Anyone hoping that the British Columbia Court of Appeal, in Bentley v Anglican Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster would resolve the doctrinal and related property disputes in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) and even in the world-wide Anglican Communion over same-sex blessings must come away from the decision of Newbury JA for the unanimous court greatly disappointed: the court left the dispute exactly where it began – in the ACC. Conversely, anyone hoping that the court would do precisely that will be greatly relieved by this exercise of judicial self-restraint in the face of the many challenging theological and legal issues presented by the case. Stripped to its essentials, the court found that the property to which four former parishes in the diocese of New Westminster laid claim by way of a cy-près application was held by the diocese pursuant to a statutory trust for the uses of the diocese and the ACC. The court further characterised the dispute over same-sex blessings as an internal dispute among Anglicans on the basis of which a cy-près order cannot be made in favour of parishes which no longer regard the Bishop of New Westminster as their bishop. This simple, legal outcome followed an 11 day trial in the British Columbia Supreme Court, a four day appeal hearing, and two lengthy judgments, each of just under 100 pages, which ranged widely over the history of the dispute within the ACC and the larger Anglican Communion, and the Anglo-Canadian common law relating to the resolution of church property disputes since the 1813 decision of Lord Eldon in Craigdallie v Aikman, almost two centuries before.
The Anglican Church of Rwanda: domestic agendas and international linkages
