Thursday June 3, 2004
Anglican Church of Canada "Affirms the Integrity and Sanctity of Committed Adult Same-Sex Relationships"
ST. CATHARINES, Ontario, June 3, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Wednesday's decision by the Anglican Church of Canada to withdraw a proposal to bless homosexual unions was overshadowed today by a new measure to "affirm the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships."
The new amendment becomes part of a resolution passed Wednesday, that says, in part: "That despite deeply held convictions on both side of the same-sex blessings issue, 'we commit ourselves to strive for that communion into which Christ continually calls us,'" according to an Anglican Journal report.
The motion to include the addition was introduced by Rev. Canon Garth Bulmer of the Diocese of Ottawa. The motion was seconded by Montreal Diocese' Rev. Dennis Drainville, who said that "sanctity" was an appropriate word to be used in the amendment, because "God is in the midst of that relationship between two committed partners. This says to thousands of people that we love you, we include you among the faithful, we seek to live with you, to work with you, to know you," he declared, according to a Yahoo news account.
In response to the Canadian decision to defer the vote on blessing of homosexual unions until 2007, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said: "It is important that the Canadian church has held back from a structural shift that would have run counter to the pleas and wishes of . . . so many around the Communion," in a statement released Wednesday. He has not made any comment on the follow-up decision Thursday.
Although the same-sex blessings decision was deferred for three years, Primate-elect, Archbishop Andrew Hutchison, said that no ban was issued that would prevent bishops from unilaterally conferring blessings on same-sex unions for their own diocese'. "Constitutionally, because there is no inhibiting legislation at the level of general synod, it does leave dioceses at liberty to make their own decisions," Hutchison said.
Read Wednesday's LifeSiteNews.com report:
Anglican Church of Canada Decides to Abandon Plan to Bless Homosexual Unions . . . For Now
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/jun/04060203.html
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