Dissident Anglicans, frustrated with what they feel are the Canadian church's liberal leanings, have found their salvation - and ecclesiastic authority - in unusual places: Africa and South America.There, the Anglican faith is rooted in traditional, orthodox teachings and is growing in leaps and bounds.
In recent years, 28 parishes have voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada out of frustration with what they perceive as a gradual departure from core values.
It's a huge change from the traditional structure of the Anglican church, which has been determined through geographic - not ideological - boundaries, says John Stackhouse, a professor of theology and culture at Regent College in Vancouver.
"Frankly, we have not seen this sort of thing in Canadian history, and I'm not sure we've seen it in Anglican history," he said. "With the significant size of these dissenting groups, and the international support for them . . . we may see two different bodies in one geographical territory."
There are two main splinter groups: the 13 parishes in the Anglican Coalition of Canada that are now licensed in the Church of the Province of Rwanda, and the 15 in the Anglican Network in Canada, which are under the authority of the Province of the Southern Cone in South America.
The controversy over blessing same-sex unions - in practise at eight Anglican churches in the Diocese of New Westminster in B.C. - is cited as the linchpin issue.
But for Anglicans, there's much more at stake.
"This isn't about just sex," says Stackhouse. "This is about the fundamental question of how we derive any kind of Christian truth.
"What the conservative group is saying is that there is no way to legitimately - that is to say intelligently - interpret the Bible to support same-sex unions. The only way to say that the Bible says that is to do a bad job interpreting the Bible.
"So how do you know what you're supposed to believe if even the bishops of the church are willing to interpret the Bible so badly?"
Rev. Ed Hird of the Anglican Coalition says the thousands of members of the coalition's churches aren't standing in opposition to the Anglican Church of Canada - they're simply getting on with their life.
"We're just happy to be realigned with the healthy expression of Anglicanism from the global south," he said.
The leader of that global south, Archbishop Gregory Venables, caused a firestorm of controversy last week when he arrived in Vancouver to speak at a conference.
The Anglican Church of Canada publicly told him to stay out of this country's affairs. He politely refused, saying those who have left the Canadian church wish to have him in this country.
He says those dissidents are just the first wave. He may be right.
Though few of Canada's more than 2,200 parishes have aligned with the two splinter groups, only a handful of dioceses - essentially a territory governed by a bishop - have opted to allow same-sex blessings.
"We have no idea right now what would happen to the national church if every diocese in the country did what New Westminster had done," Stackhouse said.
"Every diocese in which this has happened - or something like it has happened - churches have split off. This (issue) is very much in play now; this is not the end game at all."
Dissident Anglicans believe their core beliefs - the divinity of Jesus Christ, the sanctity of marriage and the rigidity of the 10 Commandments - are being called into question by the Anglican Church of Canada.
"For some, the Bible is no longer seen as definitive; it's maybe just seen as a symbolic resource book," Hird says. "We see it as definitive in faith and practice."
This departure from traditional teaching is being noticed around the world, Hird says.
"The vast majority (of Anglicans) have expressed real discomfort . . . that's part of the reason they've offered alternative oversight."
But while Hird takes issue with a plurality of liberal views being welcomed within the Anglican church, an official with the Anglican Church of Canada says that's one of the faith's virtues.
"The Anglican church at its best is a broad representation of different views; that's what separates us from the Roman Catholic Church," Archdeacon Paul Feheney said in an interview. "We don't have one way of thinking on issues.
"For some group to say, 'we're the orthodox and you're not,' is a misnomer of the highest regard."
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