From the Winnipeg Sun:
Planning a wedding is usually complicated, taking months to sort out a seemingly endless parade of details.
For Frank Kajfes, 60, the months leading up to the big day with Bryan Wannop, his partner of 30 years, were difficult for another reason.
As Anglicans, it was important to Kajfes and Wannop, 70, to have a religious component to their wedding. Since the church doesn’t allow its priests to bless same-sex unions, having Kajfes and Wannop at the altar on their wedding day was a delicate matter.
Church leaders came up with a clever compromise.
Before they were legally married by a Federal Court judge at the end of a regular Sunday mass, they were prayed for by the entire congregation of St. John the Evangelist in Ottawa — instead of just the priest.
“They were blessing us, not our marriage. That was a technical point,” said Kajfes.
“It was the closest thing they could do without contravening the bishop’s directives.”
blessing them, blessing their lifestyle, blessing their choice and direction in life – it’s all one in the same and it all contradicts the Lambeth I.10 language. Technical point is a good description. This one should be filed away with all the other so-called ‘technical’ solutions and statements about blessings of SSU for primatial review on Oct 1, 2007.
The article says the ACC is Canada’s third largest denomination. Technically, I suppose, this is true if one counts the numbers of people who self-describe as Anglican on census forms. Average Sunday attendance, though will be far less. It is probably under 100,000 and falling at a rate of about 3% each year since 2000 if my own diocese is any indication. Should we pass the resolutions on same-sex blessings the rate of decline will no doubt pick up considerably. Some people I know would call this fear-mongering. That isn’t my intent but it is important that we recognize that there will be consequences to the actions taken at General Synod whatever they turn out to be.
I should have said, “It’s probably under 200,000.” We have no current stats, unfortunately.
Of course I don’t agree with their intentions, but I do like the pun in the headline…