1. A period of turmoil in the Anglican Church of Canada (which quickly spread into the worldwide Anglican Communion) began in 2002 when the Diocesan Synod of New Westminster, B.C., asked its Bishop, Michael Ingham, to authorize the blessing of same-sex unions and he did so.

2. This was in violation of the existing canons of the Anglican Church of Canada (as well as of biblical teaching from time immemorial) and the priests and members of several of the largest congregations in that Diocese walked out of the Synod, withdrew their financial support from their Diocese, and appealed to be put under the care of a different bishop. Their request has not so far been granted and there has been first turmoil and then an unresolved standoff in that Diocese ever since. In 2004 several of those congregations eventually gave up waiting and left the ACC. They wished to remain Anglicans, so they put themselves under the authority of the Primate of Rwanda. They had to give up their church property, which was repossessed by the New Westminster diocese, but in spite of what they regarded as a grave injustice, they have felt that the freedom to enjoy orthodox fellowship with the worldwide Anglican Communion and to get back to the proper business of a church - freely preaching the true Gospel of Christ and expanding the Kingdom of God - was well worth the price they paid.

3. A few months later, the area of turmoil widened when the Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. consecrated as bishop a divorced priest who was openly living in a homosexual partnership.

   Note

   These actions were taken in the face of a reaffirmation of traditional Christian sexual morality by the 1998 Lambeth Conference of the leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and in the face also of repeated warnings and appeals by those leaders to the ACC and ECUSA.

4. At the Canadian General Synod in 2004, the ACC considered endorsing the New Westminster innovation and authorizing same-sex blessings. It was argued that this was not a change in doctrine but merely in pastoral practice, but the Synod eventually decided to refer the matter to the Primate's Theological Commission for study and to defer a decision on the matter to the next G.S. in 2007. Illogically, it then virtually pre-empted the Commission's report and the decision of the next G.S. by declaring that homosexual unions have "integrity and sanctity." At the end of GS 2004, 10 orthodox bishops solemnly dissented from this declaration and warned the members of General Synod that in this departure from God's word they had gravely erred.

5. In February 2005, the Primates of the whole Anglican Communion met in Northern Ireland and discussed the crisis brought about by these unilateral actions of its two North American member churches. For the first time at such a meeting, there was no common Eucharist celebrated because of the above-mentioned Communion-breaking actions of the ACC and ECUSA. The two unrepentant churches were asked to refrain from taking part in the forthcoming meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (the body that manages the affairs of the Anglican Communion in the 10-year periods between Lambeth Conferences), except to appear before it to explain their novel and unconstitutional actions.

6. In April 2005, our House of Bishops declared a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions.

7. In May 2005, the Primate’s Theological Commission submitted its St. Michael Report on the issue of same-sex blessings to the Council of General Synod (CoGS - the body that manages the business of the ACC in the 3-year intervals between General Synods). The Report stated, with many qualifications, that the Commission had found the blessing of same-sex unions to be a matter of doctrine and not just of pastoral care as its proponents had argued.

8. In June 2005, representatives of the two North American churches (the ACC and ECUSA) appeared before the Anglican Consultative Council in Nottingham, England, and made very unsatisfactory attempts at explaining the un-Anglican and un-Christian unilateral actions that had so badly disrupted the unity of the Anglican Communion. Since they showed no interest in repenting, their continued suspension from the Consultative Council was confirmed. They were asked to spend the time until the next Lambeth Conference in 2008 carefully considering whether they wished to remain part of the Anglican Communion, or if they preferred to remain unrepentant and "walk apart" from it in future.

Situation in the Diocese of Ottawa

In the period since GS 2004, some of the diocesan synods in Canada have shown a desire to follow the Diocese of New Westminster in asking their bishops for permission to bless same-sex unions. Some of the bishops have indicated that they would like to do this, but felt bound to observe the moratorium agreed upon by our House of Bishops (and urged by the Anglican Consultative Council). They decided, however reluctantly, to wait until after our next General Synod in 2007 before going ahead along this path. In our Diocese of Ottawa, however, our Bishop made it clear from the start that he would not consider the matter before hearing the decision of GS 2007 and perhaps not before hearing from Lambeth 2008. Because of this, our last Diocesan Synod in 2005 received the Report of the Task Force on Same-Sex Blessings (which it had previously requested), but did not make any decisions on the matter.

As a result, it seemed unlikely that any decisive action would be taken in this Diocese before 2007 or even 2008. Accordingly, since they did not expect to be forced into making any personal decisions of conscience for another year or two, most members of the Diocese of Ottawa simply settled into waiting mode, and the urgency went out of the crisis situation.

Recent Change in the situation in the Diocese of Ottawa

In view of the above, it has been a considerable shock for orthodox Anglicans in this Diocese to discover recently that shortly before Christmas our Bishop quietly made a completely unexpected and radical change of policy as follows:

1. A priest from an Episcopal parish in Massachusetts moved to Ottawa and sought a position in the Diocese because her lesbian marriage partner had obtained a job here.

2. The Bishop has not given her an appointment and has therefore not licensed her (she is still canonically resident in Massachusetts), but he has given her formal permission to function as a priest in this Diocese and welcomed her and her spouse in the normal way that is customary when a priest joins the Diocese. She is currently functioning as an assistant to the rector in the parish she has joined.

   Note:

   While it is true that this priest is not in an actual diocesan appointment and is therefore not licensed, she has been formally accepted and is functioning as a priest in good standing, in spite of her lesbian marriage. It follows, therefore, that without any formal pronouncement on the matter and contrary to the existing canons of the ACC and the declared policy of this Diocese (not to mention the unequivocal teaching of the Bible), homosexual marriage is now accepted in this Diocese and is no longer regarded as sinful. Since the Government recently changed the definition of "marriage" to make homosexual marriage legal, there is now no ground on which a priest in this Diocese could refuse to perform such marriages and nothing to prevent priests from entering into such marriages themselves.

   In view of his former declaration of policy, and since the crisis in the ACC has already accelerated the loss of members and of income in this Diocese, it seems likely that the Bishop did not intend this preemptive action to be a formal change in diocesan policy. In support of this conjecture is the fact that although the acceptance of this priest in the Diocese has been announced in the last issue of Crosstalk, the pertinent facts and implications were not spelled out. Unfortunately, whether a change of policy was or was not deliberately intended, it has clearly occurred. The Diocese of Ottawa now stands with the Diocese of New Westminster in the position of having decisively departed from historic Anglican and Christian teaching and practice. Another step in the ACC's walk apart from the Anglican Communion has been taken.

   As a result of this decisive diocesan departure from obedience to Scripture and from historic Christian and Anglican teaching and practice, members of this Diocese are now suddenly faced with the need to make decisions of conscience in connection with the new situation. This need is particularly critical for priests, in view of the solemn and explicit declarations and vows that they make at ordination; they formally declare that they believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the word of God and promise to be loyal to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ "as this Church has received them." In other words, they are under sacred vows to maintain the biblical Christian faith pure and undefiled. It is a precious trust received from God Himself, via Christ and His Apostles and their successors, which they have explicitly accepted. They have no authority to change that faith. They are its specially appointed stewards and it is required of stewards that they be faithful.

   Those who wish to know and understand more about the crisis in Anglicanism that actions like these have brought about, have a wonderful opportunity to hear and speak with Bishop Don Harvey at the forthcoming Gathering on 10 February. For those who are not aware of it, Bishop Harvey is the Newfoundland Bishop who led the 10 bishops who got together at the end of the General Synod in 2004 to tell the members of that Synod that they had made a huge error. He has since retired and become the Moderator of the Anglican Network in Canada, and a board member of Anglican Essentials. He is in touch with the orthodox leaders of Anglicanism abroad and in Canada and is well respected by them. He will be able to provide up-to-date news of what is happening in the Anglican world and answer the questions that we may wish to ask him. When he was invited to this coming Gathering, AGO had no knowledge of the change that would be coming so unexpectedly in our Diocese, but of course God knew and provided this opportunity for us. Be sure to take full advantage of it!

   See Bishop Don Harvey's Ottawa schedule.

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   Anglican Gathering of Ottawa