St. John’s Shaughnessy, an Anglican church in Vancouver, has been much in the news lately, after a vote last week to align itself with a South American archbishop. There have been two articles in a national Canadian paper, the Globe and Mail, this one last Friday and another one (dealing more broadly with other churches that are considering cutting ties with the Anglican Church of Canada) on Saturday.
St. John’s calls this move “realignment,” and the Diocese of New Westminster calls it “schismatic.” It all depends on how you see what has been going on in the Anglican Communion. If you think that the churches in North America have been drifting away from orthodox Christianity for years, then “realignment” is the right term. If you think that breaking away from said North American church is inexcusable, then “schismatic” is the term for you.
I have two roommates who go to St. John’s, one of whom was at the vote last Wednesday. Several Regent professors go there. The pastor of my church in Vancouver mentioned the news in his sermon on Sunday. It’s big news around here. It’s very sad, but I think it was necessary (so “realignment” is my preferred term). After all, St. John’s had not been able to ordain people to the ministry since 2002 because of this conflict with the bishop, and it looked like neither side was going to budge.
Please pray for the Anglican Communion.
Elliot Ritzema 