Harvey told the congregation that they are staying true to traditional Anglican faith, while the Anglican Church of Canada is straying by allowing a more liberal interpretation of the Bible to conform with societal pressure on allowing same-sex blessings.
"And when Jesus is asked about marriage, Jesus immediately does what we should be doing and that is quoting scripture," Harvey told the congregation.
"He says, ''Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife' — not his partner."Your humble e-scribbler is a direct descendant of Thomas Collett so let's just say it is not in the tradition of this Anglican to accept what a bishop says as being law merely because it comes from a bishop.
So what exactly would this "traditional" Anglican faith be that Harvey speaks of?
In this instance there are at least two problems with Harvey's contention and his action - in essence - in leaving the Anglican communion.
First, as he ought to be well aware, scripture has been frequently reviewed, examined and interpretations revised in light of many influences over the centuries.
It is disingenuous to suggest that the current debate within the Anglican church in Canada is offering a more liberal view of equal marriage or to cast his view of those and his like-minded Anglicans as "traditional".
If we were to accept his view, on the face of it, the dissident band will be returning to a set of beliefs many of them may not share.
Jesus does, as Harvey puts it, what we should be doing. By extension, Harvey is suggesting that we then to return to all the provisions of the Old Testament which - as part of the totality of scripture - forms the basis of modern Christianity.
These are, one presumes, immutable and cannot be reinvented or reinterpreted to suit what Harvey derides as "permissiveness". The members of the two new parishes had best check their own closets for theological skeletons on divorce or the ordination of women or a host of other similar topics already addressed and resolved by the church.
.
Second, Harvey and his followers have not embraced "traditional" Anglican values. Rather they have divorced themselves from the wider community of Anglican faith.
The Anglican communion was formed in dissent and it has maintained itself through the centuries as an inherently Protestant church which emphasized that the foundation of faith is the relationship between each of its members, as individuals, and God.
Sometimes controversial issues arise, whether equal marriage or - a generation ago - the ordination of women. These contentious issues were handled through thoughtful contemplation and through the attainment of a consensus amongst individual Anglicans irrespective of what collar they wore.
By leading a group of dissidents out of the communion altogether, as he is currently doing, Harvey is doing more than merely helping "traditional" Anglicans - might "real" be a synonym he'd accept? - stay consistent with their faith. Rather, he is rejecting the manner in which the Anglican communion has grown and survived. Surely, that alone must be troubling enough to give these Anglicans pause.
Take that from a man whose ancestor took great issue with the edicts of a bishop a century and a half ago but who never once, as far as anyone knows, ever considered himself to be outside the communion into which he had been baptised.
That decision was made by a bishop.
-srbp-