Two Anglican parishes on the Sunshine Coast have taken opposite sides in a storm of worldwide debate between conservative and liberal Anglicans.
Rev. Barclay Mayo and the congregation of St. Andrew's in Madeira Park withdrew from the Anglican Church of Canada last year in protest of Bishop Michael Ingham's decision to bless same-sex couples. They joined a conservative break-away group, the Anglican Communion in Canada, which is under the authority of a Rwandan archbishop. Mayo's congregation renamed St. Andrew's Church as Christ the Redeemer, but continued to use the church buildings despite repeated requests from Bishop Ingham that they leave.
Last week, Christ the Redeemer hosted Bishop Thomas "T.J." Johnson for the confirmation of a young parishioner. Johnson is a member of the Anglican Mission in America, a similar group of conservative churches that left the Episcopal Church U.S.A. in protest after the Episcopalians ordained an openly gay bishop. Mayo said that confirmation marked the first time a foreign bishop had conducted an "episcopal act" in Canada.
Unlike the Catholic Church, where the Pope has worldwide authority, the Anglican churches in different countries are independent. Archbishops in Africa and Asia have been strongly opposed to the North American churches' move to more liberal policies on homosexuality.
Bill Course, verger of Christ the Redeemer, said that congregation "still thinks poorly of Bishop Ingham for taking the action he has taken of blessing same-sex unions."
"We don't have bad feelings about homosexuals. We would welcome them," Course said. "But we don't support blessing their unions because it's unbiblical."
Meanwhile, St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Sechelt voted last fall to allow the blessing of same-sex unions. Rev. Mark Lemon, the pastor of St. Hilda's, described this as a "defining issue."
"There is an evangelical, neoconservative wing wanting to reduce the Anglican Church to a narrow, confessionally based denomination," said Lemon. "But it's never been in the spirit of the Anglican Church to be doctrinally narrow. The founders of the Anglican Church saw what religious sectarianism can do to a society. It tears it apart."
On one level, the issue is a theological debate about the authority of Scripture and the true meaning of loving your neighbour. On a more pragmatic level, the two parties are fighting over property: who has ownership of the rustic, cedar-roofed church in Madeira Park and the next-door Brooks House. The Diocese of New Westminster has told Rev. Barclay Mayo and his flock to move out by April 1, but they don't plan to leave.
"We had an eviction notice tacked to the door, but that's not enough to move us out. We'll require a court order," said Course.
At coffee time after Sunday services on March 13, other parishioners of Christ the Redeemer echoed Course's feelings, calling the eviction order "unchristian."
"A lot of people contributed to the building and maintenance of [this church]. I kind of feel that we should keep it," said Marjory Mackay.
Her daughter-in-law, Nancy Mackay, wondered how the bishop plans to pay the hydro and insurance bills without a congregation to support the church.
"What if they sold it? Then the community would be very angry," she said.
Mackay said the congregation feels as though they are being punished for continuing to worship traditionally.
"We've never done anything wrong. We never changed," she said. "They changed, and we're taking the heat for it."
Bishop Ingham has appointed Lemon as the interim priest for St. Andrew's. But Course predicted if Lemon does take over the church, "he'll be preaching to empty pews."
Lemon said his role is to provide pastoral continuity and "make sure there is an Anglican presence" in the parish of St. Andrew's. He said there is no plan to physically evict the Christ the Redeemer congregation.
"It's a matter for the courts now," said Lemon.
Lemon said it's unrealistic for Mayo's congregation to expect to keep possession of a church building after leaving the church.
"The diocese holds title to the property . . . I think it's an open-and-shut case," said Lemon. "They need to take responsibility, to be willing to let go of the property they're in and go establish another church somewhere else."
He said it is too early to consider whether the church might be sold.
Course helped build St. Andrew's church in 1979. He said the parish grew out of the Columbia Coast Mission, which operated a mission hospital in Garden Bay. He recalls how people throughout Pender Harbour would gather by boat at the hospital chapel whenever Canon Green's boat arrived. Later, the congregation met in the local Legion hall, sharing a minister with St. Hilda's in Sechelt. The Pender congregation finally got its own church when it received a donation of land, which it sold to buy the present church property.
"The first service was Easter 1979," said Course. "The first funeral was my father's in October that year."
Course believes the diocese provided about $10,000 of the total $80,000 cost for the church.
But Lemon contends that St. Hilda's and the diocese of New Westminster "contributed mightily" to the establishment of St. Andrew's.
