Said1
02-25-2008, 07:49 PM
Anglican rift deepens as two sides go to court
PATRICK BRETHOUR
February 25, 2008
VANCOUVER -- The cracks in the Anglican Church of Canada are widening over the issue of blessing same-sex marriages, with three more congregations voting to split with the national organization over the weekend - and the two sides headed to court on Friday.
So far, the legal battle is limited to the diocese of Niagara in Ontario, where two congregations voted to break away last week and a third, the Church of the Good Shepherd in St. Catharines, followed suit yesterday. Two congregations in the diocese of New Westminster in B.C. - Church of the Good Shepherd, and St. Matthias and St. Luke, both of Vancouver - also voted to break away, bringing the total of dissident churches to 15. They have all put themselves under the authority of the Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone in South America.
That traditional branch of the Anglican church does not recognize same-sex marriages.
Beyond the theological debate that has triggered those votes is a decidedly secular question: Who gets the property if a congregation splits with its leadership?
Continued here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080225.ANGLICAN25/TPStory/National
PATRICK BRETHOUR
February 25, 2008
VANCOUVER -- The cracks in the Anglican Church of Canada are widening over the issue of blessing same-sex marriages, with three more congregations voting to split with the national organization over the weekend - and the two sides headed to court on Friday.
So far, the legal battle is limited to the diocese of Niagara in Ontario, where two congregations voted to break away last week and a third, the Church of the Good Shepherd in St. Catharines, followed suit yesterday. Two congregations in the diocese of New Westminster in B.C. - Church of the Good Shepherd, and St. Matthias and St. Luke, both of Vancouver - also voted to break away, bringing the total of dissident churches to 15. They have all put themselves under the authority of the Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Province of the Southern Cone in South America.
That traditional branch of the Anglican church does not recognize same-sex marriages.
Beyond the theological debate that has triggered those votes is a decidedly secular question: Who gets the property if a congregation splits with its leadership?
Continued here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080225.ANGLICAN25/TPStory/National