Bishops narrowly overturn vote to approve gay unions

MICHAEL VALPY
Toronoto Globe and Mail
June 25, 2007

A razor-thin majority of Canada's Anglican bishops yesterday overrode the wishes of their laity and clergy and vetoed a resolution that would have allowed for blessings of homosexual unions.

The bishops' action will spare the Canadian church from censure by leaders of other branches of the global Anglican Communion, almost all of whom are vehemently opposed to blessing same-sex unions and permitting priests to be in open homosexual relationships.

But it will anger many Canadian Anglicans, particularly in large urban centres, and isolate the U.S. Episcopal Church, which alone in the worldwide Anglican Communion has approved a liturgy for same-sex blessings and appointed an openly gay bishop.

Click here to read the rest.

Anglican Church of Canada shies away from blessing same sex unions

Winnipeg Free Press
By Jen Skerritt

Some members of the Anglican Church of Canada were left in tears Sunday, after a motion to bless same-sex unions lost by only two votes.

The motion was supported by the majority of clergy and laity at the group’s national meeting, but two bishops who opposed the idea were the deciding factor. The motion was defeated by 21-19.

The decision shocked many same-sex supporters who thought the motion would pass since earlier in the day Anglicans voted same-sex blessings were not in conflict with the church’s doctrine.

Chris Ambidge, national spokesman for an Anglican group that supports same-sex unions, said the national meeting sent mixed messages to Anglicans across Canada and was confusing to everyone who voted.

"What is wrong with having rights of blessing when you’ve already said it's OK?" he said. "I just don’t understand that."

snip

Bishop Peter Coffin voted to support same-sex unions, and said he's going to have a hard time breaking the news to his congregation. Coffin said he's appalled the church is talking about gay and lesbian members without discussing the issue with them directly. "I'm just dreaming up what I'm going to say (to my congregation)," he said. "It's going to be hurtful."

Ambidge said the ruling that same-sex blessings aren't in conflict with the church's core doctrine was a bit of good news that proves the church will eventually change its mind on the issue.

"The head of the baby is out, so the rest is coming," Ambidge said.

Click here to read the entire article.

Synod narrowly defeats same-sex blessings

Solange De Santis
staff writer, Angican Journal
Jun 24, 2007
Winnipeg

Canadian Anglicans, meeting at their General Synod governing convention, voted by the slimmest of margins to defeat a proposal that would have permitted church blessing rites for gay couples.

However, on the same day, the synod – also by a narrow margin – agreed that such blessings are "not in conflict with the core doctrine" of the church. Much of the sixth day of the synod was taken up with debate on the two questions, with dozens of people approaching microphones in the plenary hall to voice emotional opinions.

Proponents of the measure said Bible verses that seem to condemn homosexuality do not address faithful, loving relationships and that God and Christ’s love includes gay people and their relationships. They also called upon the Canadian church to show leadership and give hope to gay people in countries where they are oppressed and they noted that gay marriage is a legal reality in Canada. Clergy and bishops wanting blessings talked of widespread disobedience of a "no" vote.

snip

"There is disappointment – a lot of pain. Some people will be saying 'How long, O Lord, how long?'" said Bishop Fred Hiltz of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, who is the incoming primate or national archbishop. When asked how he might maintain discipline among clergy and bishops who want to move forward, he said, "My sense is that, as painful as these realities are, we do have a responsibility to respect the decisions of General Synod. It’s not the last time this will come up."

snip

"I am not upset. The tide is moving (toward approval). The first motion (concerning doctrine) makes a theological space for gay and lesbian people in the church," said Ron Chaplin, a Synod observer who is a member of the Ottawa branch of Integrity, a gay Anglican support group.

Click here to read the entire article.

Canadian Synod Inches Towards Gay Blessings

By Guardian Unlimited
Published: 6/24/2007

Anglicans decide they are not breaching doctrine - Vote could worsen split in worldwide communion

Canadian Anglicans took a significant step towards endorsing gay partnerships at their synod in Winnipeg yesterday by voting after prolonged debate that they did not believe that they were in conflict with core church doctrine.

The move is likely to send waves through the worldwide Anglican communion, already teetering on the brink of schism over the third largest Christian denomination's attitude towards its homosexual and lesbian members.

Following hours of debate spread over two days, repeated attempts by Canadian conservatives to delay the move, or to change the size of the majority required under church rules to carry the motion, were headed off. Later yesterday the synod was moving on to debate whether dioceses could authorize services of blessing for committed same-sex couples.

Canada's Anglican bishops last night issued a statement saying: "While not all bishops can conceive of condoning or blessing same-sex unions, we believe it is not only appropriate but a Gospel imperative to pray with the whole people of God, no matter their circumstances ... to refuse to pray with any person is to suggest God is not with them."

Church leaders were pleased with the move. Among those voting in favor was the incoming primate, archbishop-elect Fred Hiltz, elected by lay and clergy synod members on Friday, largely because he was believed to be liberal on the issue.

Click here to read the rest.

Blessing of same-sex unions defeated

Winnipeg, June 24, 2007 -- The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada has narrowly defeated a resolution that would have allowed dioceses to decide for themselves whether or not to bless same-sex unions.

Lay delegates voted 78 to 59 in favor of the motion and clergy voted 63 to 53 in favor But the House of Bishops voted 21-19 against it. As a result the motion was defeated, since it required approval by each of the three orders to pass.

The motion read:

"That this General Synod affirm the authority and jurisdiction of any diocesan synod,

a. with the concurrence of the diocesan bishop, and
b. in a manner which respects the conscience of the incumbent and the will of the parish,

to authorize the blessing of committed same-sex unions."

Source: http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2007-06-24_ssb.news

Same-sex blessings not in conflict with core doctrine

Winnipeg, June 24, 2007 -- Members of the Anglican Church of Canada's General Synod in Winnipeg agreed Sunday that the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the church's core doctrine, in the sense of being credal.

Debate resumed Sunday morning after being suspended late Saturday.

The motion carried reads: "That this General Synod resolves that the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine (in the sense of being credal) of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The motion was carried by a vote of 152 for, 97 against in the house of clergy and laity and by a vote of 21 for and 19 against in the house of bishops.

Source: http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2007-06-24_m.news

Sin or sacrament?

Anglicans divided on gay rites
Sun, June 24, 2007
Winnepeg Sun
By CP

WINNIPEG -- The question of whether to bless same-sex unions remained unanswered for Anglicans yesterday, so they will tackle it again today.

Instead of debating the issue last night, delegates at the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada spent hours wrangling over procedural issues.

Canada's outgoing primate, or church leader, seemed somewhat fed up after two hours of discussion about technical issues, and even joked the debate would go more smoothly after a good night's rest.

"It vexes me that Anglicans are prepared to spend more energy in process than substance," said Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, a comment that drew cheers and clapping from the delegates and observers.

snip

Archdeacon Karl McLean, a colonel with the Canadian Forces, said the church should bless same-sex relationships that are monogamous and committed.

"We need to consider and demonstrate God's character, God's love and justice," said McLean.

Rev. Andrew Asbil said about 30% of the people in the area surrounding his church in downtown Toronto identify themselves as gay or lesbian. He urged delegates to accept everyone into the church.

"The time is coming and it is now," said Asbil. "Put sandals on your feet, a staff in your hand and let's go."

Click here to read the entire article.

Debate continues on same-sex blessings

Solange De Santis
staff writer
Anglican Journal
Jun 24, 2007

In its first full day of debate on issues concerning same-sex blessings, the General Synod on June 23 rejected calls that the issue be decided by a greater margin than usual.

snip

The procedural issues took up nearly the entire evening session. Debate and voting on the actual motions were deferred until later in the convention, which ends on June 25.

In the one- hour, 45-minute period, which occasionally got testy, the governing convention successively rejected motions that would have required a two-thirds majority in two successive synods or a 60 per cent majority for approval. It let stand synod’s normal rule that a resolution may be approved by a simple majority of more than 50 per cent. It also defeated motions for a secret ballot and to refer the issues again to a theological commission. Tired after a tense day, delegates also declined to extend the session past 9 p.m.

snip

"I have to come to accept that some people are ordered toward the same gender. The church needs to adjust its views. It has excluded them for too long," said Dorothy Davies-Flindall of the diocese of Ontario.

Click here to read the entire article.

New primate keeps mum about blessings vote

Leanne Larmondin
Editor, Anglican Journal
Jun 22, 2007
Winnipeg

In his first news conference as primate-elect, Fred Hiltz declined to declare his own position on whether the church should allow same-gender couples to have their relationships blessed.

Secular and church media, both from Canada and overseas, tried to pin the primate-elect down on where he stood on the controversial issue which is scheduled to be debated – and perhaps decided – by General Synod on June 23.

But Bishop Hiltz would only voice his support for the "synodical process," or the church’s legal procedures, adding that he believed that the church needed to follow its processes and listen to the recommendations both of the Canadian church’s St. Michael Report (which examined the issue of whether same-sex blessings were a matter of doctrine) and the international Windsor Report, which recommended ways of keeping the Anglican Communion together in spite of deep divisions.

Click here to read the entire article.

Anglican Love Knot

By ANDREW CASH
NOW Magazine
JUNE 21 - 27, 2007 VOL. 26 NO. 42

Leaving his tiara at home, Chris Ambidge is going to miss Pride this year for the first time in two decades. Instead, he's going to parade in altogether different attire, working the floor of the Anglican Church of Canada's general synod, meeting through Monday (June 25).

As president of the Toronto chapter of Integrity, an international org of gay and lesbian Anglicans, Ambidge will go to Winnipeg to persuade his fellow church people that the sky won't fall if his Church allows the blessing of same-sex marriages.

"The Anglican Church baptized me, and they're stuck with me just as I'm stuck with those the Church baptized whom I oppose," he tells me. "But I am getting impatient, because I've worked on this for 20 years. We now have same-sex civil marriages in Canada, and civilization has not fallen apart."

snip

Ambidge likens the conservative pressures to being on a ship going through a storm. "You have to lighten the load to get through, so you decide to toss the gays and lesbians overboard."

Click here to read the entire article.

Anglicans, Lutherans to debate same-sex rights

By Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2007

WINNIPEG - The Anglican church and the Evangelical Lutheran church are gathering in this warm Prairie city for the next three days to make contentious decisions over how far to go to sanction homosexual relationships.

snip

Today, both [Bishop Michael] Ingham and Stephen Schuh, a gay Anglican from Vancouver, put forward a motion calling on the synod to affirm it will still be acceptable for him to continue to sanction same-sex blessings in his diocese - no matter what delegates decide this week, probably on Saturday, to do on a national basis.

At a fancy new hotel across the street from the dowdy old one where Anglican delegates are meeting in downtown Winnipeg, Anglican Essentials, a conservative group within the Canadian Anglican denomination, has set up a deluxe facility to serve its members and the secular media, which includes journalists from Britain and the U.S.

Rev. Ian Ritchie, a priest from Ontario who has served in Africa and works with Anglican Essentials, said there could be a "disaster" in the global Anglican communion if delegates voted to approve of what Ingham has done in his Vancouver-area diocese, where almost 20 same-sex rites have been conducted.

The top Anglican in Canada, outgoing Primate Andrew Hutchinson, told delegates today that these are "difficult days" in the worldwide Anglican denomination.

"We are a family of autonomous churches held together by bonds of affection that have frequently been strained, and often mended," Hutchinson said.

Even though there will be disagreement over the same-sex issue, he said it should not divide the Anglican communion.

Click here to read the entire article.

Primatial address opens 38th General Synod of The Anglican Church of Canada

ACNS CANADA 20 JUNE 2007

An excerpt...

The Windsor Report:

We have been asked to respond to the Windsor Report, as have all the Churches of the Anglican Communion. It is offered as a way for our family of churches to move ahead together in mission, maximizing our intercommunion in the face of diversity. Recommendations for action will come before us from the Windsor Report Response Group chaired by Dr. Patricia Bays.

St. Michael Report:

Following the last Synod, and at its request, I asked the Primate's Theological Commission to consider whether the blessing of same-sex relationships is a matter of doctrine or not, and to report their findings to the Council of General Synod. Their conclusions are in the St. Michael Report, which comes before you with a motion commended to us by the Council.

Our department of Faith, Worship & Ministry, under the direction of Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, has been kept particularly busy during the triennium staffing both the Theological Commission and the Windsor Response Group, supervising a new Youth Ministry Coordinator, and organizing an excellent national conference on healthy parishes.

Issues Related to Blessings:

Certainly one of the most difficult items for our discernment will be the question of how to proceed on the issue of same-gender relationships. Related to it are other questions. One is the deeper question of how Anglicans receive and understand Scriptures in the light of modern scholarship and contemporary experience. Another is how our decisions will impact our sister churches in the Anglican Communion. And beside that is a question as to the nature of the Communion, and the appropriate relationship between provincial autonomy and global interdependence.

Another way of putting that is, how do we wish authority to be exercised or limited within our family of churches? And perhaps most important, how will our decisions witness to the Good News of God in Jesus Christ for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters within the Church and outside it. There are of course many other questions to consider in the hard work of discernment over this issue. We are taught that the first principle of moral theology is obedience to conscience, and I ask each of you to embrace that principle, and with it the ethic of respect for the conscience of those who disagree with your own. The second principle of moral theology is to inform your conscience to bring it, if possible, into line with the teaching of the Church. And here careful listening using the Anglican approach of Scripture, Tradition and Reason will be helpful.

At the end of the day, when decisions are made, they will not be unanimous. Differences will remain, but the unanimous opinion of the Theological Commission (and of many other sources) is that the question of same-gender blessings should not be a communion breaking issue. So the alternative to that is that in keeping with a long Anglican tradition, we make room at the table for those whose views we do not share. For the table is the Lord's and not our own. And it is He who invites us to share the life that is offered there for the sins of the whole world.

Click here to read the entire address.

Holy Trinity's Resolution

Yesterday I posted a story from the Toronto Star about Holy Trinity's resolution to continue blessing and marrying same-gender couples.

Here is a copy of the actual resolution...

Motion passed by the Church of the Holy Trinity
at a Special Vestry held May 27, 2007

The Church of the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square,
Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1B1, 416-598-4521

Whereas God finds a resting place in love genuinely expressed between two people;

Whereas Jesus' ministry embraced an inclusive solidarity with those who were alienated and excluded by the dominant culture of his day;

Whereas the Gospel value of loving one's neighbour involves acting with, not simply standing beside, those seeking justice;

Whereas providing an equal pastoral response to same-sex couples who present themselves for blessing or marriage as to couples of the opposite sex is a matter of conscience and integrity for the clergy and people of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto;

Whereas in 1976, through the conscience clause passed by General Synod regarding the ordination of women (permitting persons to continue to act
out of their conscience in ways no longer consistent with the General Synod), the Anglican Church of Canada recognized "the tolerability of
living with an anomaly";

Whereas General Synod 2007 is poised to make a decision as to the acceptability of the blessing of same-sex unions in the Anglican Church of
Canada;

Be it resolved that the Church of the Holy Trinity will, with the intention of remaining in the Anglican Church of Canada and the communion, continue to exercise its conscience and bless same-sex unions and marry same-sex couples.

Canadian Anglicans Prepare To Vote On Same-Sex Blessings

by The Canadian Press
Posted: June 19, 2007 - 5:00 pm ET

(Winnipeg, Manitoba) Planning a wedding is usually complicated, taking months to sort out a seemingly endless parade of details.

For Frank Kajfes, 60, the months leading up to the big day with Bryan Wannop, his partner of 30 years, were difficult for another reason.

As Anglicans, it was important to Kajfes and Wannop, 70, to have a religious component to their wedding. Since the church doesn't allow its priests to bless same-sex unions, having Kajfes and Wannop at the altar on their wedding day was a delicate matter.

Church leaders came up with a clever compromise.

Before they were legally married by a Federal Court judge at the end of a regular Sunday mass, they were prayed for by the entire congregation of St. John the Evangelist in Ottawa _ instead of just the priest.

"They were blessing us, not our marriage. That was a technical point," said Kajfes, who's now retired after teaching for 37 years.

"It was the closest thing they could do without contravening the bishop's directives."

The Anglican Church has so far refused to allow priests to bless same-sex unions. Kajfes is happy with the way his wedding turned out, but says the church is still failing its gay members.

"We will continued to be marginalized, and we will be second-class citizens in the Anglican Church."

If Kajfes and Wannop had waited just one more year, there's a chance their wedding might have been different. The Anglican Church of Canada will vote on blessing same-sex unions this week at its General Synod in Winnipeg.

Click here to read the rest.

Same-sex blessings at Holy Trinity

Church contemplates even performing gay wedding ceremonies
Jun 19, 2007 04:30 AM
Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics Reporter
Toronto Star

Toronto's historic Church of the Holy Trinity says it will defy any attempt by the Anglican Church of Canada to stop the blessing of same sex unions, and may even start performing the wedding ceremonies themselves.

In a resolution released late Sunday, members of the activist downtown church voted to "continue to exercise its conscience and bless same-sex unions and marry same-sex couples."

Rev. Jim Ferry, fired by the Anglican Church 15 years ago for being gay but since given limited duties at Holy Trinity, says the parish has long supported same sex blessings, and predicted it will soon take the next step of performing a gay marriage ceremony.

"I think we're going to be consistent and move in that direction," Ferry told the Star. "Our parish is not about to go backwards."

Click here to read the rest.

It's time for Anglicans to bless same-sex partnerships

By Archbishop Terence Finlay, (retired Anglican Archbishop of Toronto)

The Anglican Church of Canada has been far behind the governments and courts of this country in recognizing the rights and privileges of same-sex partnerships. Although the church has passed statements of welcome and support, same-sex couples have not been able to have their commitment to one another blessed within their parish church.

This month the national decision-making body of the Anglican Church of Canada will meet in Winnipeg and one of the agenda items could open up an option for supportive dioceses to bless same-sex partnerships. If, however, this option is denied again there will be a call for more study and more discussion even though the Anglican Church in Canada has studied and debated this issue for over 30 years.

Caution has held sway over the decades because it is a divisive issue for Christian traditionalists and because the Anglican Church has to work within a vast international communion that struggles with cross-cultural tensions.

To many in the secular world this rift within Anglicanism may seem unimportant: a sign of yet another moribund institution unable to ‘keep up with the times’. Not so; this struggle is much more broadly instructive because it is about the risks –and promises – of communal decision-making. It is about the openness that societal organizations must allow for successful local autonomy, while at the same time fostering a broader sense of identity and kinship with those from whom they differ.

Canadians have developed this capacity because we cherish a shared national identity while valuing the multitude of regional, cultural and linguistic differences across this vast land. Similarly, Canadians have a legacy of peacemaking and keeping international communication open while finding appropriate ways to support the needs of Canadians.

So it is fitting that Canadian Anglicans take the next step in allowing dioceses to differentiate according to their specific needs and calls to ministry. We know that some dioceses in Canada now wish to offer God’s blessing on the committed and enduring love between two people who happen to be of the same sex. This will challenge the norms of some other parts of our international Anglican family. The Canadian church may have to cope with the possibility of being considered “outsiders” for a while in the Anglican Communion.

Then again, those who are fundamentalists in the Communion and who are working to split our international fellowship may have to rethink their divisive approach to what has long been an understanding of mutual responsibility and interdependence.

Over the years the Anglican Church has not always been perfect of course, but with other faith communities it has actively responded to the needs of society in ways that are often quiet and unnoticed. When street people need shelter and food, when food banks are a necessity, when threatened refugees need sponsorship … the Anglican Church is there. When foreign debt load immobilizes struggling economies, our churches are often leaders in advocacy at the international level. When justice is ignored and people are oppressed and suffering, it is often the churches that speak up and bring the injustice to public attention.

It is not as if the Anglican Church is unable to face challenges and look for compassionate ways to deal with tradition and controversy. Our denomination studied and eventually allowed divorcées to remarry even though the Scriptures are quite clearly on the other side of this issue. The introduction of contemporary language worship options alienated those preferring a more traditional experience, but both moved ahead. A few years ago some parishes were reluctant to administer Holy Communion to persons diagnosed with HIV. Now the churches are at the forefront working in countries where AIDS is devastating populations. The Anglican Church has apologized for the shameful experiences of indigenous people in residential schools and accepted its financial and healing responsibilities to Canada’s aboriginal peoples.

We are a church that appreciates diversity and responds to injustice and oppression. In the defining moments that lie ahead, the profound hope of many Anglicans is that the Canadian church will remain steadfast in its commitment to justice and support the blessing of same-sex partnerships. Centuries ago our Teacher called us to serve the needs of our diverse communities with compassion and now is the time for a courageous decision.

It is always a conundrum why the church community in general is so fixated on sexual matters. It is difficult to comprehend why so much time and energy goes into discussions, debates, reports and commissions about whether two faithful people who love each other and sit in pews as loyal Anglicans can or cannot be recognized as equally worthy of having their partnership valued just as any other members of the parish community.

We live in a world where matters of life-threatening urgency and profound suffering need the attention and resources of our church. Yet there are some who are diverting attention away from these essential issues to focus on the lives of people who just want to be faithful and love each other.

Surely we can overcome caution and uncertainty to build communities of compassion and hope and justice just as that young rabbi from Nazareth taught us so clearly.

Now is the time for the Anglican Church of Canada to say “YES” to the blessing of faithful, committed same-sex partnerships.

Read it all here

Some Anglican gays switching churches, as same-sex vote looms

Andrea Sands, CanWest News Service; Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, June 17, 2007

EDMONTON - While the Anglican Church of Canada prepares to vote this week on whether to let priests bless same-sex couples, a relaxed Christopher McBain is celebrating Edmonton's gay pride week with members of his new church.

The former Anglican marched Saturday in the gay pride parade behind a banner for the Robertson-Wesley United Church, a church that welcomes gay, lesbian and transgendered people.

After 15 years as an Anglican, McBain left that church in April 2006.

"I left because of the gay issue," said McBain, who said he never felt comfortable telling people in the Anglican Church he is gay.

The Anglican church's longtime indecision over the issue has served to alienate supporters on both sides, McBain said.

"I'll certainly celebrate with them if they are able to make a decision in favour of gay and lesbian rights, but it certainly won't affect where I worship. It's too little, too late," said McBain, 27.

Click here to read the rest.

His house divided

Canadian Anglican Church confronts the issue of homosexuality
Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, June 16, 2007

The transcontinental conflict between what is being called the "Global North" and "Global South" of the Anglican communion provides the crucial backdrop to next week's gathering of Canadian Anglican delegates in Winnipeg.

Same-sex blessings will likely dominate the convention, even though both sides would just like to see it go away, as long as it's resolved in their favour.

The Vancouver-area diocese, under the leadership of the progressive bishop, Michael Ingham, will be at the forefront of delegates' minds -- as the entire Canadian Anglican church decides whether to follow the diocese's lead and allow local dioceses to approve the blessing of same-sex relationships.

The worldwide Anglican church will also be watching how Canadian delegates respond to Ingham's longtime advocacy of gay and lesbian spiritual quality -- since more than one well-placed observer say what happens in Canada, with up to 800,000 members on the rolls, could well be the harbinger of the future for the entire, fractured Anglican communion.

snip

Judging from past gatherings, the Anglican Church of Canada's general synod in Winnipeg is likely to be replete with arcane legalistic procedures and complex manoeuvring.

Canada's theologically conservative and liberal Anglicans will confront each other, usually in polite language, over how to proceed with a vote over whether to give local dioceses the power to bless same-sex relationships.

Vancouver's diocese has already forged ahead on the issue, in recent years quietly conducting dozens of the rites for gays and lesbians.

snip

Rev. Peter Elliott, rector of Vancouver's liberal Christ Church Cathedral, will have a uniquely important insider's position when the synod meets.

Not only is Elliott an openly gay priest in a committed relationship, he was elected three years ago to be the "prolecutor" of the synod.

That means he'll be the second-highest elected official at the convention, working as co-chairman beside Primate Andrew Hutchinson, of Montreal.

Click here to read the entire article.

Anglicans gather as threat of schism looms

Richard Foot, CanWest News Service

Trapped for more than a decade inside a wrenching cyclone of doctrinal disputes, the Anglican Church of Canada will try to chart a path through the storm at a historic meeting in Winnipeg.

More than 400 bishops, clergy and ordinary members of Canada's oldest Protestant church will convene on Monday for the church's General Synod - the first such national meeting in three years - to elect a new Canadian leader and to vote on whether to let priests bless the partnerships of same-sex couples.

snip

For gay and lesbian Anglicans, however, the same-sex issue is itself a core question, and some say if the church rejects the idea, significant numbers of clerics in Canada will simply perform blessings anyway, creating the conditions for schism.

That in turn could lead to debilitating rounds of litigation, as priests and parishes on either side of the dispute battle in the courts over Anglican properties and financial assets.

Chris Ambidge, who leads the Toronto chapter of Integrity, a group of gay and lesbian Anglicans, acknowledges that same-sex couples could simply get married outside the church, or transfer their worship, as many already have, to more welcoming denominations such as the United Church.

But Ambidge says many couples have personal allegiances to local Anglican churches, and have a real need for public recognition of their relationships in their own parishes.

"Why are we asking for church 'blessings' in a country where we can already be legally married?" Ambidge says. "Because there's a pastoral emergency - there are Christians who are getting older, who want to be married in church, but who are willing to settle for blessings now, and the church needs to minister pastorally to them."

Click here to read the entire article.

Anglicans seek decision on whether blessings are a matter of doctrine

MIRKO PETRICEVIC
The Record
(Jun 16, 2007)

When Anglican delegates adjourned their last national meeting, held in St. Catharines in 2004, they left some unfinished business.

A move to affirm the authority of each diocese to allow the blessing of same-sex relationships was put off until next week's General Synod in Winnipeg.

Delegates delayed the motion so that the church could study whether same-sex blessings were a matter of doctrine.

snip

[A] team of 12 Anglican theologians in Canada met to hammer out whether or not the issue of same-sex blessings is a matter of doctrine.

If it's doctrine, it would be a matter of canon law and to change it, would require two-thirds' majority votes at two consecutive synods.

The theological commission concluded, in a document dubbed the St. Michael Report, that it's a matter of doctrine, but not core doctrine in a sense of being part of the historic creeds of Christian belief (Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian creeds).

Several contentious motions at next week's General Synod focus on same-sex blessings.

One motion, if approved, would affirm the St. Michael Report's conclusion that same-sex blessings are an issue of doctrine, but not core doctrine.

There's also a proposal to require 60 per cent majorities -- in each of the clergy and lay delegate subgroups and possibly 60 per cent majority by dioceses -- for approving the following two motions:

• Same-sex blessings is consistent with core doctrine of the Anglican Church of Canada;
• Affirm the authority and jurisdiction of each diocese to extend blessings to same-sex couples (the resolution deferred from 2004).

The resolution to increase the required majorities to 60 per cent would set the bar higher than the 51 per cent required for regular motions.

snip

Last month, bishops across Canada issued a statement urging pastoral care, including administering baptism to children of homosexual parishioners.

They also suggest it's possible for a congregation to celebrate the Eucharist with a homosexual couple in recognition of their civil marriage.

But the bishops advised stopping short of extending nuptial blessings or having couples exchange vows.

The bishops reiterated that the church's doctrine doesn't allow for blessings of same-sex unions, but noted that could change at General Synod.

Rev. Gerry Mueller said he suspects delegates will devise some kind of a compromise.

Click here to read the entire article