Four Vancouver-area Anglican congregations who split from the mainstream Anglican Church cannot keep their church buildings or bank accounts, says the Court of Appeal for B.C.

The dissident congregations had appealed a decision by the B.C. Supreme Court last November but a panel of three judges dismissed the challenge.

In a ruling released Monday, the appeal court upheld the lower court decision against the four congregations, preventing them from taking their assets with them in their split from the Anglican Church of Canada. It means parish properties and bank accounts remain in the hands of the mainstream church through the diocese of New Westminster.

"The plaintiffs cannot in my respectful opinion remove themselves from their bishop's oversight and the diocesan structure and retain the right to use properties that are held for purposes of Anglican ministry in Canada," Justice Mary Newbury wrote in the decision.

The congregations split with the Anglican Church of Canada partly over the issue of same-sex blessings, placing themselves under the oversight of a more conservative bishop based in Central America.

Court documents note that at least 24 parishes across the country have left the Canadian church and aligned themselves with more conservative Anglican groups in other parts of the world. The dissident groups across the country have joined forces under the banner of the Anglican Network in Canada.

Dissidents disappointed

And they are disappointed with the ruling, said Cheryl Chang, special counsel for the Anglican Network in Canada.

"The congregations have always said that if they are forced to choose between their buildings and their faith, they will choose their faith," Chang said in a statement. "That position remains unchanged."

The decision is under review by the dissidents' legal counsel but the group hasn't decided if it will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada, Chang said.

None of the four groups have vacated the church buildings involved.

The diocese of New Westminster is "satisfied" with the decision, said spokesman Randy Murray.

"It's something we thought was important so far as the whole country goes."

Diocese officials, including Bishop Michael Ingham, will review the judgment further on Tuesday, Murray said. Whether or when the dissident congregations will actually be forced to move out of their buildings has yet to be decided, he added.

"The bishop's long-term goal is that parish ministry continue in those locations, but the clergy who are currently there have resigned from the Anglican Church of Canada, so the immediate goal is that there will be ministry in those buildings."

Largest congregation involved

The Vancouver-area churches had argued that their buildings and funds belonged to them because the Canadian church has strayed from the religion's doctrine to the point of violating the trust of the faithful.

"We would like to stay in the building and we've been in the building and we've paid for the building and it's our money that's maintained the building, so we don't think that we should be pushed out because the diocese has changed their belief system," said Lesley Bentley, an elected trustee with St. John's Vancouver Anglican Church.

An average of 780 worshippers go to St. John's on Vancouver's West Side each Sunday, making it the largest Anglican congregation in the country, she said.

"We're willing to adapt to certain things, but we can't betray our faith. So we may have to leave the building."

Two previous interim court rulings around the same issue — in the diocese of Niagara in Ontario, and the diocese of British Columbia, on Vancouver Island — also went against the dissidents.