Religious groups & homosexuality/homophobia

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1995 to 2019: The Anglican
Church of Canada (ACC)
continues its official ban on
same-sex marriage.

Quotations:

• Archbishop Terence Finlay is the retired bishop of the Anglican diocese of Toronto and metropolitan (senior bishop) of Ontario. Following his suspension for officiating at a legal gay marriage, he said:

  "As an active bishop I've followed and I've upheld the oaths of the office that I took and particularly around the issue of unity in the church. But for me now, this issue has moved from one of unity to one of justice."

• Rev. Isaac Kawuki-Mukasa, the ACC's coordinator for dialogue: ethics, inter-faith relations, and congregational development for faith, worship and ministry:

  "[General Synod 2007 asked  the faith, worship and ministry committee to] engage the church in conversation on the broad issue of human sexuality in all of its complexity, using the lenses of scripture, reason, tradition and science,”

Overview:

The Anglican Church of Canada (a.k.a. ACC, and l'Église Anglicane du Canada) is one province within the world-wide Anglican Communion. It is one of the most liberal Christian denominations in Canada, along with the United Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC). The ACC and the United Church are the two largest Protestant denominations in Canada. Unlike the United States, fundamentalist and other evangelical Christians form a relatively small minority among Canadian adults.

Priests in the Anglican Communion have blessed marriages, dogs, cats, buildings, apartments, houses, boats, cars, etc. However, as of mid-2019, most are not permitted to bless the relationships of committed, loving, same-sex couples, except for those in some maverick dioceses. A same-sex couple with a valid marriage license from their Canadian province or territory will usually be turned away if they ask their priest to conduct their marriage ceremony.

Since mid-2015 when the Canadian federal government redefined marriage and legalized gay marriage across the entire country, the ACC has been under internal and external pressure to marry same-sex couples in their churches. As of mid-2019, the denomination has not budged.

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Topics covered in this section:

• Overview of gay marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada
  
  
• Statements and events:
  • Prior to 1995
    
    
  • 1995 to 1999
    
    
    • New Westminster diocese controversy 1998 to now: Blessing of same-sex unions
      
      
  • From 2000 to 2005
    
    
    • 2004 General Synod:
      
      
      • The main issues; selection of the new primate.
        
        
      • Voting on two motions concerning same-sex committed unions
        
        
    • The St. Michael Report
      
      
  • From 2006 to 2007-MAR
    
    
    • 2007 General Synod:
      
      
      • Preparation of motions; election of new primate
        
        
      • Voting on  five motions re same-sex union; a defeat for inclusiveness
        
        
  • 2007 to now: Developments in the blessing of same-sex relationships, leading to same-sex marriages:
    
    
    • 2007-APR to OCT: Ottawa & Montreal dioceses approve blessing. House of Bishops meet.
      
      
    • 2007-NOV: Niagara diocese approved same-sex blessing
      
      
    • 2009: Preparations for the 2010 Synod
      
      
    • 2010: Activities at the General Synod. 2011: Blessing of same-sex relationships in NB and PEI
      
      
    • 2011: St. Alban's Church. 2011-2013: More dioceses bless same-sex couples
      
      
    • 2013: Vote planned on SSMs for 2016 Synod. Church sign angers some, accepted by others
      
      
    • 2016: Heart-stopping vote on gay marriage at the 2016 Synod
      
      
    • 2019: The ACC takes a baby step towards legitimizing same-sex marriage
      
    
    
• Schism: Anglican congregations leave the Anglican Church of Canada:
  
  
  • Background; 2004 to 2007 events
    
    
  • 2008 and later events

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Related sections on homosexuality in:

• The worldwide Anglican Communion
  
  
• The Church of England
  
  
• The Episcopal Church, USA

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Latest update: 2019JUL-21
Author: B.A. Robinson

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