Anglican Church of Canada general secretary Michael Pollesel.

The vote will take place during the General Synod, which meets every three years, and is the chief governing mechanism of the denomination in Canada. This year’s synod will meet June 19 – 25 in Winnipeg.

The controversial resolution is one of five on the topic that were agreed on by the Council of General Synod at a meeting March 8 – 11 in Mississauga, Ontario. The Council is a smaller body that serves as an executive between meetings of the General Synod.

The same-sex resolution, if passed, could sever the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) from many other national bodies throughout the worldwide Anglican communion; and it could cause some Canadian members to leave the church.

Heartfelt debate

Michael Pollesel, general secretary of the General Synod, told BCCN he expects “a heartfelt and deeply searching debate.” Noting Council resolutions are turned down by General Synod “all the time,” he added: “How it’s going to end, I couldn’t say.”

One thing Pollesel said he is sure of, however, is that “there will be pain. From what I can see, it’s a no-win situation.”

Changes to official ACC doctrines must be approved by a two-thirds majority of laypeople and clergy, voting at two General Synods. One member of the Council observed that this would be “very hard to achieve.”

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, primate of the ACC, suggested the 2007 synod should make a clear decision and not put the matter off another three years – which a canonical change would require.

The Council thus concluded that the issue is a matter of “pastoral discipline” rather than doctrine, and that it could therefore be dealt with by the simple statement that blessing same-sex unions “is consistent with the core doctrine” of the ACC.

Pollesel said the resolution would likely be understood to be in opposition to the Tanzania Communique, in which the primates convening in Africa earlier this year gave the U.S. branch of the church until September 30.

Pollesel said conservative primates might well decide they are no longer “in communion” with the ACC – or with the Episcopal Church of the USA, which recently voted to defy the Tanzania Communique.

Jurisdiction

Pollesel noted the other primates have no authority to expel the ACC and Episcopal churches from the worldwide communion, or to force those churches to change their stance on homosexuality. “The primates have no jurisdictional authority within Canada,” he said. “They can’t say we are not in communion with them, but they can say that they are not in communion with us.”

Pollesel said a break in communion might mean that national Anglican bodies in developing countries would refuse money from the ACC, and that “unfortunately the ones who would likely suffer are at the grassroots.” Currently, aid to Anglicans in developing countries is the second-largest item in the ACC’s annual $10 million budget.

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If the resolutions were to pass, Pollesel said “some parishes and/or some members would remove themselves from the Anglican Church of Canada.” However, he noted that some people in favour of same-sex blessings have “probably” already left the church, out of frustration with the slowness of the process.

Buildings

One complication is that all church buildings are owned by the dioceses; any parishes that left the denomination would have to leave their buildings behind. Pollesel said he does not expect any whole dioceses to withdraw from the denomination in Canada, although two or three are apparently considering leaving the U.S. church.

The ACC website states there are 800,000 Anglicans in 30 dioceses in Canada. However, Sunday morning attendance is thought to be only about a quarter of that.

Ed Hird, B.C.-based communications officer for the Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC), called the new resolutions “strange.”

The ACiC is a group of 10 churches which operate in Canada, but outside of the ACC. Most of them withdrew from the ACC over the Diocese of New Westminster’s decision to bless same-sex unions five years ago. These 10 churches are now part of the Anglican Mission in the Americas – a coalition of about 110 churches, under the authority of the Archbishop of Rwanda.

Hird said there are “many biblically orthodox Anglicans in Canada,” including parishes and individuals who have remained within the ACC and are working to maintain traditional Anglican doctrines. Hird said the ACiC is in a “common cause network” with Anglican Essentials, a movement that represents Anglicans who have remained within the Canadian church.

Scripture

Hird said the deeper issues are “the authority of scripture and the Lordship of Jesus Christ” and that homosexuality is only one aspect of the disagreement.

Hird also noted that parishes which joined the ACiC paid a heavy price, by giving up their buildings. However, he said it was worth it, because they are “no longer under a dark cloud of uncertainty,” and “glad to be free.”

Hird said it is going to be “very costly for the global South primates to stop taking American money.” However, he noted many have already set up their own theological schools because they no longer trust North American-funded theological education.

He added that most Anglicans now live in the South but “the Western church does not want to share power” and that a lot of the money donated by the Western church was “controlled money.”

Hird maintained the global south churches are “exploding with growth,” while “the Western church is shrinking and aging.” He concluded: “Money isn’t everything. The gospel is worth the cost.”             – Jim Coggins

May 2007