THE Primate of Canada, the Most Revd Fred Hiltz, has spelled out to his fellow Primates exactly where the Anglican Church of Canada stands on blessing same-sex unions. “I hope to dispel rumour or misunderstanding by sharing with you what is actually happening,” he told them in an Epiphany letter last week, writes Pat Ashworth.
The Bishop charts the history of the debate since the 1970s. “We understand such unions as adult, monogamous, intended life-long, same-sex relationships that include sexual intimacy,” he says. The Church has not altered its doctrine of marriage as outlined in the Prayer Book and Canons. “We do, however, live in a country where the federal government in 2005 approved legislation that allows the marriage of same-gender couples.”
The debate has been “comprehensive and respectful of diversity of perspective”. He confirms the Synod’s concurrence with the conclusion of the Primate’s Theological Commission, that blessings are a matter of doctrine, but not credal. Dioceses and parishes are now grappling until General Synod 2010 with the theological question whether blessings are “a faithful, Spirit-led development of Christian doctrine” and of “Scripture’s witness to the integrity of every human person and the sanctity of human relationships”.
Archbishop Hiltz explains the Bishops’ provision for prayers if requested by a couple who have entered into a civil marriage.
The Synod stopped short of authorising same-sex blessings last year, but Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara voted by strong majorities to request their bishops to do so. “I believe these resolutions present an opportunity to test the mind of the local church and speak of a pastoral need that cannot be ignored. In each case, the bishop has indicated that he will consult widely before making a decision.”
He describes it as “regrettable” that some have left the Church over the issue, and says: “We believe that recent interventions by another province in the life of our Church are unnecessary and inappropriate.”
He has appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury to “address the very serious issues raised by this intervention and to make it clear such actions are not a valid expression of Anglicanism”. Canada’s commitment to “the highest degree of communion possible in our life in Christ at home and throughout the world” is clearly demonstrated in its response to the Windsor report, he argues.
Clergy in the diocese of Eastern Newfoundland & Labrador have been summoned by their Bishop, the Rt Revd Cyrus Pitman, to renew their ordination vows and receive new licences on 21 January. Any involved in the Anglican Network in Canada and “working to the establishment of a parallel jurisdiction to the Anglican Church of Canada” are expected to “do the honourable thing and resign their positions, relinquishing their licences to exercise ordained ministry in this Church”.
Bishop Pitman is successor to the retired Bishop Donald Harvey, who has joined the Province of the Southern Cone. The province, under Bishop Greg Venables, has offered to receive any disaffected Canadian congregation.
The Widening Circle (TWC), a recently formed movement to affirm “the orthodox, comprehensive and catholic” traditions within the Canadian Church, has called on the Archbishop of Canterbury not to set preconditions on attendance at Lambeth. It describes the Covenant, as currently conceived, as “an instrument of exclusion”, and its ten-month timetable as much too short. Ten years would be more realistic, TWC suggests.
It complains that the Windsor report said that the Church in North America had not done the theological work to back up its “honouring of homosexual partnerships”: “We did our theology, but no one else bothered to read it,” TWC says.
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