"On April 1, all the wardens and trustees will be in the church. If Mr. Lemon shows up with the intention of taking over the church, we'll call the police," Mayo says.

Last year, Mayo and many of his congregation left the Anglican Church of Canada to protest Bishop Michael Ingham's decision to allow the blessing of same-sex couples.

The disaffected congregation linked itself to a remote African diocese -- the Rwandan Anglican church -- under Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini.

They renamed the Pender Harbour parish Christ the Redeemer and continued to use the church buildings and land.

Mayo says Christ the Redeemer has a strong legal case for possession of the church, based on the "beneficial ownership" argument often used in divorce cases.

"People in our congregation are the ones who bought, paid for and maintained the building," Mayo says. "We're just going to stay."

He conceded, though, that "if they get a court order from a judge, we will peacefully depart."

Meanwhile, at St. Simon's in North Vancouver, Rev. Ed Hird is up against a similar deadline to depart his church.

Hird leads one of the 11 congregations that split from the Anglican Church of Canada to form the Anglican Communion in Canada.

Like Mayo, Hird now faces an April 1 ultimatum.

"They're using that old medieval concept that the bishop is almost like a pope or something, where all the assets belong to him," Hird says. "We think we have a very good case that the congregation owns its own assets. We have title deed.

"We're not going to be intimidated by the diocese huffing and puffing."

But Hird and his flock will comply with a court order should it come to that, he says.

"If, at the end of the day, we're thrown out of the building, so be it," Hird said.

His congregation backs his protest. "You cannot believe the Bible and bless same-sex [marriages]," parishioner Stuart Spani told The Province. "What the Bible says is homosexuals and other sinners cannot enter heaven.

"[Homosexuality] is a very unhealthy lifestyle. This is what this country is pushing like mad. It destroyed the Roman empire, the Greek empire and the Persian empire. Are we heading in the same direction?"

According to George Cadman, legal officer for the diocese, the diocese will seek a court order to evict Mayo, Hird and their congregations if they're not out of the church by April 1.

"They are part of a breakaway faction and would like to stay in premises that they have no right to occupy," Cadman says.

"Every avenue of reconciliation was pursued, and this step has been required because of their actions."

Cadman noted that the "vast majority" of parishes in Ingham's diocese have not authorized same-sex blessing.

Steve Schuh, president of Integrity Vancouver, a gay and lesbian Anglican support group, says Mayo and Hird are "scapegoating" gays and lesbians as they push a broader conservative social agenda.

"The real differences come down to mostly cultural differences around the ordination of women, around the inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the church," Schuh says.

The B.C. battle reflects a worldwide debate among Anglicans over issues involving homosexuality. Conservative Anglicans, including many in Africa and Asia, are disturbed by the Diocese of New Westminster's decision to allow priests to bless gay couples, and by the ordination of an openly gay bishop in the U.S. Episcopal Church.

In February, senior Anglican bishops from around the world demanded that the Canadian and U.S. bishops refrain from attending the church's deliberative assembly and demanded a Canadian apology for Ingham's approval of same-sex blessings.

Ingham's churches represent about 6,000 people out of some 77 million Anglicans worldwide.

"Why should 6,000 individuals on the West Coast be able to reinvent the rules?" Hird asked.

END