Appeal likely in Anglican property case

By Frank Stirk  |  Friday, January 8, 2010

VANCOUVER, BC—Four churches that severed ties with the Anglican Church of Canada seem resolved to continue a legal battle over the ownership of their property and assets, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court.

"There is a sense in which it would be nice to put this whole thing behind us," says Mike Stewart, rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church in Abbotsford. "But there is also a sense that we believe God called us into this to stand as witnesses for the truth of the gospel and our love for the Lord Jesus. So we're not wanting to escape from that…too soon, but when God tells us so."

The four churches are now members of the theologically conservative Anglican Network in Canada. The other three—St. Matthias and St Luke's, St. John's Shaughnessy and Church of the Good Shepherd—are in Vancouver. They went to court seeking "clarification" after the Diocese of New Westminster laid claim to their property.

On November 25, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher ruled the properties did belong to the diocese. The churches had 30 days to decide whether to appeal.

On Christmas Eve, they announced that they would appeal, but more as a way to keep their options open while their congregations prayed and discussed what they should do.

"The judgment coming down exactly 30 days before Christmas was very difficult," says Cheryl Chang, the ANiC's Chancellor or chief legal officer, "given the number of extra services and events that go on in the church in the month before Christmas."

Their new deadline for reaching a final decision is early February at the latest—or risk incurring lawyers' fees for work done in preparing an appeal they later decide to withdraw.

But St. John's people's warden Lesley Bentley says even at congregational meetings held before Christmas, many were "strongly in favour" of appealing.

"Maybe this is the mission that God's given us right now," she says.

"The issue obviously before us," Stewart says, is not the fate of their buildings, but "how we can best maintain our witness in the current conditions."

Yet even from a strictly legal perspective, Chang believes the ruling contains some "huge implications" for Canada's faith communities that need to be challenged on appeal.

"What this decision says is that a majority can come in and vote to change the faith and kick you out if you don't like it," she says. "[Kelleher] doesn't actually use that as part of his decision, so it's not legally binding, but it still remains something others can look to."

And if the appeal is maintained, Chang predicts "it will very likely have to go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. This decision impacts churches across the country—and I think that there needs to be a national decision."

Bentley has also discovered an unexpected bonus in keeping the court case going. "You never have so many people asking about church as when you're in court. I have to say it's very good for your evangelism opportunities," she says.

For its part, the diocese appears to be taking in stride the prospect that this case could remain before the courts for at least two more years.

"We're comfortable with [Kelleher's] decision, but it's absolutely within the rights of the plaintiffs to appeal and we respect that," says Peter Elliott, the diocese's dean and the rector of Christ Church Cathedral. "We didn't initiate this action, but we'll participate."

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