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Update June 3 2003 Anglicans vote to 'study' gay union blessings
CTV.ca News Staff
Canada's Anglicans have voted to study how they should proceed on the thorny issue of blessing same-sex unions -- a move which essentially puts the issue on the shelf for three years.
"The Synod passed a motion stating this is not an issue over which the church should divide and has called upon for a three-year period of dialogue and education," Richard Leggett, a Synod member, told CTV.ca Wednesday evening.
A second question facing the church is whether the blessing of same-sex unions is a matter of doctrine, or church policy, he said. That question will be considered by the primate's theological commission.
"Right now, the synod adjourned in the midst of a debate over a motion to add a statement affirming the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships," he said.
That debate will pick up again Thursday morning.
"So we're still together. We're still debating in a civilized way and a civil tone, and I think everyone has lost a bit today," Leggett said.
Those who don't want same-sex relations blessed put forward a motion early on and lost. "So the mood in the Synod is they want to say something to gay and lesbian members of the Anglican Church," he said.
It will be something less than blessing their unions, "but more than nothing," he said.
Those opposed can say "we stepped back from the brink and now we wait for 2007," Leggett said.
The synod meets every three years.
This discussion was not about same-sex marriages, just unions. "Under the canons of the Anglican Church of Canada, we have no provisions for the marriage of gays and lesbians," Leggett said.
Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, who became the church's new leader on Monday, has spoken in favour of same-sex blessing but not gay marriages in the church.
"A same-sex blessing would be a pastoral act that would publicly recognize a same sex couple and bless God for all the ways in which the life of the couple reflects love and faithfulness, companionship, care and concern in good times and in bad," wrote the Rev. Canon Eric Beresford on the church's website.
"It's one of those nice little things that probably in the general public, it doesn't seem to be a big difference, but it is in terms of what the priests of the church are authorized to do," he said.
Right now, only one of 30 Canadian dioceses performs the blessing, Leggett said.
Hutchison was one of five archbishops who signed a letter last year that opposed outside interference in a decision by the diocese of New Westminster, B.C. to perform the blessing. Leggett, who teaches theology, is a member of that diocese.
If the Canadian church does vote to support the motion, the Canadian church would be in conflict with the 77-million-member world Anglican church.
Debate on this issue started Tuesday at the church's triennial synod in St. Catharines, Ont. About 275 delegates are involved in the discussion.
The matter has been a controversial one: In a church news release Monday, "Acting Primate David Crawley asked for debate to be civil and temperate, reminding more than 300 members that their ranks include gays and lesbians -- 'our brothers and sisters.'"
Some of the opposition to the motion has come from aboriginal members of the church. They feel their issue of residential school abuse hasn't been fully resolved by the church and the same-sex one would overshadow it.
The Anglican Church has faced some strains in the U.S. with the consecration of an openly gay bishop there.
In addition, members in developed countries tend to be more liberal on same-sex issues than members from less-developed ones.
In Canada, the Anglican faith claims about two million members, placing it third behind Roman Catholics and Protestants.