Anglicans endorse, restrict the spread of same-sex blessings

By Peter T. Chattaway

THE NUMBER of Anglican parishes authorized to bless same-sex unions in the Vancouver area rose to eight last Saturday, but no more churches will be allowed to perform such blessings for at least the next two years, following a vote by the Diocese of New Westminster's annual synod to wait and see how the Anglican Church of Canada will deal with the issue when it meets for its next General Synod in 2007.

The diocese adopted the partial moratorium as part of a formal response to the Windsor Report, a document issued last October by Anglican leaders from around the world who were charged with finding a way to maintain church unity while resolving controversial issues such as the debate over homosexuality.

The debate -- spurred by New Westminster Bishop Michael Ingham's decision to permit the blessing of same-sex unions in June 2002, and by the election of the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire in June 2003 -- has prompted talk of possible schism in the worldwide Anglican communion.

The Windsor Report had called for a full moratorium on same-sex blessings, but the synod overwhelmingly rejected that option. About two-thirds of the delegates also rejected a motion that would have prevented the diocese from imposing any moratorium at all.

After the synod voted in favour of the partial moratorium, Ingham announced that he would allow St. Barnabas in New Westminster to become the eighth parish to perform same-sex blessings.

Ingham said the parish had requested permission to perform such blessings about a month before the synod, but he withheld his approval "because I did not wish to place any pressure on this discussion, or be seen to be leading the debate one way or the other."

He said it was "only right and fair" to grant permission to St. Barnabas because the parish had complied with the rules that were in place when they made their request. "And there we will rest for the time being, until the General Synod makes its own decisions."

Compromise and debate

The partial moratorium was proposed as part of a larger official response to the Windsor Report prepared by John Oakes, rector of Holy Trinity in Vancouver, and Richard Leggett, a professor at the Vancouver School of Theology.

Oakes, who described himself as "theologically conservative," said he personally would have preferred a full moratorium. "That would actually be my own position, if I were speaking on my own behalf," he told the synod. "But I'm not."

Oakes said he and Leggett, who he described as "liberal catholic," had proposed the partial moratorium as a way to respect both the worldwide church and local bodies. "It would be irresponsible of us, at this time, to reject the Windsor Report altogether," he said.

He said they worked together on the diocese's response, despite their differences of opinion on same-sex blessings, because they did not think the authors of the Windsor Report "had all the facts right," and because they wanted to "resist" the movement towards a more centralized form of decision-making that is recommended in the Report.

Delegates debated the proposed moratorium for several hours before casting their votes.

Bob Korth, associate priest at Christ Church Cathedral, told delegates their earlier decisions in favour of same-sex blessings had been based on the belief that they were following the Holy Spirit, and he asked them to reject any moratorium whatsoever. "Please do not vote for a moratorium on the guidance of the Holy Spirit," he said.

Kevin Dixon, incumbent at St. Mary's, Kerrisdale, said the diocese's conservative critics would not be impressed by the compromise: "A partial moratorium will be perceived as no moratorium." Another delegate asked the synod "not to lose its nerve."

On the other side of the issue, Harry Dykstra, called for a full moratorium, saying the diocese "has been premature or overstepped its bounds."

Paul Woehrle, rector of St. David's in Tsawwassen, seconded Dykstra's motion. "I realize that the voice I articulated represented a very small minority, and yet I still felt compelled to articulate that today," he told CC.com. "But I think it's out of our hands now, and General Synod 2007 [where the national church will discuss its own response to the Windsor Report] is the concern."

Oakes, who has been involved with the conservative renewal movement Anglican Essentials, agreed that the key battleground would be the national synod in 2007. "It's quite possible when we get to 2007 that there will be action taken at a national level, which will have significant repercussions here locally," he told CC.com.

However, Ingham seemed confident that the diocese's actions would not be undone. After delegates voted by a wide margin for the partial moratorium, Ingham told them the "movement to full equality for homosexual people" was "irreversible in our diocese."

"The decision we've taken today is not to move backwards, and not to repudiate our decisions," he said. "What we have said is, 'We have come this far. Now we must stay here for the time being.' . . . With gentleness of spirit and openness of our hands, we can achieve much more than by insistence on our own rights."

Ingham received a standing ovation when he added: "We have achieved a major statement of justice for members of our church, and we await the day when the whole church will recognize what we have done, and I think I probably won't be in this office when that happens, but I am sure the day will come when the church will say we acted prophetically, we acted well, but today they will say, we acted wisely. Thank you to all members of synod."

National and international developments

The New Westminster synod met just days after several important developments took place on the national and international scenes.

Two weeks before the synod, the Canadian House of Bishops resolved "neither to encourage nor to initiate" the blessing of same-sex unions at least until the General Synod in 2007.

One week before the vote, the Canadian Primate's Theological Commission issued a document, dubbed the 'St. Michael report,' which declared that the blessing of same-sex unions was a "matter of doctrine," though not of "core doctrine."

If this report is accepted by the General Synod, it could mean the blessing of same-sex unions would fall under the jurisdiction of the national church, and not under the jurisdiction of individual dioceses. This could mean Ingham and other bishops would have no authority to authorize same-sex blessings within their parishes.

The Canadian Primate, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, told the New Westminster synod that "our lawyers at the centre" were looking at the 'St. Michael report' and it was "not a foregone conclusion" that General Synod would accept it in 2007.

Hutchison, who left to catch a plane before the synod voted on the moratorium, also told delegates that same-sex blessings were common in some other Anglican jurisdictions, but had not caused the sort of fuss that was sparked by New Westminster's actions, because they were regarded as "pastoral exceptions."

"What distinguishes you in this diocese is not that you bless same-sex gender people -- in fact, you have blessed fewer, I'm quite certain, than have been blessed in England and perhaps even in the Diocese of London," he said.

"But what does distinguish you is that you have put this formally on the agenda of the church, and have discussed it openly and honestly and publicly, and asked the church to make a decision on it. . . . So, hats off to you for putting it on the agenda and dealing with it openly and directly."

Three days before the vote, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, announced that he had appointed Australian Primate Peter Carnley to oversee the "panel of reference" that will examine how parishes at odds with their bishops can receive another form of episcopal oversight. The names of the panel's other members are to be announced within the week.

Ingham told CC.com the panel of reference "will of course have no juridical authority in Canada. The primate said yesterday that he has referred the House of Bishops' document on shared episcopal ministry to that panel of reference. They will be reviewing it. But any conversation that the panel of reference has with Canada will be with the national church, not with the diocese."

Five parishes calling themselves the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) have been asking for an alternative bishop from within the Canadian church ever since Ingham said he would authorize the blessing of same-sex unions in 2002. They walked out of that year's synod and have not attended any of the other synods since then.

One of the motions passed at this year's synod called on all the delegates to "take personal responsibility" for writing to the clergy at the ACiNW parishes, "expressing the desire that they resume their participation in diocesan life."

An ACiNW spokesperson had not returned CC.com's calls at press time.

Another four congregations from the diocese, calling themselves the Anglican Communion in Canada, have left the Anglican Church of Canada altogether. Their clergy are now licensed under the Anglican Archbishop of Rwanda, though the Canadian church does not recognize his authority to license clergy outside his own jurisdiction.