Bishop Minns: CANA No Different Than Diocese of Virginia

Steve Waring
02/02/2007

The Diocese of Virginia recently filed suit to recover the real and personal assets of 11 parishes where the majority of the congregation voted to leave and affiliate with the Anglican Church of Nigeria. The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns serves as rector of Truro Parish, one of the departing congregations and missionary bishop for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). He recently responded to a series of questions posed to him by a reporter for The Living Church.

TLC: The Virginia congregations which have affiliated with CANA recently issued a statement in which they described as “ an act of betrayal” the recent lawsuits filed against them by the Diocese of Virginia. Would you explain what was meant by that?

Bishop Minns: We went through this whole process with the protocol. The team put together by the diocese produced a unanimous resolution and this was the process we were following when we held the parish votes. Then to have the whole thing reversed and to have lawsuits dumped on us feels like an act of betrayal. They made it seem as though they were trying to respond to some sort of nasty legal action on our part when in fact that simply isn’t true.

TLC: The diocese claims that the departing parishes fired the first shot in court by filing “civil actions styled as reports.” Can you explain what it was that was filed?

Bishop Minns: It’s really very straightforward. Under the Virginia statute, congregations have to record the results of a vote when there has been a division within a denomination. We told the diocese that we were going to be taking this action. It was done before the standstill agreement went into effect. It really was just a filing.

TLC: The CANA congregations have repeatedly said that it is a poor witness for Christians to air their grievances in civil court. If you really believe that, why not let the diocese have the property they claim is theirs?

Bishop Minns: We don’t believe that [their claim to ownership] is true. In my mind I would be stealing from the generations of faithful people at Truro [Parish]. There are dozens of organizations which use our property under our sponsorship. We list at least 70 different ministries, including a preschool. Do I just tell them they are out of luck?

TLC: I have heard that there will be nothing similar to the Dennis Canon (which states that parishes hold property in trust for the diocese) in CANA. Why is that and was the diocese mistaken in its press release when it stated that you are attempting to deed the property to the Anglican Church of Nigeria?

Bishop Minns: The deed at Truro states that the property is held by the trustees of the parish and that will not change. I think the Dennis Canon is used in a very unjust way. To me this is an issue of fairness and basic justice.

TLC: I recently read in one secular newspaper that the CANA congregations have asked for the lawsuits to be consolidated. Is that true?

Bishop Minns: We have consolidated our filings and some legal action which the diocese has initiated [to contest the parish vote filings]. We have made no decision on the most recent filing [in which the diocese asked the court to declare the diocese the rightful owner and evict the congregations currently using the buildings], but in some ways it makes sense. Some of the parishes which the dioceses is suing have no property and very little financial means with which to defend themselves.

I suspect this will drag on for years. It will probably be appealed no matter how the initial ruling comes down. It seems to me odd that as we head into the primates’ meeting that The Episcopal Church would take actions which will be perceived by many as mean spirited.

TLC: You recently wrote to the Bishop of Virginia, the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, noting that the decision to terminate health benefits of the departing clergy and their families “appears uncharitable.” A copy of that letter was also distributed to every delegate at the annual council meeting. The diocese recently extended those benefits until the end of January. Was that extension satisfactory in your mind?

Bishop Minns: I wrote him because I just felt that we were heading in the wrong direction on this. I copied the delegates because communication seems to have broken down and I wanted to be sure that people were aware of what was happening. The standstill agreement expired on Jan. 18, so all they really provided was another 13 days. We are trying to do what we can to ensure an orderly transition [of benefits]. Under COBRA the former employer does not pay anything in order to ensure continuous coverage. COBRA allows up to 18 months for a transition to a new plan. As Christians we should be more generous than civil authorities, not less.

TLC: What was your reaction after the secretary general of the Anglican Consultative Council stated shortly before the parish votes that CANA “is not a branch of the Anglican Communion as such but an organsation which relates to a single province of the Anglican Communion”?

Bishop Minns: I felt it was a misleading statement. We are no different than the Diocese of Virginia. CANA is part of the Church of Nigeria and the Diocese of Virginia is part of The Episcopal Church. I never asked for any separate recognition from the ACC. The real question to me is whether the Diocese of Virginia will remain part of the Anglican Communion.

This article comes from The Living Church Foundation
http://www.livingchurch.org/

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