Four of the worldwide Anglican Church's foremost conservative leaders say Great Vancouver's Anglican diocese is in crisis for endorsing what one called "the abomination" of homosexuality.
"Anglicans in Asia are very sad about what's happened in Vancouver. This kind of issue is life and death to us," Southeast Asia's Primate Yong Ping Chung, said Sunday evening before the four led a religious service for about 1,000 Christians who oppose same-sex blessing at South Delta Baptist Church in Tsawwassen.
Yong, who oversees 250,000 Anglicans in countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, said conservative Anglicans in the Diocese of New Westminster have asked the international group to help them set up an alternative Anglican authority in the diocese.
The high-level Anglican visitors from Asia, Africa and the U.S. were coy, however, about whether they would ultimately back the efforts of a breakaway group of local Anglicans to bring in a so-called "flying bishop," who would operate an alternative diocese separate from Bishop Michael Ingham.
Bishop Peter Njenga of Mount Kenya South -- representing his primate David Gitario -- said African Anglicans strongly oppose homosexual behaviour because it contravenes Biblical teachings and amounts "to saying God was wrong."
The senior clergy visiting Vancouver this weekend also include Primate Bernard Malanga of the province of Central Africa and Bishop Andy Fairfield from North Dakota (representing the Anglican Council of Bishops).
Primate Yong, who received his theological education at Queen's College, Nfld., has outraged many moderate Anglicans in the past.
Yong is active with a breakaway group in the U.S. that feels the Episcopal Church has become too liberal. The group has defied Carey, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, by ordaining some of its own bishops.
North Vancouver Reverend Ed Hird -- spokesman for Anglicans upset with the diocese's June decision to bless same-sex unions -- said Sunday the four high-level Anglicans have said privately they are considering supporting a "flying bishop" in the Lower Mainland.
The visiting Anglican dignitaries have promised to take their concerns to the influential Anglican Consultative Council, which meets in Hong Kong later this month.
The Anglican Consultative Council gathers together all 38 of the church's primates, or top leaders, every three or four years. Canadian Primate Michael Peers will attend.
Bishop Ingham, who represents the Vancouver area, will be the only other Canadian bishop speaking at the Hong Kong gathering, where he'll explain his diocese's actions.
Ingham, who was initially angered by the unsanctioned visit of the four Anglican leaders to Vancouver, has said the Canadian Anglican church opposes the use of "flying bishops" -- officially known as Alternative Episcopal Oversight -- even though they exist in a few dioceses in Britain that divided over the ordination of women.
Hird, however, argues conservative Anglicans in Vancouver deserve their own special bishop.
The priest at St. Simon's Church in Deep Cove says the visit of the top Anglican leaders from Africa and East Asia emphasizes it is liberals such as Ingham who are out of step with the 70-million member worldwide Anglican Church. In 1988, most of the world's Anglican bishops reaffirmed homosexual relationships are incompatible with Biblical teaching.
This summer's showdown between conservative and liberal Anglicans in Greater Vancouver was ignited when delegates to the diocese's annual meeting voted in June, for the third time, to bless committed relationships between homosexuals.
When Ingham made it clear he would give his consent, members from eight parishes, representing roughly 20 per cent of the 25,000 Anglicans in the region, immediately walked out in protest.
They went on to obtain international attention and gain theological support from senior Anglicans, including the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who nevertheless warned them against splitting the church.
While some other Anglican dioceses in the U.S. have indirectly okayed same-sex blessings, the Vancouver decision marks the first time in the global Anglican Church the process was done openly and formally.
Despite not inviting the bishops to Vancouver, and calling their visit "provocative and inflammatory," Ingham has arranged to meet them. He was not available for comment.
Primate Malanga, who oversees 600,00 Anglicans in countries such as Zambia and Malawi, said he's looking forward to meeting Ingham today and emphasized he doesn't want to undermine the bishop's authority.
Metropolitan David Crawley, head of the church in British Columbia and the Yukon and Ingham's superior, has said there is no provision in the Canadian Church to sanction flying bishops.
Although Ingham has offered disgruntled priests in his diocese a "conscience clause," the right to not take part in same-sex blessings and the freedom to consult pastorally with a "visiting bishop," Hird says his group wants a "flying bishop" with full authority over ordaining and transferring priests.
Steve Schuh, the Vancouver-based president of Integrity, a national group for gay and lesbian Anglicans, said he regrets the visiting Anglican primates are considering setting up a flying bishop for the diocese.
"They can get very messy very quickly. What is to stop every Anglican group with a different point of view of breaking away and getting their own bishop? For 25 years, we've worked within the system and have not resorted to acts of disobedience."
Schuh said it's unfortunate the visiting primates and their representatives have chosen to breach Anglican tradition and come to Vancouver, without the local bishop's invitation, to rally Vancouver-area conservatives.
"It certainly appears to be antagonistic."