Anglican churches censured over homosexuality debate

By Sue Careless
ChristianWeek

BECAUSE of their liberal positions on homosexuality, the two largest Anglican churches in North America have been suspended for three years from key bodies in the global Anglican Communion. Their suspension could be made permanent in 2008.

The crisis was precipitated in 2002 when the Diocese of New Westminster voted to bless same-sex unions. The following year the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA) consecrated Gene Robinson, a non-celibate homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire; and in 2004, the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) declared homosexual relationships holy.

The North American churches presented arguments for their liberal stance to the Anglican Consultative Council at its June 21 meeting in Nottingham, England. The council was unconvinced, and banished them the next day not only from the council but also from its standing committee and the inter-Anglican finance and administration committee, by a close vote of 30 to 28, with four abstentions.

Andrew Hutchison, the Canadian primate, said in a statement, "We do regret the decision, although we note that it was adopted by an extremely narrow margin. Had our members and our American colleagues been allowed to vote, it would have failed."

Such a tight vote, however, is not likely in the future as the council also decided to include as members all the international primates, most of whom are conservative.

The North American churches were shown some mercy. A motion was defeated that would have banished them from all church bodies.

At a February meeting in Ireland, the international primates -- top Anglican leaders -- asked the Canadian and American churches to "voluntarily withdraw" from the Anglican Consultative Committee until 2008. They were, however, to appear before the Council in June to explain their liberal teachings and practises. During that meeting, almost half of the international primates refused to take daily communion with the primates from North America, causing many to observe that the Communion was in fact already broken.

In April, to show some compliance with the global Communion, the Canadian House of Bishops declared a moratorium on blessing same-sex unions until 2007. However, the Diocese of New Westminster understood the moratorium not to be retroactive, and currently allows eight parishes to bless gay unions.

Within both North American churches there are large orthodox minorities, some of whom claim harassment by their diocesan bishop.

Eight hundred delegates attended a gathering of Anglican Essentials Canada, an 11-year-old coalition of charismatics, evangelicals and anglo-catholics, at Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto June 16-18. At the conference, titled 'An Open Door,' participants were invited to join one of two "complementary" branches within the Essentials movement, the Essentials Federation or the Anglican Network in Canada.

The federation represents Anglicans who "though deeply concerned about the drift away from orthodoxy within their church, believe they are not in impaired or broken communion with the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC) or with their bishop and are able in conscience to participate in their diocese and the ACC." They will press for more orthodox delegates and policies at the next General Synod, which meets in 2007.

The network is for Anglicans in "serious theological dispute" and "impaired or broken communion" with the ACC or their diocesan bishop. They may desire "adequate episcopal oversight from a network bishop" and may "determine that on theological grounds they cannot contribute financially to or participate fully in their diocese or the ACC."

The idea for an orthodox network has the support of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, who encouraged five American bishops to form such a network.

"The network's aim is to build an ecclesiastical structure, if such a structure is required, should the Canadian church walk apart [from the global Anglican Communion]," said Charlie Masters, national director of Anglican Essentials Canada. "The network is not leaving the church; it is the . . . national church leaving us."

The network intends to "remain in full communion" with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion if the ACC is suspended from it.

To stress solidarity with Anglicans in the Global South, conference attendees celebrated a Kenyan-rite Communion service at St. Paul's Anglican Church on Bloor Street.

However, Colin Johnson, bishop of Toronto, warned in his welcoming remarks that new structures could cause division.

"I have a great deal of difficulty with those who are working to create separate structures within the life of our church, which I think will lead to disunity rather than to the wholeness and unity for which our Lord prayed," he said.

But Ron Ferris, bishop of Algoma, said appeals to "institutional solidarity are all hollow if they draw us away from the will of the Father."

He added, "Inclusionism taken to the extreme undermines many basic Christian teachings. Ultimately an inclusionist gospel is embarrassed by the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ." He spoke of a "growing theological divide" and said "historic Christianity seems to have been overtaken by a universalist fundamentalism."

Ferris estimated the average Sunday attendance of the ACC nationally as less than 150,000, or 83 persons per parish.

Despite the controversy surrounding same-sex blessings, there was little discussion of homosexuality at the conference; it was seen only as a "presenting issue." However, many conferees sported buttons supporting Zacchaeus, a new group for Anglicans who have experienced same-sex attractions but who want to live biblically faithful and transformed lives.

Meanwhile conference-goers also feted one of their own, theologian J.I. Packer, author of more than 30 books including the bestseller, Knowing God. Christianity Today magazine has named Packer and C.S. Lewis the two most influential evangelical writers of the 20th century.

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