Anglican muddle: defer homosexual "marriage" but affirm sanctity of same-sex.

St. Catharines, ON -- The Anglican Church of Canada held its 37th General Synod from May 28 to June 4, 2004, at this southern Ontario city. Around 300 delegates, both clergy and laity, representing Canada's 30 dioceses, were in attendance at the synod, the chosen theme of which was from the Book of Revelation: "See, I am making all things new."

On May 31, synod delegates chose as their new Primate Andrew Hutchison, the Archbishop of Montreal. Described by the National Post as "moderate" and by the Toronto Star as "liberal," Mr. Hutchison had a fourth ballot win against Algoma bishop Ronald Ferris. Bishop Ferris had been forthright in his disapproval of blessing same-sex unions. The new primate was one of 146 public dissenters in 1998 when the world's Anglican bishops voted overwhelmingly to oppose actively homosexual clergy and the blessing of same-sex spouses.

He is said to have an active interest in ecumenism, but this seems to be more with the liberal Jewish community which is prominent in Montreal. The direction in which Anglican national churches in the Western world are moving on homosexual issues seems to preclude further rapprochment with Catholics. This event is only the latest move away from Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical Christianity on moral issues. Dialogue, however, continues between Catholics and "conservative" elements among Anglicans, those who may eventually separate over such issues (see "Anglican disorders," C.I., December 2003, pp. 29-32).

Earlier candidates for the Anglican primacy included Victoria Matthews of Edmonton, Canada's first woman bishop. Bishop Matthews, said to have been opposed to homosexual blessings, withdrew her candidacy after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Current Anglican Church membership in Canada is established as 650,000, half as many as in 1972 (Files from Globe, Star, Sun, National Post).

Apart from the election of a new primate to replace outgoing Archbishop Michael Peers, the main synodal debate was on the issue of church blessings for same-sex unions. In June 2003, the synod of the diocese of New Westminister, B.C., with the approval of its bishop, Michael Ingham, approved such blessings. This decision, coming shortly before the American (Episcopal) decision to elect an openly "gay" bishop, resulted in the most profound crisis in the international church since that concerning the ordination of women. In New Westminister, several parishes have broken away from the diocese and are under the direction of a bishop in South-east Asia.

The motion before the synod proposed that the decision to allow same-sex blessings should rest with individual dioceses. This was deferred for three years, until 2007. But the next day, in a surprise motion, the majority "affirmed" the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships.

Comment

The deferral, followed by the affirmation, represents a doctrinal muddle typical of the Anglican community's history. Once more the words of St. Paul to Timothy went unheeded: "avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening" (2 Tim 2:14). So now it is both yes and no at the same time.

Needless to say, this makes serious ecumenical dialogue well-nigh impossible. The Anglican Church of Canada, like the United Church of Canada, has abandoned traditional moral teaching based on revelation and natural moral law and substituted modern hedonistic behaviour instead. Catholics, the Orthodox, and Evangelical Protestants cannot and will not go along. Neither apparently will the Anglican churches of Africa and Asia. They have demanded that both the American and Canadian churches be expelled (Star, June 7, 2004).