…the GSSC says that Anglicans in this church have wrestled with the question of the blessing of same-gender relations for more than 40 years.
“In May this year our General Synod chose a way forward which has held a wide range of views together.
“In adopting that way forward, enormous care has been taken to honour and protect the integrity of people who hold irreconcilable views – while at the same time staying faithful to the foundational formularies of our Church, and not making any doctrinal change.”
The GSSC letter goes on to say that the General Synod resolution on the blessing of same-sex civil marriages “cannot be divorced” from the history between Maori and Pakeha Anglicans.
“It was,” the letter says, “a cross-tikanga resolution, decades in the making.
“Indeed, had it not been for the extraordinary generosity and patience extended by Tikanga Maori (and Tikanga Polynesia) on this very matter, this province would be in a far less healthy state than it is today.”
The letter goes on to say that that being bound together in constitutional and Treaty-based relationships is essential to being Anglican in Aotearoa in New Zealand.
“If those disaffiliating want to be committed to that fundamental consequence of being Anglican in Aotearoa New Zealand, then they must stay in these constitutional and Treaty-based relationships.
“We cannot recognise a Church as Anglican which does not encapsulate this 200 years of relationship and history.”
Read it alland follow the links.