Bishop Michael Ingham has accepted the resignation of four of his clergy who no longer consider themselves members of the Anglican Church of Canada.

"While a parting of the ways is always sad, I am glad that they have finally clarified the situation and made it clear they are leaving the Anglican Church of Canada of their own volition," said the bishop.

"I have been trying unsuccessfully to obtain clarification for the last two years," he added.

The priests involved are the Rev. Barclay Mayo, former rector of St. Andrews, Pender Harbour, the Rev. Silas Ng, former rector of the Church of Emmanuel, Richmond, the Rev. Ed Hird, former rector of St. Simon’s, North Vancouver, and the Rev. Paul Carter, a priest on leave from the diocese.

Bishop Ingham said that the parishes previously served by three of the priests remain parishes of the Anglican Church in the Lower Mainland, and parishioners who wish to remain Anglicans in the Canadian Church will be provided with pastoral care.

The four priests stated in letters to Bishop Ingham that having left the Anglican Church of Canada, they now consider themselves missionaries in North America for the Archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel Kolini. In so doing, they are joining with an American group based in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

The group, called the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA), broke away from the Episcopal Church, USA, in August, 2000 - an action identified as being illegal under church law both by US Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, head of the Episcopal Church, USA, and by Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, then the head of the world-wide Anglican Communion.

A statement posted on a website since the diocese received the resignation letters says that those involved are not actually joining the American organization, but forming a separate Canadian group which they are calling the "Anglican Communion in Canada (ACiC)." The statement was posted on the website of the American organization (the AMiA).

Chancellor George Cadman that after Easter he will be in touch with the priests who have resigned to review with them the future use of the church buildings. Cadman, the diocese’s chief legal officer, repeated that all parish properties within the diocese continue to be owned or controlled by the diocese for the benefit of parishioners who are part of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The priests involved have been unable to accept the Anglican Church in New Westminster’s 2002 decision to authorize the blessing to same sex couples in faithful relationships. They were unsatisfied with the assurance both of Bishop Ingham and the Diocesan Synod, the local Anglicans’ decision-making body, that no priest or parish within the diocese would be required to perform such a blessing if in conscience they objected to it.

None of the priests involved nor the parishes from which they have resigned were asked to perform such blessings.