Northern bishops nix same-sex marriage
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Monday, August 15, 2016
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Gay marriages won't be performed in Anglican churches across the Arctic, if Northern bishops have anything to say about it.
At the General Synod 2016, the Anglican Church of Canada narrowly voted in favour of a resolution to change the Marriage Canon, allowing for the solemnization of same-sex marriages by Anglican clergy. At first, the resolution was reported as having failed by a single vote. However, discrepancies in the voting process were discovered and after a recount, the resolution passed.
More than 200 delegates from across Canada attended the six-day General Synod.
However, seven bishops from Northern Canada, including Yellowknife-based Rt. Rev. David Parsons, Bishop of The Arctic, released a letter expressing their public dissent from the decision, saying they believed the General Synod had "erred grievously."
Additionally, statements to be read to congregations at recent Sunday services since the Synod have also encouraged congregants to support the bishops in their stance.
"The General Synod has taken a further step in ordaining something contrary to God's Word written and imperils our full communion within the Anglican Church of Canada and with Anglicans throughout the world," the bishops stated.
The Marriage Canon won't be officially changed until it is approved at the 2019 General Synod.
Parsons declined to comment for this story.
Rev. Bryan Haig, the newly appointed Rector for Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Yellowknife, also declined to comment, saying all communication had to go through the bishop.
Many congregants at a recent Holy Trinity service were reluctant to comment on the issue after church let out for the day, citing concerns that their conservative views would be misrepresented.
"That's a legal issue, that's not a religious issue. The two are very separate in my eyes. Being married under god means that he consents or ordains, or has created that union, and in my perspective genesis is very clear. Man, woman - that's god's plan," said one parishioner who preferred not to be named.
"Our view is that sin is sin, and everybody carries sexual sin, or physical sin, or whatever it is. I'm talking heterosexual sin, homosexual sin, sin is sin. But god has set up an ordinance, and god set up that a man and a woman should be married, and that's what I believe. Adam wasn't brought another man, god created a woman for him."
