The National Post interviewed newly elected Canadian Archbishop Fred Hiltz on the future of the Anglican Church in Canada. In the interview he said that disagreement over whether to bless same-sex unions could result in a split in the Canadian Province of the Anglican Communion.
Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, said in an interview with the National Post that the Church may eventually have to face the fact it will never find agreement on the contentious issue. But, he said, some in the Church will not be able to live with same-sex blessings happening anywhere under the Anglican name and will leave.
“There may come a point we have to acknowledge that and respect their decision. It’s not what any of us want, but it’s what happens sometimes. If they feel they cannot stay and withdraw other parishes with them, obviously it’s a sad moment for the Church. But I also think at that point you don’t fight. You don’t fight. You have to acknowledge the situation, acknowledge the pain, acknowledge the brokenness. It’s the kind of stuff that drives the Church to its knees.”
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My own personal position is that there’s an urgency in many places where it would be appropriate for parishes to move ahead on blessing same-sex unions,” Archbishop Hiltz said.
“The reality is, in the office I hold now, my task is to hold the Church together in a conversation, so we arrive at some conclusion. But my sense is that over this particular issue we may have to acknowledge that we’re never going to find consensus, we’re never going to reach a position where we all agree that this is the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do.”
Archbishop Hiltz added: “In the final analysis, the real challenge may be to learn how to disagree with grace. How can we remain a church in which we have huge theological differences? There’s a huge challenge there.”
Read it all here.
As to the question of property and the Anglican Church in Canada it is reported that all but 2 churches… are governed by the *Church Temporalities Act*s of the various provinces (most of them initially passed in the reign of Queen Victoria). those acts explicitly define the wardens and incumbent of parishes as a corporation with perpetual succession, and subdivisions of their respective dioceses.