By Marites N. Sison
October 23, 2008
[Anglican Journal] The assembly of the Anglican Parishes of the Central Interior (APCI) has requested its bishop, Gordon Light, to allow clergy whose conscience permits to bless civilly married gay couples where at least one party is baptized. The assembly passed the motion when it met October 17-19.
A notice of a similar motion was filed at the synod of the Diocese of Ontario but was declared out of order by the diocesan bishop, George Bruce, who acted on the advice of the diocesan chancellor (legal advisor). The ruling was appealed at the synod held October 16-18 but was upheld by a majority vote of delegates.
At the APCI assembly, Light gave concurrence to the motion but suspended any action pending consultations with the Canadian House of Bishops, which meets October 27-31 to discuss, among other things, how best to respond to renewed proposals for moratoria on the blessing of same-sex unions, the ordination of persons living in same-sex unions to the episcopate, and cross-border interventions.
Since the 2007 General Synod, four dioceses have already passed similar motions -- Ottawa, Montreal, Niagara, and Huron. The diocesan synod of New Westminster approved same-sex blessings in 2002.
Of the 50 clergy and lay delegates at the APCI assembly, 36 voted yes (72 percent), 10 voted no (20 percent), and four (8 percent) abstained. APCI is composed of 18 parishes (including 35 congregations) which was constituted after the former Diocese of Cariboo closed its diocesan office in 2001 because of financial pressures surrounding lawsuits about abuse at the St. George's Indian Residential School in Lytton, British Columbia.
"We had a very respectful discussion. All voices were heard," said the Rev. Susan Hermanson, rector of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Williams Lake, who moved the motion. She said that approval of the motion "allows us to accept gays and lesbians fully as part of our family and, as in all families, we can disagree with one another and still be part of the family."
In a telephone interview, she added that the motion was also meant to "take a reading" of where APCI was on the issue. She noted that in 2000, the diocesan synod of Cariboo had approved a motion affirming the full inclusion of gay and lesbian couples in the life of the church. Since then, parishes have been discussing and studying the issue further, she said. "We have, in fact, been discussing this issue for the last 30 years now," she said.
In her written background and explanation, Hermanson noted that APCI "is a diverse community and therefore respects and honors those who, because of their theological position or as a matter of conscience, cannot agree with the blessing of same-sex unions."
Anglicans opposed to same-sex blessings believe that homosexuality is contrary to scripture and to Anglican teaching. To date, 14 of about 2,800 congregations have left the Canadian Anglican church over theological disagreements over homosexuality. These churches have joined a group called the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and placed themselves under the episcopal oversight of the primate of the South America-based Province of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Gregory Venables.
Meanwhile, Bruce said he referred the notice of motion to approve same-sex blessings to the diocesan chancellor (legal advisor) to determine "whether what it sought was within the authority of both synod and myself as bishop."
In his charge to the synod, Bruce said that the chancellor had advised him that the motion is ultra vires (beyond the power) of both him and the synod. "Firstly, because at its inception, matters relating to doctrine were ceded by dioceses to the General Synod and secondly, as you heard, General Synod 2007 clearly affirmed that blessing same-sex unions was a matter of doctrine," he said. "Therefore, until such time as the General Synod addresses the question of whether the theology of marriage can be extended to all legally qualified persons and decides for or against amending Canon XXI (the national church canon on marriage), the request made in this motion remains within the authority of General Synod."
At its triennial meeting in June 2007, General Synod, the Anglican Church of Canada's national governing body, agreed that same-sex blessings are "not in conflict" with core church doctrine, but declined by a slim margin to affirm the authority of dioceses to offer them.
Nathan Brinklow, who filed the motion and is a parishioner of St. Thomas', Belleville, Ontario, said he was "disappointed but not surprised" by the synod's decision. "I am a little concerned that [the] bishop so obviously ignored the precedent set by several other dioceses when we're all interpreting the same Constitution and canons," he said. "There is a growing level of frustration amongst many that we've run out of ways to put this decision off. We either need to move forward and practice what we preach or we need to own up to the way things really are and stop pretending we're something we're not."
While the motion was declared out of order, the synod of Ontario engaged in indaba group discussions designed "to help us discern God's will around same-sex matters," said Bruce. (Indaba, which is Zulu for "a gathering for purposeful discussion," was a process used at the recent Lambeth Conference of bishops.)
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