wfn.org | CANADA: HOUSE OF BISHOPS DISCUSS ORDINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

TITLE:CANADA: HOUSE OF BISHOPS DISCUSS ORDINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS
April 25, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Caonon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London. UK

[97.4.4.3] 

CANADA: HOUSE OF BISHOPS DISCUSS ORDINATION OF HOMOSEXUALS
(Anglican Church of Canada statement)

Background: The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church of Canada  met
April 14 to 18 in Mississauga. Since 1991, the House has been committed
to reviewing the basis of its 1979 guidelines on the ordination of
homosexual persons.

In November, 1991, the House upheld those guidelines and said it need to
learn more about homosexuality and human sexuality  generally, to do
more bible study and biblical interpretation on the issues, and to find
ways of entering into dialogue with members of the gay and lesbian
community.

Since that time the House has devoted several sessions of its regular
meetings to continued study. Until last week, these had been carried out
'in camera' but in last week's session the House decided to continue its
discussions in open session.

The following interim statement was released at the end of the meeting,
indicating that the bishops intend to work at developing  a message to
the church in their fall 1997 meeting.

A Statement from the House of Bishops  of the Anglican Church of Canada
April 18, 1997.

For a number of years the people of the Anglican Church have wrestled
with their understanding of the place of its gay and lesbian members.

In 1979, the House of Bishops issued guidelines which stated,
in part, that

     "1. considerations about homosexuality should be pursued within the
larger study of human sexuality in its totality;

      2. 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;

      3. we do not accept the blessing of homosexual unions;

      4. we will not call into 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."

Since 1991, the House of Bishops, together with others in the church,
have studied and reviewed these guidelines, with most of its work being
done in camera. This week, meeting in Toronto in open session, the House
of Bishops tested its current position with three options, with the
following results:

     1. Ten members wished to retain the 1979 guidelines in their
present form;
     2. Eighteen members wished to retain the original intention of the
guidelines, but update them in the light of new pastoral awareness.
     3. Six members wished to retain the guidelines in force while a
task force worked on new guidelines.

The House of Bishops thereby commits itself to retaining the 1979
guidelines in principle, but intends to express them in a wider context
of theological understanding and pastoral sensitivity. The House aims to
receive the first draft of a message to the church at its Fall 1997
meeting. Later we hope to undertake a wider study of human sexuality
within the wider church.

We seek to support all persons, believing all, regardless of sexual
orientation, to be equal before God. We ask for the ongoing prayers of
the whole church.