This is great news from Canada. I seem to have flashbacks to a certain bishop in the Episcopal Church doing this. Good to see that this parish in Canada has received justice.
There's one issue, though, that I really am disheartened over. I continue to see both Episcopalians and Anglicans in general express "surprise" over Bishops Behaving Badly.
Folks -- we should be long long over the "shock and surprise" bit of this. Even calculating things only from the 2003 date, it's been four years. Note that I'm not talking about people who still have their heads in the sand -- I understand their surprise once they wake up. But to hear parishioners or clergy who have been following the news for four years [on blogs and elsewhere] articulate surprise when bishops break negotiations, or lie, or try to take over parish property while engaged in "peaceful negotiations" . . . well, it tells me that lessons aren't being learned.
At this point, I'm not exactly certain any more what it's going to take to make people who are otherwise intelligent and informed also as "wise as serpents." But so far . . . it does not appear to be happening. It does explain to me -- yet again -- just how our church got into the state that we are in. And it's just as much the "wise as doves conservatives" fault as the revisionists.
Late this afternoon, a judge of the B.C. Supreme Court, Mr. Justice Sigurdson, ordered the Diocese of B.C (on Vancouver Island). to allow the people of St Mary of the Incarnation (Metchosin) in Victoria, BC, back into their building in time for Sunday services.
At 7pm Friday, April 4, a St Mary parishioner discovered Bishop James Cowan of the Diocese of British Columbia supervising the changing of the locks and installation of a security system at the St Mary church building, 4125 Metchosin Rd, Victoria, BC. No notice was given to the clergy or approximately 185 parishioners who were displaced from the building they worship in and which they built and paid for.
The parish and the diocese had been engaged in a discussion regarding an amicable process to address the property issues with the assistance of Archbishop Terry Buckle. The congregation was hopeful these discussions would avoid the need for court proceedings, so the diocese’s actions came as a complete surprise.
Posted April 06, 2008 at 10:29 am
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