Damages Paid in New Westminster Case

The Diocese of New Westminster reports that on July 29 it received payment of $155,000 (£96,000) in legal costs from the representatives of the vestry and clergy of four breakaway congregations that quit the diocese, eventually joining the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

The payment of court costs marks the final chapter in the dispute between Canada’s largest Anglican parish, St John’s, Shaughnessy, which along with St Matthew’s, Abbotsford, Good Shepherd, Vancouver, and St Matthias & St Luke’s, Vancouver quit the Diocese of New Westminster.

In 2008, the four parishes voted to withdraw and join the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) in response to the innovations of doctrine and discipline, chiefly surrounding issues of human sexuality, introduced by New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham. To read more, click here.