Anglican Bishop John Chapman is allowing an Ottawa church to offer blessings for same-sex couples who are already civilly married.<\/p>\n
“My intention is to embrace a liturgical process that will not discriminate between members of the church on the basis of sexual orientation,” Chapman told a congregation Thursday night at the beginning of the diocese’s annual synod. “This will be Ottawa’s offering to the ongoing discernment that is happening throughout the Anglican Church of Canada.”<\/p>\n
St. John the Evangelist, at the corner of Somerset and Elgin streets, will be the only Anglican church in Ottawa offering the blessing as long as one person in the couple is baptized. The church, considered one of the more progressive Anglican churches with a strong connection to the gay community, asked the diocese in 2002 for permission to offer same-sex blessings.<\/p>\n