Anglican Break-Away Churches In Canada Sue Over Property Ownership

In Canada earlier this month, three break-away Anglican parishes in the Vancouver (BC) metro area, along with their clergy and lay leaders, filed suit against the Diocese of New Westminster in British Columbia's Supreme Court. Anglican Journal reported yesterday on the dispute. In February, the parishes voted to affiliate with the more conservative Anglican Network in Canada. Four clergy from these parishes placed themselves under the jurisdiction of a bishop reporting to the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone. The diocese took formal action against two of the parishes-- St. Matthew’s, Abbotsford, and of St. Matthias and St. Luke, Vancouver. It dismissed the trustees who support the break-away clergy and asked the clergy to vacate the parishes. In a lawsuit filed Sept. 9, plaintiffs asked the court invalidate the dismissal of the trustees, and to declare that the parish corporations or their trustees, not the diocese, are entitled to hold the parish property in trust.