Anglican parish votes to become Roman Catholic
CALGARY, AB – A century-old church has become the first–and possibly the only–Anglican Church of Canada parish to accept Pope Benedict XVI's invitation to Anglicans worldwide to join the Roman Catholic Church.
In late November, the 70 parishioners of St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church voted 90 per cent in favour of accepting the offer. It is one of the few remaining Anglo-Catholic parishes within the Anglican Church.
“We're really conscious that we're a dying breed, as the Anglican Church continues to evolve and its theology departs farther and farther from...the Catholicism aspect of the Anglican Church," says rector's warden Richard Harding.
While most Anglo-Catholics left in the 1970s rather than accept the ordination of women as priests, St. John's remained part of the Diocese of Calgary. Harding says a succession of bishops assured the congregation they would not impose on them a female rector.
But even that could not trump their yearning for the unity of the Body of Christ.
“Anglo-Catholic parishioners," says Harding, “have been stating the creed, 'I believe in the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.' If you mean it, then it somehow has to include Rome."
St. John's will stay with the diocese until the Vatican announces in the next few months the formation of an Ordinariate (or non-geographical diocese) for Canada, which will receive those Anglo-Catholic clergy and laity wishing to convert to Roman Catholicism.
That includes the 27 parishes of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, which was formed after the split with the Anglican Church of Canada.
And that may be it for now, says Thomas Collins, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto and the official liaison with the Anglo-Catholic community. “Once people get to see how [the Ordinariate] is operating, then I think it will over time grow somewhat," he says. “The number is really irrelevant."
At the same time, St. John's will be negotiating its exit from the diocese. One likely sticking point could be over who owns the church's property. Constructed in 1911, the building is both a municipal and a provincial historical site.
Archdeacon Barry Foster, the diocese's executive officer, declined CW's request for an interview. “While we're going through conversations with [the parish], we won't have any more conversations with the media," he says.
But in the one interview he did grant, Foster reportedly insisted the building belonged to the diocese–a claim that Harding, who is also a lawyer, dismisses as “rather bizarre."
“The initial piece of land owned by this parish was purchased for cash from the diocese," he says. “The property was maintained throughout by parishioners with no contribution from the diocese. The title is registered in the names of the wardens and vestry."
In November, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that the property of four parishes that had left the Anglican Church in 2009 rightfully belongs to the Diocese of New Westminster. They have since decided to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear an appeal.
Yet Harding is cautiously hopeful that St. John's can stay out of court. “I know that both the diocese and the parish are quite committed to avoiding litigation on this issue if at all possible," he says. “And I actually have some confidence in the good faith there."
But whether or not the parishioners can keep their building, says Harding, what really matters is they remain true to their faith and their spiritual journey. “Property's important, but it's an adjunct and it's secondary."
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