How many times in recent years have Anglicans heard, “This is not a Communion-breaking issue”? As Rev David A. Harris and Rev C. Peter Molloy, editors-in-chief of The Anglican Planet, note, that slogan doesn’t seem to be working as well as it used to.

The Diocese of San Joaquin has left The Episcopal Church and aligned with the Province of the Southern Cone. At its November conference, the Anglican Network in Canada announced that it, too, is aligning with the Southern Cone.

Canadian primate Archbishop Fred Hiltz has denounced the Network’s decision. What the primate has not denounced is also very revealing.

[I]f you followed mainstream media, the clergy and parishes which were most frequently mentioned came from the dioceses of New Westminster, Ottawa, and Niagara. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put these pieces together. These are three of the four dioceses that have determined to move forward with the blessing of same-sex unions contra the Windsor Report, the St. Michael Report (in any plain reading), the Canons of the Anglican Church of Canada, the latest Primate’s Communiqué and various unnamed Lambeth Statements. Niagara brought their decision in even after the most recent House of Bishops’ meeting confirmed that they would uphold the moratorium on same-sex unions. Where is the Primate’s Letter concerning the grievous error of these dioceses moving forward?

The primate’s letter did not take an even-handed approach to the problems dividing the Anglican Church of Canada. The real Communion-breaking issues were ignored.

The January 2008 issue of The Anglican Planet contains many thought-provoking articles and a wide variety of news reports. Check it out!