A three-week trial is underway in Vancouver that will determine who gets the keys to St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in Abbotsford – the Diocese of New Westminster, or the local congregation.
In February 2008 the church voted – by a majority of 186 to four – to break away from the Anglican Church of Canada over the issue of same-sex blessings.
Linda Seale of Abbotsford is a St. Matthew’s trustee, and was the only local person to testify.
Hearings began on May 25. Four churches are involved in the court proceedings, including St. John’s Shaughnessy Anglican Church, which is the largest and one of the wealthiest parishes in Canada, and St. Matthias and St. Luke, which are also in the Vancouver area.
Seale’s testimony surrounded differences that she was having with the diocese and Bishop Michael Ingham even before same-sex blessings began in 2002, as she saw the diocese “moving away from what we considered core Christian and Anglican values.”
She said the theological division came about over differences about “the authority of the Bible.”
The court will also be looking at who contributed to the church buildings and assets.
More here-
http://www.bclocalnews.com/fraser_valley/abbynews/news/47067202.html
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