Stick with true Anglican beliefs, breakaway bishop tells St. John’s flock
From CBC News Canada
A leader of Canada’s dissident Anglicans told members of newly formed parishes in St. John’s Sunday night to adhere to their traditional beliefs, as a rift deepens over same-sex marriage.
"The revisionists are trying to take scripture and have it conform to the culture of our day and to the permissiveness of our society," Bishop Donald Harvey, moderator of the traditionalist Anglican Network of Canada, told a congregation of about 150 people at a service Sunday night.
"So, therefore, when it comes to same-sex blessings, we’re not backing off from that in the slightest. We do not think that blessing same sex unions [is] consistent with the word of God," said Harvey, a former Anglican Church of Canada bishop of eastern Newfoundland who has become a leader of Canada’s breakaway Anglican movement.
Harvey, who said there are now 26 parishes in the Anglican Network, has been touring the country to promote the movement.
Members of two St. John’s-area parishes recently followed their priests to form two new parishes.
Harvey told the congregation that they are staying true to traditional Anglican faith, while the Anglican Church of Canada is straying by allowing a more liberal interpretation of the Bible to conform with societal pressure on allowing same-sex blessings.
"And when Jesus is asked about marriage, Jesus immediately does what we should be doing and that is quoting scripture," Harvey told the congregation.
"He says, ”Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife’ — not his partner."
Susan Squires, who attended the service, said the same-sex blessing issue gets the most attention, but that it is not her only concern.
"For me, if I’m going to believe this, I’m going to jump in with both feet. I’m going adhere to the beliefs that I say I’m adhering to," said Squires, 26.
"For me, that’s why it’s so important for the authority of scripture and for people to realize that’s such a vital part of being — of any religion, I think."
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