Anglican Bishop John Chapman says he will likely decide within seven months or so whether to allow blessings of same-sex unions in the Ottawa diocese.
He is to discuss the issue with other clergy in July at the Lambeth conference, an international meeting of Anglicans that happens once a decade.
“I’m really hoping that, when we have an opportunity to look each other in the eye that, somehow we will find a way through so that more traditional-minded dioceses can live together with a more liberal-minded diocese under the same roof,” he said.
“I hope I am not being naively optimistic, but I do put a lot of stock in what can happen when people sit down and start to reason together.”
Then, Bishop Chapman said, the three Ontario bishops whose dioceses have asked for same-sex blessings ought to be able to come to some agreement on how to proceed “in a way that will be compatible with the Anglican Church of Canada as well.”