Ottawa Anglicans will have to wait a few more weeks for the bishop’s decision to bless same-sex couples. At this year’s synod – an annual Anglican diocesan meeting – Bishop John Chapman announced he would make his decision after consulting the House of Bishops in Canada.
The meeting of House of Bishops started Oct. 27 and lasted a week.
“It is important that I honour the collegiality of the Canadian House,” Chapman reportedly said at a speech to the synod. The bishop will have the final say in the decision for the Ottawa diocese.
Rev. George Sinclair of the St. Alban’s Anglican Church says that he was under the impression that the decision to bless same-sex marriage made at last year’s synod meeting was decided by the bishop. He says that this was the reason his church left the Anglican Church of Canada and joined the Anglican Network in Canada, which broke away from the mother church because it rejects rituals such as same-sex blessing.
“The [Ottawa] diocese is not being faithful to the teaching of the Bible,” says Sinclair. He says the decision made by the bishop is no longer about whether to implement same-sex blessing. “It’s when and how it will be implemented and which church will implement it.”
Bishop Chapman told this year’s synod meeting that the motion passed in the 2007 synod – the decision to ask the bishop to approve same-sex blessing – reflects the belief that “all people are loved, valued and precious before God and the Church.” But, to date, the bishop had not decided where he stands on the issue.
Rev. Shane Parker, the rector of the Christ Church Cathedral, says Chapman has the right to speak to the other bishops across the country and should be given as much time as he needs to make the decision.
Chapman will also ask the House of Bishops to develop an appropriate rite for the blessing. Upon authorization from the House, Chapman will give permission for one parish within the diocese to offer the blessing of civil marriages between same-sex couples. The church that came under serious consideration is St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church. The parish has already blessed same-sex unions without permission from the diocese.
“Many people are very ecstatic,” says Rev. Dana Fisher, the rector of the church. “This means that justice has happened. All people are allowed to enter into a relationship with who they love and be able to marry those people.”
According to Fisher, her parish has worked for a long time to allow same-sex blessing within the Anglican diocese and she feels the goal of her congregation has been accomplished.