I am not preaching tomorrow. Bishop Greg Kerr-Wilson of the Diocese of Qu'Appelle will take that role at the main service, and an hon. assistant priest will take the early one. Given the events of this week, as reported in the Anglican Journal, it would be a challenge. The former bishop of this diocese has relinquished ministry in the the Anglican Church of Canada, and been received as a Bishop in the Province of the Southern Cone. The news is a bombshell into our diocesan life. Bishop Harding was well-liked at the cathedral, and indeed preached here just last Pentecost. First reactions in the parish are puzzlement and concern, but with a sense that the situation will not affect our own existence very much.

It will be more of a challenge for some of our smaller parishes, especially those which have aligned themselves to some extent with the Essentials movement.

My task tomorrow is to preside at the Eucharist, and then to read a letter from Bishop Jim Njegovan. We are to anticipate a pastoral letter to the whole church from the Primate for next Sunday. These are interesting times, indeed!

We have a real schism in the Anglican Church of Canada, led on one side by people who assert that unity cannot be achieved at the expense of truth. On the other side, I cite an article by Pierre Whalon, first published on Anglicans Online in 1999. Now the Bishop of the American Convocation in Europe, Fr. Whalon holds that schism is worse than heresy. The latter will die a natural death, but schisms last forever. Read it here.