Calgary synod asks bishop to consider allowing same-sex blessings

The synod of the diocese of Calgary has asked the diocesan bishop to allow the blessing of same-sex unions.

On Saturday, October 14, a motion was put before the synod requesting the bishop “to grant permission to any clergy who wish to bless the unions of faithful, committed, Christian same sex couples.” The motion also asks “that clergy and lay people of the Diocese of Calgary shall be entrusted to follow their consciences.”

The vote passed with 57.4% of votes, Archbishop Gregory Kerr-Wilson, diocesan bishop of Calgary and metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Rupert’s Land, confirmed Friday, October 20.

Because the motion did not concern a change to the canons (church laws) of the diocese, and because it came from the floor, members voted together rather than by order.

With the motion passed, it is now up to the diocesan bishop to consider it. Kerr-Wilson says he expects to announce his decision on the request in mid-November.

An earlier version proposed simply “that clergy and lay people of the Diocese of Calgary be entrusted to follow their consciences when making decisions about the spiritual and pastoral practices offered to same sex couples, including the ability of clergy to decide whether or not to bless the unions of faithful, committed, Christian same-sex couples.” However, this was considered beyond the scope of synod, and the motion was amended to request the bishop to grant his permission, says the Rev. Brian Pearson, rector of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Calgary, a supporter of the motion who was present at synod.

The blessing of a same-sex couple involves a different rite from a church marriage. Since 2002, more than one-third of the Anglican Church of Canada’s 30 dioceses have moved forward with same-sex blessings.

Both Kerr-Wilson and Pearson say that, despite high levels of anxiety and tension around the issue, the debate in synod was respectful.

“I have to say, I was very pleased with the delegates of the diocese of Calgary, who conducted the conversation on it in a very respectful and gentle way,” Kerr-Wilson said. “That was excellent.”

Said Pearson, “The tensions you could cut with a knife, but the actual debate was very respectful…There’s so much at stake in this for people, in this diocese as elsewhere, that the discipline of those who presented the motion and those who spoke, both to it and against it, indicated if there was anything hopeful outside the vote itself, it was that it didn’t get personal.”

Pearson was among a number of clergy in the diocese who received a warning from the bishop after jointly blessing the civil marriage of a non-heterosexual couple (a woman and her transgendered partner) last year.

A motion to amend the marriage canon to allow same-sex marriages passed its required first reading at General Synod in 2016, and will need to be ratified at General Synod’s next meeting in 2019 to become church law.

The motion was put forth during a synod that was focused on the theme of Indigenous/non-Indigenous reconciliation and healing. Highlights, say Kerr-Wilson and Pearson, were presentations by Lydia Mamakwa, bishop of the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, and Sidney Black, Indigenous Bishop for Treaty 7 territory in the diocese of Calgary. The synod also passed a motion directing diocesan council to focus its energies over the next triennium on developing a mission plan for the diocese.

Note: A correction has been made to this story. The final amended motion as passed in the synod ends with the words, “be entrusted to follow their consciences,” not “be entrusted to follow their consciences when making decisions about the spiritual and pastoral practices offered to same sex couples.”