Canada rejects local options for blessing same-gender unions

Such blessings not in conflict with core doctrine, Canadian Church agrees.

A motion that would have permitted the Anglican Church of Canada to bless same-gender unions was defeated June 24 by members of the Church’s General Synod, meeting in Winnipeg.

Motion A187, which passed in the houses of clergy and laity but failed by a narrow margin of two votes in the House of Bishops, would have allowed Canadian parishes to authorize the blessing of committed same-gender unions “with the concurrence of the diocesan bishop.”

The motion passed by 78 to 59 votes in the House of Laity and by 63 to 53 votes in the House of Clergy, but was defeated by 21 to 19 votes in the House of Bishops.

Earlier in the day, members of the Canadian Synod passed a motion agreeing that the blessing of same-gender unions is not in conflict with the church’s core doctrine.

That motion was carried by 152 to 97 votes in the houses of clergy and laity, and by 21 to 19 votes in the House of Bishops.

In 2004, the Canadian General Synod deferred any decision on the blessing of same-gender unions until its 2007 meeting.

The Anglican Primates, in a communiqué issued at their February meeting in Tanzania, requested that the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops “make an unequivocal common covenant” that they will not authorize same-gender blessings within their dioceses. No mention was made in that communiqué about the Anglican Church of Canada’s response to same-gender blessings.