The ACC News report on this morning’s vote. Only a one vote margin in the bishops to change the outcome.

Update: A CP article is Read it all.

According to Peter at Anglican Essentials Blog the vote was:

C/L 152 / 97 Passed
B 21 / 19 Passed

The final text of the resolution read:

That this General Synod resolves that the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine (in the sense of being creedal) of The Anglican Church of Canada.

From CP:

Instead of debating the issue last night, delegates at the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada spent hours wrangling over procedural issues.

Canada’s outgoing primate, or church leader, seemed somewhat fed up after two hours of discussion about technical issues, and even joked the debate would go more smoothly after a good night’s rest.

“It vexes me that Anglicans are prepared to spend more energy in process than substance,” said Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, a comment that drew cheers and clapping from the delegates and observers.

As they debated how the vote would work, Rev. Douglas Stoute urged the 300 delegates to make a decision once the rules are established. The Toronto minister said people want a clear answer.

“They want us to leave here having said something, and not just done a shuffle. This issue is not going to go away,” Stoute said.

Read it all.

Read it all

I am following the discussion and occasionally commenting on the Anglican Essentials GS blog.

Sure, I would like there to have been more theologically informed remarks from several of the speakers.

If the Episcopal Church had had the courage of its convictions in 2003 to have the same voting requirement currently being proposed in Canada, the approval for the election in New Hampshire would have failed in the House of Bishops among those bishops with jurisdiction who had a vote. Hmmmmm…..KSH.

In particular, we affirm the following:

3. That there has been no sustained debate on this matter in the Church. Twelve years ago a group of British academics published ”˜The St Andrew’s Day Statement’, a non-polemical document identifying some of the important theological matters raised by the Church’s response to those living in same-sex relationships. As recently as this past January, one of the document’s authors, The Rev. Professor Oliver O’Donovan, maintained that the Statement has been largely ignored. Bishop Ingham’s assertion that the Church ”˜stands in need’ of a better theology of sexuality is itself an affirmation that the doctrinal character of this matter is something that has yet to be worked out. For him, this would involve ”˜of necessity an entire reappraisal of Christian tradition, going right back to the Bible itself’. It is true that consultations have been held on the St Michael Report across the country. But, with the exception of the ”˜Faith Seeking Understanding Conference’ held at Huron University College this past January, most of these consultations have been given over to hearing points of view and not to a critical exchange of ideas. Quite simply, what is lacking is a biblical and theological justification for changing the Church’s teaching.

—A Pentecost Letter to General Synod Delegates and Others from Concerned Theologians and Scholars

Being Discussed are these three resolutions by The Council of the General Synod :

Resolution Number: A185

Subject: Voting Requirement for Resolutions A186 and A187
Moved by:

Seconded By:

Note: The mover and the seconder must be members of the General Synod and be present in the House when the resolution is before the synod for debate.

BE IT RESOLVED:

That resolutions A186 and A187 be deemed to have been carried only if they receive the affirmative votes of sixty percent of the members of each Order present and voting, and if a vote by dioceses is requested, only if they receive the affirmative votes of sixty percent of the dioceses whose votes are counted.
————————————————————————————————-

Resolution Number: A186

Subject: Blessing of Same Sex Unions – Core Doctrine of ACC
Moved by:

Seconded By:

Note: The mover and the seconder must be members of the General Synod and be present in the House when the resolution is before the synod for debate.

BE IT RESOLVED:

That this General Synod resolves that the blessing of same-sex unions is consistent with the core doctrine of The Anglican Church of Canada.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Resolution Number: A187

Subject: Blessing of Same Sex Unions
Moved by:

Seconded By:

Note: The mover and the seconder must be members of the General Synod and be present in the House when the resolution is before the synod for debate.

BE IT RESOLVED:

That this General Synod affirm the authority and jurisdiction of any diocesan synod, with the concurrence of its bishop, to authorize the blessing of committed same sex unions.

[Bishop Fred] Hiltz was coy with reporters yesterday – including journalists from overseas who are covering the Synod – about his personal views on same-sex unions.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to simply declare my position and thereby pre-empt the outcome of the (weekend) discussion,” he said.

But Hiltz made no secret of his irritation toward fellow bishops in African countries or “provinces,” who have imposed themselves in the affairs of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church by assuming “oversight” of conservative North American congregations who were unhappy with the liberal views of their own bishops.

Bishops of one country “interfering in the affairs of another,” said Hiltz, “is not on.”

Speaking to delegates soon after his election, Hiltz said whatever pressures he faces during his tenure, he will work hard to keep Anglicans together in “one great company of disciples.

“I love this church. I’ll always love it,” he said. “I will try to the best of my abilities to be a Primate that drives the church together, to keep people at the table and not to isolate them … to ensure that we remain together in Christ.”

Read it all

As gay-supportive Anglicans hold their breath for General Synod decisions in June – allowing local option for the blessing of same-sex unions and taking the first steps toward inclusive marriage – some Anglican clergy are already counting the cost of the Church’s failure to move forward more quickly. They foretell the consequences should Synod decide for the status quo, or worse.

In Saskatoon in January, the Rev Shawn Sanford Beck advised his bishop that he is no longer willing to restrict his pastoral ministry to conform to an “unjust law” and that he would, if asked, bless same-sex unions and officiate at same-sex marriages. “I will no longer discriminate against homosexual people when it comes to the exercise of my priestly duties,” the priest stated in an open letter.

Unlike recent cases in which a priest and archbishop quietly participated in same-sex marriage services and later had their license to marry temporarily suspended, Rev. Sanford Beck faced a more severe penalty for stating his intention publicly.

Saskatoon Bishop Rodney Andrews urged the priest to reconsider or lose his license to minister, not just to marry. Not willing to withdraw, Shawn lost his license and then his job as director of a downtown ministry serving aboriginal people. He cannot perform priestly duties without special permission, including within his role as chaplain to Integrity Saskatoon.

Shawn is undeterred, saying that he and his young family accept the consequences of his statement. “As a priest and leader in the church, my complicity in upholding our current law makes me at least partially responsible for the ongoing suffering of LGBTT Christians, and I can no longer take part in that. If my current action helps render visible that which has been made invisible, then I will be happy to bear the consequences. I too will stand ‘outside the gate’ where so many other queer Christians have been sent.”

Read the whole piece

Read it all. Many of us are watching the debate live here. The matter currently under debate is a slightly amended form of this resolution:

Subject: St. Michael Report
Moved by: The Ven. Dennis Drainville, Diocese of Quebec

Seconded By: Mrs. Barbara Burrows¸ Diocese of Edmonton

Note: The mover and the seconder must be members of the General Synod and be present in the House when the resolution is before the synod for debate.

BE IT RESOLVED:

That this General Synod accept the conclusion of the Primate’s Theological Commission’s St. Michael Report that the blessing of same-sex unions is a matter of doctrine, but is not core doctrine in the sense of being credal.

Update: The motion carries.

Another update: Peter has a description of the debate here.

Yet another update: The final amended language is apparently this:

BE IT RESOLVED:

That this General Synod accept the conclusion of the Primate’s Theological Commission’s St. Michael Report that the blessing of same-sex unions is a matter of doctrine, but is not core doctrine in the sense of being credal, and that it should not be a communion-breaking issue.

Watch it all.

Bonnie Crawford-Bewley points to a photo pinned to a tack board to help explain why she cares deeply about a vote by the Anglican Church of Canada this weekend on blessing gay unions.

Both Crawford-Bewley and her wife Michelle are beaming in the family snapshot, taken after their daughter Tiana, 8, was baptized by Crawford-Bewley’s father, a retired Anglican priest.

The couple had their relationship blessed in a non-Anglican church 17 years ago, but Crawford-Bewley said she is still bothered that her beloved Anglican Church is torn over whether to bless same-sex unions.

“Marriage is an important institution, and the church not being willing to bless our union and not being willing to marry us is very much making us second-class citizens,” said Crawford-Bewley, 45.

“It’s that constantly being told ‘You’re not good enough’ that needs to stop,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of the Canadian church’s general synod, its highest decision-making body.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Provinces, Canadian General Synod 2007, Same-sex blessings, Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion)

Unlike Bishop Matthews, Bishop Hiltz was not known for his theological conservativism prior to his election. At a time of such obvious doctrinal (and electoral) division, a major challenge for the new Primate could thus be the extent to which he will prove practically willing and able to reach out to all parts of the church, including conservatives, in keeping with Synod’s theme of “drawing the circle wide.”

Read it all.

Secular and church media, both from Canada and overseas, tried to pin the primate-elect down on where he stood on the controversial issue which is scheduled to be debated ”“ and perhaps decided ”“ by General Synod on June 23.

But Bishop Hiltz would only voice his support for the “synodical process,” or the church’s legal procedures, adding that he believed that the church needed to follow its processes and listen to the recommendations both of the Canadian church’s St. Michael Report (which examined the issue of whether same-sex blessings were a matter of doctrine) and the international Windsor Report, which recommended ways of keeping the Anglican Communion together in spite of deep divisions.

“We need, as a church, to look at all the dimensions,” said Bishop Hiltz, naming Scriptural study and matters of pastoral care as examples. “I have personal views, but I am conscious of the office I hold as a bishop and as a primate-elect. I don’t think it’s appropriate to declare my position ”¦ The conversation must go forward in the way that the church has decided it should go forward.”

Read it all.

The first limitation is an inadequate concept of what in the past has been called heresy (a word not used here), that is, a denial of core doctrine that breaks the church’s prior unity in faith. The Report equates core doctrine with what is affirmed in Anglican foundation documents and argues that blessing same-sex unions, whatever else it is, is not a violation of core doctrine, but is an adiaphoron, a secondary matter, which does not warrant any breach of church communion. But the reasoning on which this conclusion is based is not the whole story, though it is indeed part of it. However, a sounder, profounder concept of what in the past has been called heresy is: any belief or practice that negates any part of the New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ, understood as the divinely revealed truth that shows our sinful race the way of salvation from sin and sin’s consequences. This concept covers not only doctrines of the Creeds and Anglican foundation documents, but also the practice of faith in Christ, repentance, obedience, life in the Spirit, and personal holiness, according to the Scriptures.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 lists behavioral habits that, if not repented of and forsaken, keep people out of God’s kingdom, and male homosexuality is explicitly included in the list (vss. 9-11). Paul goes on to celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit sanctifying persons at Corinth who had previously lived in the ways he has mentioned. It seems undeniable that he would have viewed blessing same-sex unions as sanctifying sin, and thus as a denial of an essential ingredient in the gospel, namely repentance of all one’s sins and forsaking of them. And the gospel as such is surely the church’s core doctrine.

The gravity of the homosexual lifestyle as Paul views it warrants the description of it when found in the church as practical heresy; which raises the question, whether the suspending of full communion pro tem is not warranted and indeed needed as a disciplinary measure, aimed at bringing offenders to repentance. The Report fails to face this issue of conscience and wisdom, which arises from straightforward biblical exegesis and for some is very real and pressing.

Read it all.

Read it all and make sure to note the letter to the editor on the same subject as the previous blog post.

Read it all. This was already available in an earlier linked version of Anglican Journal Daily but I wanted to make sure (ahem, ahem) that you saw it. I agree with her 100%–KSH.

Read it all.

Read it all.

From ACC News:

June 22, 2007 — Results of the fourth ballot for the election of the Primate:

Bishop Fred Hiltz: Clergy:56 Lay:75

Bishop Victoria Matthews: Clergy:62 Lay:60

From ACC News:

June 22, 2007 — Results of the third ballot for the election of the Primate:

Bishop Fred Hiltz: Clergy:53 Lay:73

Bishop Victoria Matthews: Clergy:64 Lay:62

From the Winnipeg Sun:

But the delegates meeting in Winnipeg this weekend would do well to close their ears to those outside voices of dissent. Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, the primate of the ACC, said as much in his opening address earlier this week, when he urged delegates to obey their consciences on the divisive issue.

“The first principle of moral theology is obedience to conscience, and I ask each one of you to embrace that principle, and with it the ethic of respect for the conscience of those who disagree with your own,” Hutchison said.

If the delegates, listening to their consciences, vote to sanction same-sex unions tomorrow, they might not encounter that same “ethic of respect” among their fellow Anglicans in Uganda, Nigeria or other parts of the globe. But they must not let that deter them.

Canadian Anglicans have been at the forefront of social change within the worldwide church, taking the lead in ordaining women priests and bishops over the past 30 years. If they vote to create a group of second-class citizens within their church, they’ll be turning their back on that tradition.

Perhaps the choice isn’t that tough, after all.

Read it all.

From Saanich News:

“At the general synod they will decide whether there is to be no progress or whether we’re to go ahead and have that discussion,” said Rev. Ken Gray of Church of the Advent in Colwood. “Some of us feel that failure to proceed with the blessing of same-sex unions at this time will perpetuate a historical injustice.”

The Anglican church’s crisis of conscience over same-sex marriage began in earnest in 2002, when the Diocese of New Westminster started performing same-sex marriage ceremonies. One of the clergy who pushed for that decision was the Very Rev. Peter Elliott, the openly gay Dean of Vancouver’s Christ Church Cathedral and senior member of the Anglican Church in Canada. More controversy followed in 2003 when gay priest Gene Robinson was ordained Bishop of New Hampshire.

The two actions, in defiance of church policy, sparked controversy among Anglicans world-wide, with North Americans and Europeans split on the issue and African and Southeast Asian nations deeply opposed to gay marriage as contrary to Biblical teaching.

Rev. Ron Corcoran of St. Matthias Church in Oak Bay said leaving the church may be his only option should the Anglican leaders order all priests to bless same-sex unions.

“Nobody can force me to marry anybody,” he said. “It comes down to being obedient to my bishops. When I can’t be obedient to my bishops, then it will be time to leave.”

However for Rev. David Opheim, assistant priest of Victoria’s Christ Church Cathedral, the church’s existing position lost relevance long ago.

“There’s no question what we’re doing is a violation of human rights,” Opheim said, expressing concern that the church will make it optional to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.

“We’re still dealing with not going far enough. There is still the option of the diocese opting out.”

Read it all.

Preserving unity in a church divided over issues such as same-sex unions will be a major challenge for the next leader of the Canadian Anglican Church, says a local bishop nominated for the top job.

Rev. Bruce Howe, bishop of the Anglican diocese of Huron, will find out today in Winnipeg if he’s been elected primate of the church — a job that would thrust him into leadership of the nation’s 800,000 Anglicans.

More than 300 delegates who have travelled to Winnipeg for the church’s general synod — where they’ll debate the contentious issue of whether to bless same-sex unions — will elect the new primate today.

“If God wants me to take on that piece of work . . . I will be more than happy to do what I can,” said Howe, who’s up against three other nominees.

Read it all.

Most of the world’s Anglicans are theological conservatives who believe [noncelibate] gay relationships violate Scripture. More liberal Anglicans emphasize social justice teachings in the Bible, leading them to support full acceptance of same-sex couples.

“We recognize we’re at a crossroads for the church,” said Rev. Canon Charlie Masters, head of the conservative Canadian group Anglican Essentials. “But the way to help this is to align ourselves with what the bible says, not what society says.”

Chris Ambidge, who leads the Toronto chapter of Integrity Canada, an Anglican gay advocacy group, argued that gays have been allowed to marry in Canada for four years “and the sun has come up bang on time every morning since then.”

“Canadians as a whole are prepared to live with it. Why can’t the Anglican church?” Ambidge said. “We need to progress if we’re going to remain relevant.”

Read the whole article.

Now on to A183 (full text follows below under “read more”–KSH). Report of the Windsor Report Response Group. Talking about the report. Talking about process now”¦.unity is the key”¦how do we deal with questions that are disuniting? Windsor report is about unity and communion in Christ”¦purpose furtherance of Gods mission to the world”¦..response came from committee 2005 to coordinate reponse”¦long process of consultation”¦..this report through CoGS Mar 2007. Three major sections of report”¦.ecclesiaology, listening, diversity”¦identify further work and consultation”¦what does reception mean, how to we understand authority of scriture, what is the meaning of is (sorry, editorial addition). Need to look at pp33-34 conclusion”¦need to look at this (forever?)”¦.part of a process and pilgramage….

Meaning of passed A183 – ACC passes a watered down acceptance of the WR – i.e. we will accept what we want to accept, in the way we want to accept it.

Read it all.

Resolution Number: A183

Subject: Report of the Windsor Report Response Group
Moved by: The Rt. Rev. Colin Johnson, Diocese of Toronto

Seconded By: The Ven. Peter Fenty, Diocese of Toronto

Note: The mover and the seconder must be members of the General Synod and be present in the House when the resolution is before the synod for debate.

BE IT RESOLVED:

That this General Synod endorse the report of the Windsor Report Response Group, as adopted by the Council of General Synod (March 2007), and that the following be forwarded, along with the report, to the Anglican Communion Office and the Provinces of the Anglican Communion.

The Anglican Church of Canada:

1. reaffirms its commitment to full membership and participation in the life, witness and structures of the Anglican Communion;
2. reaffirms its commitment to the Lambeth Quadrilateral, as received by our church in 1893;
3. expresses its desire and readiness to continue our participation in the ongoing life of the Communion through partnerships and visits, theological and biblical study, in order to foster Communion relationships, including the listening process and the development and possible adoption of an Anglican covenant;
4. reaffirms its mutual responsibility and interdependence with our Anglican sisters and brothers in furthering the mission of the church;
5. notes that, in response to the Windsor Report, the Diocese of New Westminster expressed regret, and the House of Bishops effected a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions;
6. calls upon those archbishops and other bishops who believe that it is their conscientious duty to intervene in Provinces, dioceses and parishes other than their own to implement paragraph 155 of the Windsor Report and to seek an accommodation with the bishops of the dioceses whose parishes they have taken into their own care; and
7. commits itself to participation in the Listening Process and to share with member churches of the Communion the study of human sexuality which continues to take place, in the light of Scripture, tradition and reason.

Read it all.

Anglicans and Lutherans took a pause on June 21 from their respective annual conventions to flow together for a day of worship that celebrated their six-year-old Full Communion relationship and was centered on the theme and imagery of water.

Since the date was National Aboriginal Day, indigenous peoples’ relationship with the land was acknowledged throughout and leaders of major Canadian denominations re-committed their churches to a covenant of support for natives.

“It is a day to be gentle with one another, to share in the bread broken and the wine poured,” said Rev. Richard Leggett, a member of the joint Anglican-Lutheran commission implementing the Full Communion agreement.

Read it all.

With seven days of meetings running from 6.30 A.M. to 9.00 P.M., the patience and stamina of delegates seemed likely to be tested to the maximum. With a strictly controlled agenda and the rather directive stance taken by the Council of General Synod in presenting its own motions on some of the most contentious issues, it was also questionable how much time and opportunity delegates would ultimately have to work through the implications of very significant decisions.

—John Oakes at Canada’s General Synod