One, entitled “Bishop says diocese will study General Synod decisions” begins thus:
Leaders of the Diocese of New Westminster will have to study this week’s resolutions of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, and determine what the implications are for the diocese, Bishop Michael Ingham said Monday (June 25).
On Sunday the General Synod, which includes all the Canadian Church’s bishops and about 250 clergy and lay delegates from 30 dioceses, failed to agree with a resolution that would have had the General Synod “affirm” the authority and jurisdiction of diocesan synods and bishops to authorize the blessing of committed same sex unions.
The vote was extremely close, with the clergy and laity approving the motion, but the Church’s 40 bishops turning it down by 2 votes – 21 to 19.
However earlier in the Synod, a motion passed which resolved 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.”
Some theologians and Canon lawyers at the Synod suggested that the effect of the two resolutions would not mean the diocese’s current practice has to stop.
Read it all.
The second, entitled “New Westminster Anglicans to continue blessing gay unions,” starst this way:
Canada’s first Anglican diocese to bless gay unions has withdrawn its request to be exempt from the national church’s rules forbidding priests from performing same-sex ceremonies.
For the time being, however, it’s “status quo,” bishop Michael Ingham said Monday of the situation for B.C.’s New Westminster diocese.
Anglican churches in the diocese will keep sanctifying civil unions for same-gender couples in committed relationships. But “I have to go back to Vancouver and think about what it means to the diocese,” Ingham said, adding he would listen to church community members and then make a statement “in a few weeks.”
In a move that surprised church delegates heading into the general synod on Monday, Ingham backed off from asking the national church to allow the New Westminster diocese to let its priests continue blessing same-sex unions.
I’ll credit the CBC reporter with actually reading the resolutions, which appear contradictory. But the New Westminster report has the more insight: +Ingham just needs to continue in the status quo, doing whatever he pleases.
I’d note that neither of them touched the apparent contradiction of A186 passing and A187 and B001 failing. That way, the meme of “nasty bishops” seems to be more consistent.
Tom, to this elf’s knowledge, B001 did not “fail.” It was withdrawn. Not sure if that really makes a difference, but do want to keep the facts as clear as possible.
Keeping in mind what’s going on in Canada; and quoting from Pogo, “We have met the enemy and they is us…”.
I’ll take a wild stab and predict that, after studying the resolutions in depth, they will mean that the Diocese should keep on blessing gay unions. Just a hunch, you know…
Bart Simpson announced that he will study his parents’ decisions and determine what (if any) their implications are for him.