Ottawa Anglican church to bless same-sex marriages

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Anglican Bishop John Chapman is allowing an Ottawa church to offer blessings for same-sex couples who are already civilly married.

"My intention is to embrace a liturgical process that will not discriminate between members of the church on the basis of sexual orientation," Chapman told a congregation Thursday night at the beginning of the diocese's annual synod. "This will be Ottawa's offering to the ongoing discernment that is happening throughout the Anglican Church of Canada."

St. John the Evangelist, at the corner of Somerset and Elgin streets, will be the only Anglican church in Ottawa offering the blessing as long as one person in the couple is baptized. The church, considered one of the more progressive Anglican churches with a strong connection to the gay community, asked the diocese in 2002 for permission to offer same-sex blessings.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings

5 Comments
Posted October 27, 2009 at 1:56 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Intercessor wrote:

subscribing for now please….
Intercessor

October 27, 3:01 pm | [comment link]
2. New Reformation Advocate wrote:

Why am I not surprised??  But after all, this is Ottawa, the national capital we’re talking about.  And just as the UCC in the US has been fully behind the pro-gay agenda for decades, it’s the same with that other UCC, the hybrid United Church of Canada, Anglicanism’s main Protestant rival north of the border.  I mean, you have to keep up with the Jones’, or the Presbyterians and Methodists you know… Or the secular culture.

Particularly sad, though typical, is the usual confusion of “sexual orientation” with sexual behavior, as if the one automatically entails the other.  Bishop Chapman is merely mouthing the PC language of our degenerate western culture when he defends his action by saying that his intention is to avoid “discrimination…on the basis of sexual orientation.”  It’s all notably couched in purely political terms, without even a hint of any biblical or theological justification.  Because of course there is none.

Will he get chastised by the ABoC or other western bishops for this additional “tear” in the unraveling fabric of the AC??

No, you say?  Well, I don’t think so either.

David Handy+

October 27, 3:18 pm | [comment link]
3. Br_er Rabbit wrote:

Ahh, sweet nostalgia. There was a time, not so long ago, when this would have been a major news item, with an expectation of serious responses from elements in the Global South, if not the Archbishop of Canterbury himself. But, alas, times change. Today, this is but a blip on business as usual. Nothing happening here. Move along. All is well.

October 27, 5:10 pm | [comment link]
4. TridentineVirginian wrote:

Right on time, along comes a useful reminder of why the Pope made his move.

October 27, 5:38 pm | [comment link]
5. Watcher wrote:

The Anglican Church has reached a point where it has to consider whether it’s going to follow the teachings of the bible or bow to political pressures. It seems the church is taking the path of least resistance and isn’t interested in taking a stand against the establishment on the side of God

January 25, 9:01 pm | [comment link]
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