Hardly the headline grabbing stuff of VGR's New Hampshire, nor for that matter, of Bishop Duncan's Pittsburgh. With that in mind, it's interesting to see the ACC snail begin to inch its way out of its proverbial shell, with the dioceses of Ottawa, Montreal and Niagara asking their Bishops to go against the will of the Synod and perform SSBs anyway. Well, it's not up to the antics of the U.S. LGBT cohort, but it's enough to have galvanized Canadian traditionalists into action, in the form of the Anglican Network and its Bishop Moderator, Donald Harvey.

Living up to its intention to provide a home for traditional Anglicans who want to remain within the wider communion of the Anglican Church, the Network has launched itself as a jurisdiction of the Province of the Southern Cone, under the aegis of Archbishop Venables. This new ecclesial entity was unveiled at the recent Network conference in Burlington, Ontario, and its purpose is well stated by Bishop Harvey,

"It will allow the provision of Adequate Episcopal Oversight for Biblically faithful Canadian Anglicans who feel they no longer have a home in the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), because of its departure from historic and biblical Anglican teaching and doctrine. Now, these faithful Anglicans in serious theological dispute with ACC leadership have a firm option that will allow them to remain fully Anglican and in full communion with the global Anglican Church."

In this, faithful Anglicans in Canada have been offered an alternative to life under the Babylonian captivity of the Liberal Ascendancy, one that preserves their place in the mainstream of the Anglican Communion. So far so good and many would argue that the Network's actions are not only necessary, but long overdue. This is because conservative parishes in liberal dioceses have felt deprived of meaningful pastoral and sacramental care for many years, especially in New Westminster where SSBs have been authorized from May of 2002. Now, at least in theory, provision has been made for those parishes and people who are unable to accept the ministrations of revisionist bishops. Excellent news, the question is, will this dog fight - and win?

Betting Anglicans have grounds for caution; despite the groundswell of positive PR from the Burlington conference, the fact remains that only two parishes have joined the new jurisdiction so far. These are overseen by two retired bishops, +Harvey and +Harding, which hardly adds up to a significant force in the realignment of Anglican Christianity in Canada. Perhaps, then, the Network initiative is yet another example of traditional Anglican grandstanding, of dramatic posturing in the face of insuperable odds. We've seen it before, as time and again North American traditionalists pin their hopes on rescue from some pretty unlikely sources, foreign bishops, panels of reference, reports, communiques, the Pope, and more. These, we've desperately believed, will ride from the hills like the mythic cavalry of the Old West and deliver us from the opposition. Like the fabled secret weapons of Peenemunde, we hope against hope that such arcana will finally carry the day against insuperable odds. Then, when the goods fail to arrive, we cast about for the next unlikely thing to raise our hopes and so it goes on.

Some argue that the Network's actions are little better than this, and whilst the dog in question has joined the fight, its diminutive size precludes victory. Granted that more parishes will join the action, its felt that this will never amount to a critical mass, owing to a peculiarly Canadian set of cultural sensibilities. Canadian Anglicans, we're told, have a greater sense of Communion and institutional loyalty than their U.S. cousins, due perhaps to the country's Commonwealth background. The caveat continues; the various risks of isolation, fragmented witness in a highly secular culture, and the tremendous cost of legal action, give the Network initiative a rather less than positive outlook. It all sounds very plausible, but to my mind at least, misses an important point; the Network dog is not quite the puppy it seems to be but is part of a much larger beast, the sizable traditionalist grouping known to the world as the "Common Cause Partnership," or CCP for short. This is made up of the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the Anglican Communion Network, Anglican Essentials Canada, the Anglican Network in Canada, the Anglican Province of America, the Reformed Episcopal Church, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America and Forward in Faith. As befits its oddly Soviet sounding acronym, the CCP isn't small, and it's larger still when overseas allies, such as Nigeria and the Southern Cone are taken into account. What does this mean?

At the very least that traditionalists here are beginning to move away from "Mythic Cavalry," or "Secret Weapon" syndrome. Instead of relying on strange and unlikely means of relief, they've begun to forge something realistic, a homegrown solution to our homebred problem. This takes the form of an increasingly cohesive alliance of conservative Anglicans who together have sufficient power to drive a traditional Province in North America. A Province, moreover, that will find itself in active communion with the overwhelming majority of global Anglicanism. It is just this that has been planted in Canada, a missionary nucleus of a reformed North American Anglicanism, set free from the perceived shackles of an apostate institutional Church.

So, will this particular dog fight? It already is, both in the U.S. and Canada. Will it win? If setting up an anti-revisionist Province in communion with most other Anglicans worldwide counts as victory, then the answer has to be yes. But what about Canada? Perhaps we should remember that loyalty cuts several ways, doubtless to ancient institutions, such as the venerable ACC, but also to Christ and the Gospel. When the former finds itself in opposition to the latter it shouldn't be surprised if faithful Christians vote with their feet, whether in Canada, or anywhere else. These people need a place to stand that is loyal to their patrimony, and the Network, under the leadership of Bishop Harvey, has provided it. It remains to be seen whether this will succeed as planned, but lest we forget, Our Lord was never known to forget His faithful, or the Church of which we claim to be a part.

---Fr. Michael Heidt is Parish Priest at St. John the Evangelist, Calgary, and a contributor to New Directions, the U.K's Forward in Faith magazine. St. John's is an Anglican Network/Forward in Faith parish in the Anglican Church of Canada.