh Episcopalians explaining that Bishop Jefferts Schori was not “seeking approval to proceed; rather, she seeks the mind of the House as to when to proceed” with a vote to remove Bishop Duncan.”

Bishop Michael Smith (North Dakota) writes his diocese explaining from Scripture why he will not licence a priest who identifies herself as a partnered lesbian, and thus violates the diocese’s policy of “Faithfulness for those called to marriage and abstinence from sexual relationships for those not called to marriage.” He say’s, “The diocesan policy I uphold is not one of my own invention or devising. Rather, it is the teaching of the Church for 2,000 years as derived from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. It is based on the order of creation as recorded in Genesis and reasserted in the Gospels when Jesus says: “From the beginning of creation ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’” (Mark 10:6-8).”
Two diocesan standing committees – Western Louisiana and South Carolina – have now issued statements that they do not recognize the disposition of Bishops Cox and Schofield since TEC canons were not followed.


News shorts – International
Read Bishop Martyn MInns thrilling account of God’s working in the Church of Nigeria. He says in part, “Their church is alive and growing, they are planting individual churches and complete dioceses, people are giving, lives are being transformed and nobody seems surprised.” As examples, he tells us:
“…they created eighteen new missionary dioceses (with) all of the resources to start these new dioceses... already in the bank.”
“…(T)he seventeen missionary dioceses they created last year have already planted more than three hundred congregations and no one seems surprised.”
“…the Church of Nigeria now has sufficient funds in its endowment fund that they no longer need any of the dioceses to pay any assessments. The Primate announced that the Province has enough income from the endowment to cover all of its operations. Each diocese is now encouraged to use the funds that they formerly passed along to the Province to plant more churches and create more new dioceses.”

The Primate and House of Bishops of the Anglican Province of Brazil issued a statement published by the TEC condemning Archbishop Greg Venables’ visit to Recife at the end of March. Chris Sugden reports that Archbishop Greg, together with his wife Sylvia and Bishop Bill Atwood, visited parishes and outreach projects and were present for the diocesan synod. The Diocese of Recife and Bishop Robinson Cavalcanti were excommunicated by the Province of Brazil in 2005 due to their orthodox stand. Archbishop Greg responded at the time by accepting Bishop Cavalcanti and the clergy under this authority. Last November, at its synod, the Church of the Southern Cone voted to permanently include Recife as part of the Southern Cone.

Leanne Larmondin, editor of the Anglican Journal, has written an instructive account of the Church in Sudan. It provides a good reality check for relatively affluent Canadian Christians.


Archbishop of Canterbury legitimizes implied accusations
A statement out of the Anglican Communion office, titled “Archbishop of Canterbury condemns recent violence against lesbian and gay people”, quotes the Archbishop of Canterbury condemning such violence and concludes, “I hope that this latest round of unchristian bullying will likewise be universally condemned.” The violence, reported by Changing Attitudes, was said to have occurred in Nigeria. Their news release insinuates that this violence was somehow linked to the stand taken by orthodox Anglicans – especially GAFCON organizers and the Church of Nigeria. See analyses from David Virtue, Peter Ould, Greg Griffins. The Archbishop’s statement is puzzling and concerning both because it could be seen as supporting Changing Attitudes’ baseless and harmful smears and because it highlights the Archbishop of Canterbury’s deafening silence regarding the daily threats, intimidation, legal attacks and heavy-handed, autocratic and uncanonical bombardment endured by orthodox Anglicans in North America.


Just for laughs
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” - Mark Twain


Food For Thought
If the going gets easy, you may be going down hill
A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor
Failure is the path of least persistence


Prayer requests
Please pray for
GAFCON: For all aspects of the arrangements; for the security issues; for those in leadership; and that visas would be obtained by those planning to attend.

Please also pray for our
ANiC conference which is just over a week from now.

Please pray for our parishes facing legal action –
St Mary’s (Victoria), St George’s (Lowville), Church of the Good Shepherd (St Catharine’s) and St Hilda’s (Oakville). Pray for God’s will to be done in the court decision (expected any day) which will have such an affect on the three Niagara-area churches.

For the primate and bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada that they would choose to pursue amicable negotiations with ANiC rather than continue litigation.

For ANiC and AEN clergy and their wives who are recovering from surgery: both
Archie and Barbara Pell and Ceri Hynes (wife of AEN clergy member, the Rev Howard Hynes).

Don’t forget the Common Cause Partners cycle of prayer.


And now a Word from our Sponsor…
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Proverbs 21:1


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