The Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster has filed a protest against a retired bishop who plans to hold ordinations in the Diocese. Ingham says there is now a “full-blown schism” within the Anglican Church of Canada, following the departure from the church of a retired bishop opposed to same-sex blessings, who is leading a conference Nov. 22-23 that will offer a separate body for conservative Canadian Anglicans.
The retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Donald Harvey, who relinquished his ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada and announced his defection to the South American province of the Southern Cone Nov. 15, is also planning to perform ordinations in the diocese of New Westminster, according to Bishop Ingham
Archbishop Hiltz said that problems would arise if Bishop Harvey, who may no longer function as a cleric in the Anglican Church of Canada since he’s now a bishop in the jurisdiction of another province, chooses to exercise his ministry in Canada.
Bishop Harvey is moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, which describes itself as “a national fellowship of Canadian Anglicans who share a commitment to biblically-faithful, historically-authentic Anglicanism.”
The Network is meeting this week in Burlington, Ont., where it will unveil its plans for conservative Anglicans, unhappy with what they consider to the national church’s liberal views on homosexuality
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The Council of the General Synod issued a statement earlier this month urging the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, “to make clear that such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism and are in contravention of the ancient and continuing traditions of the Church. They aggravate the current tensions in the Anglican Communion.”
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Update.
Globe & Mail – ‘Full-blown schism’ in church, Anglican bishop says