TORONTO: Anglicans eyeing same-sex blessing
Toronto diocese to draw up details for 'committed' gay relationships amid bitter debate within church

by Stuart Laidlaw
Faith and Ethics reporter
TheStar.com
January 31, 2009

Toronto Anglicans will start blessing same-sex relationships within a year, the Toronto Star has learned, a move that puts local churches at the forefront of the issue but could inflame an already divisive debate within the church.

"One of the chief purposes of the church is to provide care for people who come to the church in a particular need," Toronto Bishop Colin Johnson told the Star in an exclusive interview.

The move, a first for any diocese in Canada, brings Toronto churches closer than any others in the country to allowing same-sex marriage blessings - the most contentious issue facing Anglicanism today.

It stops just short, however, of offering blessings to gay marriages, offering them instead to couples in "stable long-term committed relationships," according to a policy paper approved by the executive council of the diocese this week and obtained by the Star.

The blessings would take place in only a "limited, small number of parishes," Johnson said.

"There would be no pressure on any parish to do this, and in fact we may need to exert some pressure on some parishes not to do this," said Johnson, who wants to keep the number of churches offering the blessings low.

He would not guess how many parishes might offer the blessings. He said the new policy could not be used by a couple to force a parish to bless their relationship.

In the coming months, Johnson plans to set up a commission of Toronto clergy and laity to spell out the details of the blessings to be offered. He expects the process to take about a year, including at least two consultations with the wider Anglican community at synod meetings in May and November.

The move comes on the eve of a meeting in Egypt of Anglican primates from around the world at which same-sex marriage blessings will be debated. It will also discuss whether to allow conservative Anglicans to split from the liberal Canadian and U.S. churches.

The issues of same-sex blessings and gay clergy have pushed the church to the brink of schism, with more than a dozen parishes leaving the Canadian church.

"We've been discussing the issues of same-sex relations for 30 years," Johnson said, noting that Toronto is a very theologically diverse diocese. "As bishop, it's my responsibility to provide pastoral care for all people of the diocese, regardless of the sexual orientation or theological point of view."

The plan calls for a two-stage process. A parish wishing to bless same-sex relationships would ask Johnson for approval. He would do that only if convinced that both clergy and laity at the church agree.

After that, each couple wishing to see a relationship blessed would need Johnson's approval.

Johnson said that while the plan will go to the governing synod of the diocese for input, it will not be put to a vote. "(A vote) would cause more division than it would cause resolution," he said.

Johnson said the move is in keeping with a Canadian House of Bishops statement in 2007 calling for "the most generous pastoral response possible within the current teachings of the church" on same-sex blessings.

END