In the American House of Bishops meeting in New Orleans when The Episcopal Church faced its deadline to deal with terms like moratoria, \u201d\u02dcwords\u2019 were fiercely debated. How far could the House of Bishops go to deliver words which might placate the Anglican Communion without giving anything away? This was a studied course of dishonesty.<\/p>\n
Now we have the most egregious example of all in the declaration by the Canadian diocese of Ottawa that it will allow a parish to perform same-sex blessings in order to \u201d\u02dcdiscern\u2019 the way forward. Needless to say, it\u2019s an odd kind of \u201d\u02dcdiscernment\u2019 to do something you are not agreed upon in order to reach agreement. It seems like a recipe for division and conflict.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the diocese claims that it is not violating the moratorium on samesex blessings. \u201cThere is nothing in the moratorium that says we cannot continue to discern,\u201d\u009d said Archdeacon Ross Moulton of Ottawa. It seems unnecessary to point out that the very meaning of the word \u201d\u02dcmoratorium\u2019 rules out this kind of discernment. But Archdeacon Moulton has a different dictionary it seems.<\/p>\n