A new Anglican publication aimed at offering a more conservative alternative to the official church newspaper is spurring controversy and has been banned by a Manitoba bishop.

Bishop Jim Njegovan of the Diocese of Brandon said the upstart Anglican Planet is "sowing the seeds of distrust and disdain within the Church, and that the publishers have no respect for those in authority over them."

He has banned the monthly newspaper, which launched in May, in his parishes. "As bishop, I do not endorse any such material. Nor do I wish to see it distributed in, or to, our parishes."

Reverend David Harris, a parish priest in Charlottetown who co-edits the new publication, said the censorship has only served to make the Anglican Church of Canada's establishment look bad.

"I think he's just going to regret it," said Harris.

"You know, in the modern age the list of forbidden books and the Inquisition ended a long time ago."

He said the Anglican Planet sprang from a brainstorming session at a 2004 conference of the Anglican Essentials Canada, an orthodox movement within the church.

The founders felt the church's official publication, the Toronto-based Anglican Journal, was too liberal and tended to ignore conservative voices from the rest of Canada.

Harris said the group wanted to present more conservative viewpoints on topics such as same-sex marriage.

"The whole issue of human sexuality is a big issue that needs to be talked about from every side. And if a certain group bullies their way into it, then there's no real solution to the problem."

The founders also realized that although the Anglican Church of Canada had been around for 200 years, it only had one newspaper.

So far, they've put out three editions of the Anglican Planet, published in the Maritimes by St. Peter Publications.

They said the response has been far greater than they were expecting.

"We're getting letters from people saying they just feel refreshed by another voice within the Anglican Church of Canada," said Harris.

He said publishers expected about 600 people to subscribe but so far more than 5,000 people have signed up.