Canada: Anglican clergy ordered out

Parishoners vow to go with them
By Frank Stirk
BC Correspondent

ABBOTSFORD, BC—The prospect of having to walk away from their building—and more than a century of cherished memories—seems not to have shaken the resolve of most of the parishioners of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church to stand by their orthodox beliefs.

Earlier this year, the church voted almost unanimously to quit the Anglican Church of Canada and align itself withthe Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). At issue was what they saw as the ACC’s abandonment of Anglican orthodoxy, and in particular the diocese of New Westminster’s continued advocacy of a same-sex blessing.

Three other churches in Vancouver also voted to join the ANiC at about the same time.
In August, the diocese invoked canon law, ordering clergy at two of the parishes—St. Matthew’s in Abbotsford and St. Matthias and St. Luke in Vancouver—to get out by mid-September. the rest