Anglican Church of Canada Rejects Same-Sex Marriage Approvals in Vote

'There's a lot of grief right now among the delegates,'

says church's communication director

Maryse Zeidler · CBC News 

Some delegates were visibly upset when the motion to change the Anglican Church of Canada's

marriage canon wasn't passed on Friday night. (Anglican Church of Canada)

An Anglican Church of Canada vote to approve same-sex marriage failed to pass at its general assembly in Vancouver on Friday night. 

The motion would have amended the church's marriage canon to remove references to the sacrament being a union between a man and a woman — effectively allowing same-sex marriage.

The motion had to be approved through two rounds of votes. The first vote took place three years ago at the church's last general assembly, called a synod, in Richmond Hill, Ont., and the second reading was held late Friday evening.

Church rules require motions to be passed by a two-thirds majority from its three groups of delegates: the laity, clergy and bishops. On Friday, the requirement for the motion did not meet the threshold among the bishops.

Lay voters and members of the clergy were more than two-thirds in favour of the motion.

Meghan Kilty, the church's director of communications, says the vote has prompted strong reactions from many members and clergy.

"There's a lot of grief right now among the delegates," she said over the phone Saturday morning.

Kilty says many dioceses have been performing same-sex marriages since the 2016 vote. For example, she says, Toronto bishop Kevin Robertson was married to his husband in 2018 at St. James Cathedral. 

An Anglican Church of Canada vote on Friday night failed to pass a motion that would effectively

allow same-sex marriage. (Anglican Church of Canada)

Many intend to continue performing same-sex marriages, Kilty says, as there is still debate as to whether the church specifically prohibits it or not.

The church did pass a resolution to recognize that each diocese may respond to the issue of same-sex marriage in a way that best suits its theological understanding and practice.

Kilty says she expects the matter will continue to be debated throughout the synod, which lasts until Tuesday. 

Many of the church's dioceses have posted messages on social media acknowledging how devastating the results of the vote were to many of its members. 

But there seems to be little concern about how God would react except among the bishops.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't make clear whether the motion can be revived in the next synod, or whether they have to start over and win two consecutive votes.

The issue of gay rights and same sex marriage has divided the Anglican church around the world.

Also on Friday, the leader of the Anglican Church of Canada apologized for its "cultural and spiritual arrogance" that caused harm to Indigenous Peoples. 

The Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth is Not Very Reverent

Anglican Minister Urges Prayers for

Prince George to Be Gay

This is one of the more disturbing stories you will ever read if you are a Christian. That a man could rise to the status of 'Very Reverend' in the Anglican Church and not have any clue about Who God is, is hardly conceivable. He is a disgrace and he ought to be fired!

By ALAN COWELL

A crowd outside St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London, in June. The wedding of

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is to take place there in May. Credit Stefan Rousseau/Agence

France-Presse — Getty Images

LONDON — A prominent Anglican cleric and gay rights campaigner known for contentious gestures has urged believers to pray for Prince George — age 4, and third in line to the throne — to find the love “of a fine young gentleman” when he grows up so as to advance the cause of same-sex marriage in church.

Coming just days after Prince Harry — George’s uncle, and fifth in line — announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, a divorced American actress, the suggestion by the Very Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth seemed to illuminate once more the role of royal romance in Britain’s imagination and conversation, especially when it collides with tradition.

Prince Harry and Ms. Markle have said they will marry in May at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, west of London. But it is only since 2002 that the Church of England has permitted church marriages for divorced people, “in exceptional circumstances” at the discretion of parish priests. The church teaching is that marriage is for life.

While same-sex marriage is permitted by law in most of Britain, the Church of England says on its website, “it remains the case that it is not legally possible for same-sex couples to marry” in its churches.

Mr. Holdsworth, the provost of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, belongs to the Scottish Episcopal Church, a separate province of the Anglican Communion that voted in June to let its priests solemnize same-sex marriages.

In his campaign to expand on that change, Mr. Holdsworth wrote in a blog post on Thursday that believers could “pray in the privacy of their hearts (or in public if they dare) for the Lord to bless Prince George with a love, when he grows up, of a fine young gentleman.” Prince George is the elder child of Prince William and the former Catherine Middleton, now called the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Bible tells us very clearly what the Lord thinks of homosexuality. To even suggest that He might 'bless' someone by making them gay is the height of absurdity. The man has no clue Who Jesus Christ is and ought not to be able to represent Him.

“A royal wedding might sort things out remarkably easily, though we might have to wait 25 years for that to happen,” Mr. Holdsworth wrote. “Who knows whether that might be sooner than things might work out by other means.”

His suggestion was widely reported in the British media on Friday, though the blog on which he made it seemed inaccessible Friday morning.

Mr. Holdsworth caused a frisson among some of the faithful in January when he permitted a reading from the Quran during a service that included a rebuttal of the Christian belief that Jesus was the son of God.

His latest comments also drew the outrage of more traditional clerics. The Rev. Gavin Ashenden, a former royal chaplain, called the comments unchristian.

“To pray for Prince George to grow up in that way” is to “pray in a way that would disable and undermine his constitutional and personal role,” he told Christian Today, an online news provider, particularly when part of the expectation that the prince would inherit would be “to produce a biological heir with a woman he loves.”

“It is an unkind and destabilizing prayer,” Mr. Ashenden continued. “It is the theological equivalent of the curse of the wicked fairy in one of the fairy tales.”

There was no immediate comment from the royal family. Prince Harry and Ms. Markle arrived in Nottingham, England, on Friday for their first official visit together — to raise awareness of H.I.V./AIDS and youth violence.