The world Anglican Communion's titular leader, the Archbishop of Canterbury, declared yesterday he won't sanction priest-poaching in Canada by branches of Anglicanism that disagree with practices of the Canadian church. It's the first time Archbishop Rowan Williams has directly addressed what's happening in Canada despite earlier letters of protest from Canadian Anglican leaders.
But the archbishop, writing to the Canadian primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, also said he has no authority to prevent what he called "interventions and irregular ordinations" by outside Anglican churches, although he made clear he doesn't support them.
Some African Anglican leaders and the head of the Argentine-based Church of the Province of the Southern Cone have embraced Canadian priests and laity who believe the Canadian Anglican Church has violated biblical admonitions against homosexuality.
The Anglican Communion, the world's third largest Christian church, is a decentralized association of 38 national and regional autonomous churches - or provinces - linked by their historic ties to the Church of England, whose spiritual leader is the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The archbishop is considered first among equals but lacks the authority of the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Canadian Anglican church appears to be inching closer to a general approval of blessing committed same-sex unions.
As a result, two retired Canadian bishops - Don Harvey of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador and Malcolm Harding of Brandon, Man., have quit the Canadian church to become bishops in the tiny South American Anglican church. A small number of priests have indicated they will follow.
Yesterday, Bishop Harvey's successor, Right Reverend Cyrus Pitman, exacted a loyalty pledge of sorts from his diocesan priests gathered in St. John's Anglican Cathedral.
Bishop Pitman had them repeat their priestly vows and issued them with new licences signed by himself rather than Bishop Harvey.
There was nothing unusual about the renewal of priestly vows - most Anglican dioceses do them annually - but they're usually done just before Easter.
A senior Anglican cleric, speaking on background, explained that Bishop Harvey likely had "some following" among priests in the diocese.
But the diocese's executive archdeacon, Geoff Peddle, told CBC that "not a single priest has left our church."
Bishop Harvey characterized the tone of his successor's action as "devastating."
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