Ottawa Anglicans approve same-sex marriages in vote

Ottawa Anglicans approve same-sex marriages in vote


Ottawa Anglicans approve same-sex marriages in vote

Jennifer Green
CanWest News Service
Saturday, October 13, 2007
CORNWALL - Ottawa Anglicans approved the blessing of same sex marriages by a vote of 177 to 97 Saturday, the first diocese in Canada to support the blessings since the national church nixed them this summer.
In June, the Anglican Church of Canada made seemingly contradictory decisions when it ruled that same sex blessings do not contravene core doctrine, then refused to allow local dioceses to decide for themselves how to handle the issue of gay marriages.
Ottawa is the first diocese to broach the issue at the local level since that national meeting in Winnipeg.
The diocese of Montreal is expected to debate a similar motion at its own annual meeting, or synod, next week.
Ottawa Bishop John Chapman said he welcomed Saturday's vote because it tells him where the diocese stands on the issue. However, he stressed that the final decision on whether to bless gay marriages still rests with him, and he expects to take his time making that decision. He wants to talk to other bishops, both nationally and internationally, before going ahead with a policy.
"It's not helpful to walk alone. We're not afraid to walk alone but we don't want to walk alone."
His stance may seem vehemently noncommittal, but he was very firm that clergy on either side of the debate must fall into line.
Rev. Garth Bulmer at Saint John the Evangelist in Ottawa, recently threatened to stop marriages altogether if he couldn't bless gay couples. And Rev. George Sinclair's parish of St. Alban the Martyr also in the capital has withheld some of its funds from the diocese in protest over the issue.
In his opening speech, or charge the diocese, the bishop said: "Leadership that does not take its lead from the bishops and councils of the church, national and local, cannot be tolerated."
Saturday's delicately-worded motion did not ask that gay couples be allowed to marry in an Anglican church, or even that their civil unions be blessed. It just asked that priests be given the right to approach the bishop for permission for such a blessing, should their parish approve. This way, priests and parishes who are not comfortable with gay marriage need not concern themselves with it.
The meeting of about 300 clergy and lay people heard several hours of impassioned discussion on both sides of the debate. One minister talked about how his gay son is always cautious about meeting strangers sporting crosses. Will they receive him for who he is?
Ven. Christine Piper spoke about a blessing her family received after her ex-husband had a sex change operation. The ceremony provided all the members with a healthy way of accepting this new version of a father and former husband.
Many others brought up the fact that the church welcomes gay people individually, gives them communion, baptizes their babies, and even offers a pension fund that recognizes same sex couples. Yet it can't "bless" them even though it blesses boats, houses, even animals.
However, as the debate wore on, more and more people took the microphones, expressing their reluctance to support the motion.
One young girl took a stand against her fellow teens in the youth synod and told the crowd in a shy, hesitant voice: "We can go with our rules, or we can go with God's rules, and God's rules have turned out pretty well."
Some worried that the Anglican church would lose more congregants. Others wondered where this motion placed Ottawa vis a vis the vague position of the national church. Still others expressed concern that the Canadian branch of the Anglican church might find itself cut adrift internationally, especially given the dire state of the church worldwide.
Ever since the Episcopal church, the American equivalent of the Anglican church, ordained an openly gay bishop in 2003, African bishops have been vociferous in their objections. They have threatened to break with the Anglican church and take their many millions of congregants with them. Many have ordained their own bishops in the U.S. to minister to conservative Episcopalians. In some instances, there have been court battles over the church buildings, many of immense heritage importance not to mention hugely valuable on prime downtown land.
Last month, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the church worldwide, succeeded in getting the Americans to agree to a moratorium of ordaining gay clergy and blessing same sex unions, at least until the global Anglican meeting next year at Canterbury.
Some delegates to Saturday's meeting wondered if Ottawa's vote could rock that very tippy boat.
Yet overwhelmingly, the people objecting to the motion simply felt that gay marriage, or homosexuality of any sort, goes against the word of God.
Rev. Sinclair said that if the church passed the motion, "We are saying we are smarter than Jesus. We are saying Jesus was wrong and we are right."
Later he said he was "disappointed but not surprised."
He predicted some Anglicans will leave over it, and he just hopes the farewells will be fond and not bitter or triumphant.
Ottawa Citizen
© CanWest News Service