THE ANGLICAN CHURCH OF CANADA
AND HOMOSEXUALITY
Events prior to 1995
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Study by the Canadian House of Bishops (1976):
The Canadian House of Bishops created a task force to study
homosexuality, particularly with respect to pastoral concerns and
ordination.
Resolution of the Canadian House of Bishops (1979):
This is the Church's most recent formal statement on homosexuality.
"Questions of human sexuality are a matter of great concern to the Church of
our day. Prominent amongst these concerns is the attitude of the Church towards homosexual
persons. While homosexuality is a very complex and involved issue, nevertheless, in
response to specific questions directed to the Anglican Church of Canada, we have decided
that a statement is needed at this time.
"We believe as Christians that homosexual persons as children of God, have a
full and equal claim, with all other persons, upon the love, acceptance, concern and
pastoral care of the Church. The gospel of Jesus Christ compels Christians to guard
against all forms of human injustice and to affirm that all persons are brothers and
sisters for whom Christ died. We affirm that homosexual persons are entitled to equal
protection under the law with all other Canadian citizens.
"It is clear from Holy Scripture that only the sexual union of male and female
can find expression within the covenant of Holy Matrimony. In the heart of biblical
teaching about creation we discover insights into the nature and purpose of sexuality.
Rooted in God's creative purpose is the fulfillment and completion of male and female in
each other, together with the procreative function of sexuality. Thus the Church confines
its nuptial blessing to heterosexual marriages, and we cannot authorize our clergy to
bless homosexual unions. We are aware that some homosexuals develop for themselves
relationships of mutual support, help and comfort, about which the Church must show an
appropriate concern. Such relationships, though, must not be confused with Holy Matrimony,
and the Church must do nothing which appears to support any such suggestion."
This statement was reaffirmed by the bishops in 1991.
General Synod (1992):
Prior to the Synod, the Bishops released the following statement:
"Our present and future considerations about homosexuality should be pursued
within the larger study of human sexuality in its totality:
We accept all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, as equal before God; our
acceptance of persons with homosexual orientation is not an acceptance of homosexual
activity
We do not accept the blessing of homosexual unions
We will not call in question the ordination of a person who has shared with the
bishop his/her homosexual orientation if there has been a commitment to the bishop to
abstain from sexual acts with persons of the same sex as a part of the requirement for
ordination."
Anglican members at the Synod asked the House of Bishops and the
National Executive Council to commission a study on homosexuality and
homosexual relationships.
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The trial of Jim Ferry (1992):
Jim Ferry is an Anglican priest who is gay and in a committed relationship.
He learned that members of his congregation had become aware of his relationship
and were planning to tell his Bishop, Terence Finlay. He went to Finlay in 1991
to reveal his sexual orientation and committed partnership. The bishop attempted
to break up the couple by ordering Ferry to leave his spouse and remain
celibate. This he refused to do. A Bishops' Court was convened which generated
great public interest throughout the U.S. and Canada. Bishop Finlay terminated
Ferry's license to preach and "inhibited" him. Inhibiting is a church
term which means that Ferry was not permitted to perform even those functions
that lay persons are allowed to carry out (e.g. preach or organize a service).
Montreal Declaration of Anglican Essentials (1994):
Three Anglican groups (Anglican Renewal Ministries of Canada, Barnabas Anglican
Ministries and The Prayer Book Society of Canada) sponsored the Essentials
'94 Conference in 1994-June. Attendees agreed on a conservative statement
of belief, which included a brief statement on human sexuality:
"God designed human sexuality not only for procreation but also for the joyful
expression of love, honour, and fidelity between wife and husband. These are the only
sexual relations that biblical theology deems good and holy.
Adultery, fornication, and homosexual unions are intimacies contrary to God's
design. The church must seek to minister healing and wholeness to those who are sexually
scarred, or who struggle with ongoing sexual temptations, as most people do. Homophobia
and all forms of sexual hypocrisy and abuse are evils against which Christians must ever
be on their guard. The church may not lower God's standards of sexual morality for any of
its members, but must honour God by upholding these standards tenaciously in face of
society's departures from them."
Congregations must seek to meet the particular needs for friendship and
community that single persons have. (Gen 1:26-28; 2:21-24; Mt 5:27-32;
19:2-12; Lk 7:36-50; Jn 8:1-11; Ro 1:21-28; 3:22-24; 1 Cor 6:9-11, 13-16; 7:7;
Eph 5:3, 1 Tim 1:8-11; 3:2-4, 12)
"The Fidelity Group" position paper (1994):
The Fidelity Group is a group of conservative Anglican clergy which was
created to study the "issue of the church's pastoral guidance with respect to human sexuality
and, in particular, the guidance which the church gives on the subject of
homosexuality." Some excerpts from their position paper which are
related to homosexuality are:
 | "We acknowledge that .... homosexual people have been mistreated in society and
unfairly singled out in the church." |
| "We do not see any reason for the church to move its moral counsel and pastoral
discipline from the 1979 House of Bishop's Statement." |
| "Nowhere in the Bible is homosexual utility referred to in a favorable light.
Traditional exegesis identified several texts which mention homosexual activity, all of
which describe it negatively, variously as an abomination, against nature, and among a
list of sins that, if consistently practiced, bars one from entering God's kingdom." |
| "Biblical teaching on homosexuality, however, has remained remarkably
consistent in the entire millennium of its composition. In this respect it differs
markedly with the evolving teaching on divorce within the Bible with which homosexual sins
have been compared." |
| "It is our judgment that on the matter of sexuality the Bible has set a norm
for chaste living: fidelity within marriage and continence outside it. Homosexual
activity, together with all extra-marital activities, are inherent departures from God's
order." |
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Copyright © 1999 and 2001 to 2003 incl., by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Latest update: 2003-NOV-1
Author: B.A. Robinson
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