The reason given by Bishop Colin Johnson is that the building is “no longer under Anglican authority”. When unfettered by Anglican authority who knows what antics priests might get up to? If things got really out of hand one of them might inadvertently preach the gospel.
If Colin Johnson really wants to keep people out, he should take a tip from the Diocese of Niagara’s Bishop Michael Bird and block the entrance with concrete. Like this:
From here:
The Anglican Diocese of Toronto has forbidden its ministers and even laypersons from conducting services in a quaint non-denominational church in the historic hamlet of Irondale in the Haliburton Highlands.
The building used to belong to the diocese. After a two-year legal challenge, the Bark Lake Aboriginal Tribe this past summer purchased the church from the Anglican diocese for $70,000. The frame church, built by pioneer Charles Pusey in 1887, was sold to the diocese in 1901 for $50.
When the building reopened a month ago as the Irondale Community Church, the first service was Anglican, the second Lutheran. But when retired Anglican minister Arnold Hancock wanted to conduct the Thanksgiving Day weekend service, Archbishop Colin Johnson of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto sent out a cease-and-desist order far and wide.
The folks in Irondale, about 100 kilometres north of Peterborough, are now preparing for a fight. Even devout Anglicans are accusing the church of being unchristian.
“This has set everybody back,” George Simmons, whose family’s involvement in the church goes back generations, told the Toronto Star.
“I think the majority of Anglicans would be disgraced that they wouldn’t allow an Anglican minister (to conduct a service) for people who have attended that church for 50 years,” he said.
“He covered the whole area here. He notified every Anglican layperson and minister that they weren’t allowed to lead a service in the church,” Simmons added.
Johnson could not be reached directly by the Toronto Star but the Diocese of Toronto issued a statement.
“Due to dwindling numbers, the former Anglican church of St. John’s, Irondale, was closed and deconsecrated in 2010 and sold to private citizens for community use in 2012,” stated Stuart Mann, its director of communications. “The purchasers continue to hold services in the church, which is entirely appropriate. However, Anglican clergy are not permitted to conduct services at St. John’s as it is no longer under Anglican authority. Anglican clergy are only permitted to function in Anglican ministries.”
h/t AEC blog
