Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster has again told clergy in his diocese that only the bishop of a diocese, or another bishop to whom the diocesan bishop has delegated authority, may ordain priests or deacons.

Centuries of Christian tradition as well as many of the Church’s Canons (church bylaws) provide that there is just one bishop in charge in a diocese, he said. Otherwise the order of the church is undermined, confusion reigns, and the church can be diverted from its work of community outreach and care for parishioners.

The bishop told Diocesan Council on November 13 that he believes the diocese is one in which people can hold differing theological positions in an atmosphere of “generosity and tolerance and a spirit of charity.” He said he must uphold Anglican order “not to restrain freedom but to protect freedom.”

Bishop Ingham told the 40-member council that what led to this reminder to clergy was receipt of a copy of an email announcing a “service of ordination” on December 2 for two men in the diocese. The bishop said he knew nothing of these ordinations, and had delegated to no other bishop authority to perform ordinations in his diocese.

The Province of the Southern Cone (in orange) is one of the largest Churches in area and smallest in terms of members (27,000) in the Anglican Communion.

(Since the Diocesan Council meeting, Don Harvey, the retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, announced he was leaving the Anglican Church of Canada to come under the jurisdiction of the Primate of the Iglesia Anglicana del Cono Sur de America, the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America – a course of action that in recent times Archbishops of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion have considered highly irregular.

(The Canadian Church’s governing body between General Synods, the Council of General Synod (COGs) has stated on Nov. 17 that “we cannot recognize the legitimacy of recent actions by the Province of the Southern Cone in purporting to extend its jurisdiction beyond its own borders.”

(The Anglican Journal reported that Anglican Primate Fred Hiltz was aware that Harvey planned to be involved in the December 2 ceremony.)

Bishop Ingham told Diocesan Council that he sent letters to the two men, whom he did not name at the meeting. He said he told them that if they underwent the ceremony their ordination would not be recognized by the Anglican Church of Canada or the Anglican Communion.

He said he also wrote to a number of diocesan clergy, and to retired Bishop Don Harvey, former Bishop of Eastern Newfoundland, who chairs the Anglican Network in Canada, to state explicitly that he had denied permission. The Anglican Network was set up in June, 2005, to provide a Canadian alternative church structure for those who object to the blessing of same sex unions, if the Anglican Church of Canada does not – in their opinion – return to what they claim is an “orthodox” theology and practice.

Bishop Ingham in his letters reminded everyone of his statement of February, 2003, that outside bishops need his permission to do any “episcopal ministry” – which includes ordinations, the raising up of trained people to be deacons and priests. Deliberately undertaking an irregular ordination would be an act of schism, the bishop told Diocesan Council.
 
Note-This article was updated with new information on Nov. 19.