71 Blackburn Road RR6
Renfrew, Ontario
K7V 3Z9
613-433-8227
rev@magma.ca
October 1, 2009

Nora Sanders
General Secretary
The United Church of Canada
3250 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M8X 2Y4

Nora

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke? [ISA 58:6]

Property misrepresented or misused as a yoke or non-escape clause intimidates within the United Church of Canada.

The Insurance Act of every province and jurisdiction [except Quebec] reads

"unless otherwise specifically stated in the contract, the insurer is not liable for loss or damage to property owned by any person other than the insured";

where only congregations insure local property.

The General Council recently deemed property not directly affected by static disposition [whether property is held under the provisions of section 5.3 or 5.4 of the basis] precluding dispute if congregation properties of the former Presbyterian Church in Canada are simply held under the provisions of section 5.4 of the basis

"Any property or funds owned by a church, charge, circuit or congregation at the time of the union solely for its own benefit, or vested in trustees for the sole benefit of such church, charge, circuit or congregation, and not for the denomination of which the said church, charge, circuit or congregation formed a part, shall not be affected by the legislation giving effect to the union or by any legislation of The United Church without the consent of the church, charge, circuit or congregation for which such property is held in trust."

based on interpretation "...for the sole use and benefit of the said congregation" in the Model Trust Deeds used by the Presbyterian Church in Canada [Rules AND Forms of Procedure IN THE CHURCH COURTS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CANADA, Toronto, The Westminister Co., Limited 1909, pp. 128, 130, 132, 138], where

- | section 5.4 of the basis relates to how the former Presbyterian Church in Canada and not how the United Church of Canada interpreted property "at the time of the union";
- | the provision "shall not be affected by the legislation giving effect to the union" removes real and personal property from the United Church of Canada argument for property based on interpretation of The United Church of Canada Act ["...and in which the denomination to which such congregation belongs has no right or interest, reversionary or otherwise" {articles 6 and 8 of the provincial and dominion acts respectively}]; and
- | the provision "or by any legislation of The United Church" removes real and personal property from any Manual requirement or ruling.

The immediate effect is congregation properties of the former Presbyterian Church in Canada continue to be held "for the sole use and benefit" of the congregation and are not subject to bylaw sections 267 and 335 requiring presbytery sanction.

As with another subservience, "do you not yet understand" the signs of ignoring "let my people go"? [EXO 10:7; 5:1, 7:16, 8:1, 8:20, 9:1, 9:13, 10:13]

The property appeal was not about leaving, though it considered the possibility of leaving might be required to initiate learning a different way to deal with controversial issues... that the valuing of individual church members - what the reformation understood as the 'priesthood of all believers' - and simple justice require dialogue without intimidation.

When do we break the yoke?

--
Don Anderson
rev@magma.ca
http://www.axz.ca/