Archdeacon Barry "I want it all" Foster
It seems that the diminutive ACoC (Anglican Chrurch of Canada) is set to become smaller still, with a Calgary parish, St. John the Evangelist, joining the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Benedict's offer of an 'Ordinariate' for ex-Anglicans.
This would allow Anglican converts, including married clergy, to retain elements of their liturgy and have a guaranteed place within the Roman Church.
It's an attractive proposition for the parishioners of St. John's, who voted by 90% to leave the incredibly shrinking ACoC and they hope to keep their Edwardian building. According to the Rector's Warden, Richard Harding, this might be possible because title deeds to the building are held in the name of the Wardens instead of the Diocese of Calgary.
"The title was placed in the name of the elected lay wardens of the parish... It is parish property. The diocese may not be aware of that," stated Harding to the Calgary Herald.
But Barry 'I want it all' Foster, Archdeacon of Calgary, who styles himself 'Executive Officer' of the diocese when not selling menswear at a downtown mall, has a different opinion.
"It's not the case that … they take the property with them. It's not theirs," stated Foster to CBC News.
Assuming, for the moment, that Calgary's clerical haberdasher has a point, what will the Diocese of Calgary do with yet another empty building?
You know the saying, "Sell! Sell! Sell!"
Watch this space - in the meanwhile ACoC continues its trajectory into just that.
Say a prayer for St. John's.
LSP
6 comments:
When the people of the Episcopal church here left, they left everything, beautiful old building and corrupt clergy, to become Anglicans (now they meet in an old school gymnasium). I think only about 20% of the church stayed--for the rest, the church was the people, not the building.
For sure Blue Sun - the church isn't the building, though I'd prefer to see those out of the hands of the lib progressives...
Interesting, I like what bluesun has to say and agree that the church is the people.
Cheers and happy shooting. I'll still stay tuned to see if you have future updates.
Thanks Darlin - we'll have to wait and see how it all works out... I hope it's in St. Johns' favor.
God bless.
When Mt Calvary, Baltimore, declared its intention to join the ordinariate, the bishop permitted them to purchase their property from the diocese and take it with them. If they had been joining another "Anglican" jurisdiction this would not have been permitted, but TEC does not consider the Roman Catholic Church a competitor for the "Anglican" franchise.
I'll bet the archdeacon could be persuaded to release the diocese's claim on the property for the right price. But he would be remiss in his duties if he let it go for free.
Thanks for the comment, Roland.
I hope that your wager wins out and that SJE keeps their property, albeit for a sum. After all, it wouldn't hurt the local ACoC. We'll see.
Is the property business at Mt. Calvary settled? First reports were optimistic, then things became a little murky...
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