West Island Anglicans staying put

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

Some Anglican parishes across Canada say they are separating from the Anglican Church of Canada over issues such as blessing same-sex unions, non-traditional prayer books or the ordination of female ministers, but counterparts in the West Island seem completely opposed to the idea.

"At present, there are no parishes that have taken the vote to leave the Anglican Church of Canada," said arch-deacon Lorne Tardy, who has responsibilities in all West Island Anglican churches.

"I have never even heard of such a congregation that even wants to discuss separation," said Rev. Karen Chalk at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mark in Dorval.

According to reports in the Globe and Mail, different parishes in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario have left the Anglican Church of Canada in recent months. Some have banded together to form a new organization called the Anglican Network in Canada, whereas others have joined a South American network called the Province of the Southern Cone.

However, Tardy said it is not really possible for those parishes to leave the Anglican Church, despite what they might be saying. "Individuals can do whatever they choose to do," he explained, but in most cases, the buildings where parish services are conducted are the property of the Anglican Church of Canada, which means that they cannot change hands along with the leaving flock.

Tardy said the issues at the core of the split are not controversial in the West Island anymore. "I think the first woman was ordained in 1976 (in the Montreal diocese)," he said, explaining that female ministers are really not considered out of the norm here nowadays.

"That's certainly not an issue in my congregation," said Chalk.

As for using updated prayer books, Tardy said this has not really been a point of contention here either, as most parishes settle on using a combination of older and newer books.

"The prayer book that we use is from 1980," said Chalk, adding her congregation would like to use an even newer one.

The issue of blessing same-sex civil unions is still a thorny one in some parishes, however. Chalk said that there are no problems in her parish, but Rev. Michael Johnson of Christ Church in Beaconsfield said his parish would take the time to examine this issue, among others, during a seminar this spring called Discovery. "We've got some that are more liberal and some that are more conservative," he said of his parishioners.

This summer, Bishop Barry Clark, head of the Montreal diocese, will participate in the Lambeth Conference, which unites all Anglican bishops in Canterbury, England. Episcopal secretary Marcel Dehrtre said it would be unlikely that Bishop Clark would announce his decision on the same-sex issue before then.

Dehrtre added parishes are free to vote on whether or not they will agree to Clark's decision, as they always have been able to do on major issues. This is what parishioners in Christ Church will do, according to Johnson.