On Jan 30, the Rt Rev James Cowan stated that “persistent rumours” had come to his attention that in “some parishes across Canada” attempts would be made to “approve separation of the parish from the local diocese and the Anglican Church of Canada,” seeking to transfer to the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.Any attempt to leave was “schismatic” and a betrayal of a “fiduciary trust” to the diocese and would result in the “immediate termination of license or removal from office,” Bishop Cowan wrote.
Clergy “acquiescing in” or “actively promoting” the withdrawal of parishes from the diocese would be dismissed from office without “notice or severance,” he said.
Those clergy and lay leaders of the Diocese of British Columbia who could not “in good conscience” remain in the Anglican Church of Canada, should seek a “spiritual home elsewhere.”
In November, Canada’s Council of General Synod wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams asking him to condemn the secession of two retired Canadian bishops to the Southern Cone, and the creation of a temporary missionary jurisdiction in Canada for traditionalists.
On Jan 9 Archbishop Fred Hiltz wrote to the Primates of the Communion, and appealed again for Dr Williams to act.
In a letter made public on Jan 21, Dr Williams said he had “no canonical authority to prevent these things” but could not “support or sanction such actions.”
On Oct 14, Dr Williams stated the “the organ of union with the wider Church is the Bishop and the Diocese rather than the Provincial structure as such.”
“Separatist solutions” weakened “that basic conviction of Catholic theology” he said.
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