NORTH VANCOUVER, BC-Dissident Anglican priest Ed Hird has no intention of taking New Westminster bishop Michael Ingham's advice to start looking for a new place for his congregation to meet.

Ingham told Hird, rector of St. Simon's Deep Cove, by letter in June that he plans to begin a process allowed under church law of assuming direct control of the parish-including its land and property-when he gets back from his summer holidays.

"Meanwhile," Ingham stated, "I would invite you to seek out alternate worship space for those whom you lead."

But Hird says he views Ingham's warning as a "distraction" that his church intends to ignore.

"We will certainly defend our assets as tools for the gospel ministry, but that's not our ultimate focus," he says. "Our focus is on preaching the gospel, sharing the gospel, standing for it."

Barclay Mayo, rector of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church in Pender Harbour, received a similar letter.

This spring, St. Simon's and Christ the Redeemer (then called St. Andrew's) had notified Ingham that his services were no longer required. Relations between Ingham and orthodox Anglicans in the diocese have been "impaired" since the synod voted two years ago to approve a rite of blessing for committed same-sex couples.

Both parishes also announced that they were leaving the Anglican Church of Canada in favour of the episcopal authority of five theologically conservative Primates or leaders of the International Anglican Communion in Africa and Southeast Asia. Officially, Hird and Mayo are missionary priests of the Anglican Church of Rwanda.

Ingham in his letter argues that their actions are completely illegal, since church law dictates that "a parish may not ‘leave' a diocese nor declare that it is no longer part of the Anglican Church of Canada."

The diocese contends that it is the rightful owner of a parish's property, and under the circumstances is obligated to seize the assets of St. Simon's and Christ the Redeemer.

It is an argument that both parishes intend to challenge in court.

"That is the thing that rankles me the most about this," says Mayo, "that the diocese would force us to spend money that should be spent on ministry, fighting a battle with them that is totally unjust and totally immoral."