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By Jim Coggins
 THE WARDENS at two Anglican churches have taken the Diocese of New Westminster to court, after Bishop Michael Ingham moved to take control of the buildings and assets of those churches as part of the ongoing dispute within the Anglican church over the blessing of same-sex unions.
The Diocese moved to take control of the buildings and assets of St. Matthew's parish in Abbotsford and St. Matthias and St. Luke's parish in Vancouver on August 26. Ingham, with the approval of the diocesan council, also appointed new wardens and trustees to assume responsibility for the buildings and other assets.
However, the existing wardens have refused to hand over the buildings. Seventeen ministers and trustees from these two parishes, along with the St. John's Shaughnessy parish in Vancouver, took the diocese to the BC Supreme Court on September 9.
The issue at question is who owns the buildings.
The three parishes are among four that voted last February to cut their ties to the diocese and join the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). The four parishes have been in "serious theological dispute" with the diocese since 2002, when the diocese voted to offer blessings for same-sex unions.
Under Canadian law, the assets of any church or charity are not owned by the current members, since they did not contribute all of them, but are held in trust for the purposes for which the church or charity was established.
The diocese argues that the buildings are held in trust for worship by the Anglican Church of Canada. The parishes argue that the buildings are held in trust for orthodox Anglicans who still hold to the Solemn Declaration of 1893, and that the diocese is no longer entitled to the buildings since it has abandoned the orthodox theology embodied by that statement.
Joyce Lee, a lawyer and a director of the ANiC, said this admittedly puts the court in the position of making a theological judgment. However, she said, the court is not being asked to determine whose theology is correct. It is only being asked to determine whose theology is closest to the founding doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada.
There are precedents in Canadian case law for such judgments, said Cheryl Chang, chancellor for the ANiC. Those arguments were summarized in a similar case in Ontario.
Because the issues are complex, the issue would require about two weeks of court time and such a case could not likely be scheduled for at least two years, said Chang. The ANiC brought the matter before the courts at this time so that the parishes can apply for an interim declaration to solve the immediate possession issue.
The parishes are not asking the court to decide who ultimately owns the buildings now, said Chang, but only "to clarify the trustees' responsibilities until this larger question can be settled." Since the trustees "were elected by the people of the parish to safeguard the ministries and assets of the parish," they might not have the right to hand over the assets to the Diocese.
George Cadman, chancellor for the Diocese of New Westminster, told CC.com the diocese has not taken action to change the locks on the two buildings, as has been done in some other dioceses, and will file its defence to the parishes' legal action in a couple of weeks.
The diocese also wrote to the banks where the two parishes have their bank accounts, asking the banks to pass control of those accounts to the new trustees. In response, the banks have frozen the accounts so that they can be accessed by neither the parishes nor the diocese until the ownership questions are sorted out. The parishes are now operating through new bank accounts set up through the ANiC.
Chang said she hopes the court will issue the interim declaration by the end of the year and that the court will leave the parishes in control of the buildings for now. This would be in contrast to an Ontario court decision in May which required breakaway parishes to share their buildings with the Anglican Diocese of Niagara.
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The four Vancouver-area parishes use their buildings seven days a week, and it would be difficult to find alternative locations in such an expensive real estate market, said Chang. She also said the diocese has dozens of under-used buildings that it can use for its services, and it would be "ludicrous" for a court to rule that the diocese is entitled to share the buildings under dispute given that the diocese has not used them for six years now.
St. John's Shaughnessy is participating in the lawsuit because the trustees there expect that their church, as well as the Church of the Good Shepherd in Vancouver, will also be asked to hand over their buildings and assets.
Peter Elliot, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver, said action had not yet been taken against the other two parishes because it is "a time-consuming process."
Cadman said no action was taken against the other two simply because Bishop Ingham chose not to.
However, Chang charged that the Diocese had acted only against "the two smaller parishes." St. Matthias and St. Luke has average Sunday attendance of between 160 and 190, and St. Matthew's has average Sunday attendance of just over 200.
Church of the Good Shepherd is the largest Chinese Anglican congregation in Canada with Sunday attendance of over 300. The parish outgrew its building several years ago and is now leasing its building to 19th Avenue Fellowship (formerly Metropolitan Tabernacle) while leasing the larger 19th Avenue Fellowship building.
Good Shepherd also has a $2 million building fund, much of which came from a parishioner's bequest several years ago. That could also be claimed by the diocese.
St. John's Shaughnessy is the largest Anglican parish in Canada with average Sunday attendance of between 780 and 1,000.
Cadman told CC.com the diocese did not have to ask the Good Shepherd ministers and wardens to hand over their building because they are not occupying it. He noted that the lease for the Good Shepherd building, which was negotiated by the parish without the approval of the Diocese, expires in January 2009.
The diocese has appointed new ministers for the St. Matthew parish and the St. Mathias and St. Luke parish and wants to use those congregations' buildings to re-establish ACC parishes, said Cadman. He also said the diocese is not asking any parishioners to leave but only the ministers, who have "abandoned" their ministry in the ACC by joining the ANiC.
However, many parishioners might leave if the churches returned to the ACC, since a large majority in each parish voted to leave the diocese and join the ANiC. The vote at Good Shepherd was unanimous, according to the ANiC, so the diocese would be left with an empty building.
The ANiC has offered several times to seek "a negotiated or mediated settlement" regarding the parishes' assets rather than going to court.
However, the diocese has categorically refused that offer. Cadman insisted the ministers and their supporters are "trespassing" and that the only thing the diocese is willing to discuss is "the timing" of the ANiC's departure from those buildings.
Related stories:
Anglican church dispute over Bible moves into new territory in Canada
The Bible battle that has been dividing Anglicans in Canada for more than a decade is moving into new territory, with a third court battle looming in a Vancouver court. The battle over same-sex blessings specifically, and interpretation of the Bible generally, is splitting liberal and conservative Anglicans and the fight over church property ownership has already resulted in two interim court rulings - one in Ontario and one in British Columbia.
Canadian Press, August 31
September 25/2007
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