Mercy and Grace, Ingham style
I haven’t given out a “hairy eyeball” in a long time, but this surely deserves one.
From here: (h/t to the Essentials blog)
METRO VANCOUVER — Neither side in a long, bitter war over Anglican Church property in Vancouver and Abbotsford expects any Christmas services will have to be moved elsewhere this December.
But Vancouver-area Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham began moving Tuesday to replace the dissident priests at four congregations that have failed to obtain legal control of Anglican Church properties valued at more than $20 million.
Since the conservative priests have already resigned from the Anglican Church of Canada to work for a breakaway Anglican organization, the diocese said in a statement, those clergy “will need to continue their ministry in other locations.”
After the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled Monday that the conservative Christians have no right to hold on to the four valuable Anglican Church of Canada properties, Ingham will be sending a letter to try to arrange a meeting with the parish trustees.
The diocesan statement emphasized that Ingham is not asking any regular members of the conservative congregations to leave the four church buildings.
Rather, it said the bishop hopes to “confer with the trustees to appoint interim clergy for the short term and [move] forward to work with trustees to seek new clergy to fill the positions of those who have left the Anglican Church of Canada.”
Well, that didn’t take long. ANiC lost the appeal, and Ingham has moved against the ANiC priests, even though ANiC has 60 days to consider the verdict and decide what they are going to do. These are the very same trustees that he tried to fire, and now he wants them to cooperate in replacing their priests?? Ingham emphasized that he doesn’t want the conservative parishioners to leave. Well, of course he doesn’t. They are the ones who pay the bills for the buildings, after all. He doesn’t seem to understand that the people have also left the Anglican Organization of Canada. I give it five years before the buildings are sold off.