From the Journal:
“My first reaction was just a real sense of wanting it all to be over and crawling in a hole and pulling the covers over my head,” says Peter Gibb, the People’s Warden at St. Saviour’s Anglican Church in Victoria.
That was his feeling when a report from the diocesan transformation team recommended St. Saviour’s as one of 13 churches in the diocese of British Columbia to be dis-established and its building sold or leased. The news was not unexpected. In response to dwindling numbers of people in churches, the diocese has been discussing the necessity of such changes for a number of years.
[………]
Salt Spring Island may take some encouragement from the experience of parishioners at St. Mary of the Incarnation in Metchosin. Rev. Dr. Larry Scyner said that two years ago, the church lost 80 percent of its members when they left to join an Anglican Network in Canada congregation. “We moved from 250 members to 45,” he says. Many of the people who left had come to the church from outside the local area, which left a small but strong core group of local people left whose families have been Anglicans for generations, said Rev. Scyner. Numbers are slowly creeping back up and the congregation has been able to afford to keep him, as a retired priest, on a part-time basis as well as doing repairs and maintenance on their buildings. He and the parishioners had the impression that they would be given time to rebuild, so they were upset when the report recommended closing the church. When the transformation team met with affected clergy, Rev. Scyner said he made “a rather impassioned plea for reconsideration from the team.” The bishop spoke with him and the team altered its %e2%8recommendation.
It is instructive to note that, although St. Mary of the Incarnation in Metchosin has gained a reprieve for the moment, it was a parish on the diocese’s hit list for closure. In April 2008 Bishop Cowan changed the locks on the parish building and displaced 185 ANiC parishioners to “protect and preserve people and property” – property for which, its seems, he had little use. He also had little compunction in making the 45 remaining people go elsewhere, until the rector made a plea on their behalf:
At 7pm Friday, April 4, a St Mary parishioner discovered Bishop James Cowan of the Diocese of British Columbia supervising the changing of the locks and installation of a security system at the St Mary church building, 4125 Metchosin Rd, Victoria, BC. No notice was given to the clergy or approximately 185 parishioners who were displaced from the building they worship in and which they built and paid for.
The parish and the diocese had been engaged in a discussion regarding an amicable process to address the property issues with the assistance of Archbishop Terry Buckle. The congregation was hopeful these discussions would avoid the need for court proceedings, so the diocese’s actions came as a complete surprise.
Archbishop Terry Buckle had also offered alternate Episcopal oversight to various churches in the Diocese of New Westminster but recanted due to the threat of action by the then Archbishop Crawley prompted by the apostate bishop Michael Ingham. It is my belief that Archbishop Buckle still maintains his orthodox beliefs but I am very disappointed in his apparent failure to take a firm stand within the House of Bishops. His apparent standing back has resulted in basically supporting the action of the Diocese of New Westminster to seize the properties of orthodox parishes within the Diocese that have joined the Anglican Network in Canada.
If the House of Bishops continues in its support of apostasy and these actions, I can only advise all members of parishes within the ACoC to cease all payments for buildings and insist the various dioceses pay for the maintenance of all buildings. The current situation, at least within the Diocese of New Westminster, could result in the Diocese stealing the properties that have been paid for and maintained by faithful parishioners. Apostasy will not back off without firm action by the Primate and the House of Bishops.
So a Diocese, for any reason it chooses, can close down a church paid for by parishioners, sell the property, and pocket the cash — all without compensating said parishioners for their investment in said property. “Stealing” is not too strong a word for this.
Perhaps one of the ANiC lawyers could talk on this one:
People “donate” money to a registered charity, that being the Parish.
These people have the opportunity to vote on the budget of the registered charity, which will include expenses for the purchase and maintenance of land and buildings. No mention is ever made that these tangible assets of the registered charity belong to (or ever will) any other legal entity (the Diocese).
But these same tangible assets are now considered to be the legal property of a different registered charity.
Do the people who made the donations now have the legal right to demand their donations be returned to them as these donations have been used for purposes other than what they were told? Surely many of these people will have their tax receipts clearly indicating these donations were made to the Parish and not the Diocese. If the budgets and minutes of the Vestry meetings are held by the ACoC, than these should be subpoenaed.
Just a thought. Can anyone provide a response? Can this be done? If not, why not?
“‘We have to bite the bullet and move forward,’ says B.C. dean”
I find it quite interesting the turns of phrase that keep coming out of the ACoC. The phrase was originally coined to mean “endure the pain” and of course moving forward in the ACoC is what started the pain in the first place. Now, moving backward, as in repentence, might just eliminate the necessity and return the church to God’s great Grace.
I was introduced to the term through a magicians trick where he would stand in front of a shooter who would than fire a (supposedly) loaded gun directly a the magician who would than catch the bullet in his teeth hence Biting the bullet. Of course it is just sleight of hand. Hmmmm. I think that might be what is really happening in the on-going (supposedly) needs of this errant church, yep, a parlour trick.