Anglican Primate decries church schism

The nation’s top Anglican has denounced a breakaway conservative movement as unnecessary and perplexing.

(L-R) Bishop Glenn Davies, Most Reverend Foley Beach and The Right Revd Richard Condie at a conference at the National Convention Centre in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

The nation’s top Anglican has denounced a breakaway conservative movement as unnecessary and perplexing, saying God is calling on Australian members of the Anglican faith to remain united under the one church.

Geoffrey Smith, the Primate of the Anglican Church in Australia, issued a stinging rebuke of the “Diocese of the Southern Cross” after it dramatically broke from the church this week over its acceptance of same-sex marriage blessings.

Archbishop Smith described the move as “unfortunate”, and one that would make it difficult to hold the church together.

“It is always easier to gather with those we agree with. But in a tragically divided world, God’s call – and therefore the church’s role – includes showing how to live together with difference. Not merely showing tolerance, but receiving the other as a gift from God,” he said.

The schism comes after discussions between church progressives and conservatives broke down at the General Synod in May, when the country’s bishops voted down a ­motion to oppose same-sex marriage blessings.

It created an atmosphere of revolt among conservative churchgoers, who accused the bishops of departing from the church’s theological roots.

Archbishop Smith said other voices at the Synod were sympathetic to the conservative’s motion.

“It is perplexing that the leaders of this breakaway movement cite the reason for this new denomination as the failure of General Synod to explicitly express an opinion against the blessing of same-sex marriages,” he said.

Former Sydney archbishop Glenn Davies, who was on Thursday commissioned to lead the fledgling movement, hit back at his comments, saying the diocese would “stay true to the bible’s teachings on sexuality” and reject the “revisionist theology” propagated by progressive archbishops in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Bishop Davies has been the dominant force in the conservative wing of the Anglican Church for nearly a decade – leading the Sydney diocese from 2013 to last year – and was a leading campaigner against same-sex marriage during the 2017 postal survey.

He insisted the diocese would provide a “more authentic home” for congregants at odds with the views of “the revisionist bishops” after years of bitter infighting between senior clergy.

“We signalled these issues roughly two years ago and the revisionist bishops did nothing to back-pedal on their views.

“They kept saying, ‘Oh, no the evangelicals will capitulate’.

“And we have decided not to capitulate,” Bishop Davies told The Australian.

“We believe in the authority of scripture … I realise we won’t have the glorious Gothic buildings that other (Anglican Church) dioceses have, but that doesn’t worry me.”

The breakaway diocese, which was registered with the charities commission last year, will be aligned with the Global Anglican Future Conference, a cluster of conservative churches that sits separate to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Its approach to same-sex marriage has led to comparable splits in Canada, the US, Brazil and New Zealand, often involving protracted legal disputes over property rights.

Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel, the leader of the country’s most powerful conservative dioceses, shocked moderate church leaders on Thursday when he offered support for the new diocese.

“The Diocese of the Southern Cross is for the sake of those elsewhere who have been forced to leave their church because they cannot in good conscience accept the authority of those who have departed from the teaching of Christ on marriage and human sexuality,” Archbishop Raffel said in a statement.

A trenchant opponent of same-sex marriage blessings, he has otherwise remained silent this week during the diocese’s launch and refused requests by The Australian for an interview.

Several sources with knowledge of the church’s split said Archbishop Raffel was avoiding comment on the breakaway to ensure he could vote on future motions relating to same-sex marriage in the General Synod, a national congress comprising ordained and lay Anglicans.

Perth Archbishop Kay Goldsworthy, who is forbidden from officiating services in Sydney’s conservative dioceses because she is a woman, said she was concerned about the diocese’s approach to women and gay people, adding that the breakaway was an “unnecessary move” that could be detrimental for the church.

Archbishop Goldsworthy also took issue with the use of the word “revisionist” to describe so-called progressive bishops, noting that the “word could be used at any moment of reform in history”.

Brisbane’s Acting Archbishop Jeremy Greaves, a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage blessings, said the breakaway diocese was a “deeply saddening moment” in the Anglican Church’s history.