Primate Fred Hiltz has commended conservative Anglicans who struggle over issues of sexuality but remain loyal members of the Anglican Church of Canada.

“I believe that their commitment represents something of the very stuff of that Anglican capacity to live together gracefully with difference,” Hiltz, the chief bishop of the Canadian Church said in a video released by his Toronto office.

He said that the Anglican Church has a “broad capacity for a breath of theological perspective.”

“It is indeed a heritage that we continue to cherish.”

The primate’s video and a transcript of what he said is available here. http://www2.anglican.ca/primate/communications/2008-02-28.htm

In Diocese of Niagara, meanwhile, a request in Superior Court by the diocese that it be declared the lawful owner of St. George’s, Lowville, and St. Hilda’s, Oakville, was adjourned till March 20.

The two parish congregations are members of the Anglican Network in Canada and have voted to join the Anglican Church of the Province of the Southern Cone in South America. The diocese and two parish congregations told the Court they had agreed on a number of matters that provide for the disclosure and preservation of assets.

However they differed on the immediate use of the parish buildings. The diocese was willing to share, as had happened the first Sunday following the vote to leave the diocese, but the parish congregations were not.

In court lawyers for the two parish congregations claimed the double services had interfered with normal worship as it had been conducted in the past.

Judge James Ramsay declined to direct that the Diocese of Niagara be allowed to conduct worship services during the next two weeks, stating that “no irrevocable harm” will be done to the diocese if it cannot conduct worship in the two parishes over the next two week. The parish congregations will have exclusive use, at least until the next hearing.

“I am disappointed that they could not share,” said Bishop Michael Bird after the judge’s decision came down, according to the Toronto Star. The Rev. Charles Masters of St. George’s was quoted as saying that he was sad to be in court but hoped to come to an amicable relationship with the diocese.