50 years ago: Canadian Anglican traditionalists oppose union with United Church of Canada

As reported in The Edmonton Journal, June 19, 1969, p. 5:

The Council for the Faith feels union of the Anglican and United churches should be opposed to safeguard vital Anglican interests.

The council, composed of members of the Anglican Church of Canada, will host its co-chairmen at a reception in St. Stephen's Anglican Church, 106th Avenue and 96th Street, at 8 P.M. Saturday.

Rev. C.J. de Catanzaro, parish priest of Peterborough, Ont., and Donald Masters, a history professor at the University of Guelph, will detail reasons for the council's rejection of the proposed terms of union.

Edmonton council president Dr. Arthur Greenidge feels "it is a matter of intention. The doctrine of intention is of supreme importance."

The words of union are the same, but the language is different, says the president. This leads to misinterpretation in discussing the terms of Anglican and United Church union.

The council also registers a tactical objection to union.

"It is imposed upon us from the top in Toronto. The ordinary Anglican has not realized what is happening," said Dr. Greenidge.

There is no sense of hostility between the two churches, but Dr. Greenidge hopes the Council for the Faith can "waken up ordinary Anglicans to what they've almost lost."

Rev. de Catanzaro will preach at 7:30 P.M. Sunday at All Saints Cathedral.

Following Evensong, both co-chairmen will attend an open meeting in the cathedral parish hall to discuss the proposed terms of union between the churches and the crucial questions which remain unanswered.

Thanks largely to the efforts of the Council for the Faith, the union of the Anglican Church of Canada and the United Church of Canada didn't come to pass. The Anglican Church of Canada became increasingly liberal in succeeding years, prompting Rev. Carmino de Catanzaro to resign from the church in 1978, soon to serve as the first bishop of a breakaway Canadian traditional Anglican communion. He died of a stroke on June 23, 1983 at the age of 67.

Although the Anglican Church of Canada and United Church of Canada still haven't achieved organizational unity 50 years after a serious attempt at union, the two are united in increasing apostasy; any differences are matters of degree.