Another bishop quits Canada for Southern Cone

By: Nick Mackenzie
Friday, 23rd November 2007

ANOTHER Canadian Bishop is to come out of retirement to minister to conservatives unhappy with the liberal direction of the national Church, it has been announced.

The Rt Rev Malcolm Harding, who retired as Bishop of Brandon in 2001, will now join Bishop Don Harvey to minister under Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone. A spokesman for the Anglican Network in Canada said that the two men would provide ‘episcopal oversight to biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans distressed by the seismic shift in the theology and practice of the Anglican Church of Canada.’

Archbishop Venables said: “We are delighted to receive Bishop Malcolm Harding as our co-worker. He too is a man whose very being is centred around the gospel and whom the Lord has used for the salvation of many… It is also good to be able to say that these steps we have taken are fully supported by a significant number of other orthodox Anglican provinces. There is no need for any to walk alone or step outside the Anglican family.”

However, the leadership of the Canadian Church has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury to denounce the actions of the Southern Cone and on November 21 the Bishop of New Westminster, Michael Ingham, vowed to take action against Bishop Harvey if he carries out an ordination service in the diocese early next month.

The Anglican Network in Canada is currently holding its national conference in Burlington, Ontario, to outline details of the new episcopal option now available to conservative Canadian Anglicans who are in ‘serious theological dispute’ with the Anglican Church of Canada and want to be recognized as ‘fully Anglican’ and in the mainstream of global Anglicanism.

The news comes as the Archbishop of Canterbury has published responses of the Primates to the September meeting of the American Church’s House of Bishops. So far 26 Provinces have responded, with 12 replied still expected. Of those that have replied, 12 backed the American response, 10 were opposed, with two signaling mixed responses.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has indicated that he will not comment on the replies he has received until he issues his Advent Letter to the Primates in December. The 10 Provinces that rejected the US response are all members of the Global South alliance, indicating a serious split in the worldwide Anglican Communion. At their meeting in September the US bishops promised to ‘exercise restraint’ in electing another gay bishop, and promised not to authorize same-sex blessings. However, conservatives believe that these promises did not go far enough and are calling for The Episcopal Church to be disciplined for the consecration of the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, in 2003.

The conservative primates said that apart from a change in the form of words by the Americans, ‘there does not seem to be any change of direction’. Those who approved of the response appeared to be less interested in the words of the Episcopal bishops and more interested in what they perceived as the spirit of the response, the statement added.

This article comes from Religious Intelligence
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