No gay marriage debate in Canada: CEN 5.22.09 p 6.

Gay marriage will not be on the agenda of the 2010 meeting of the Anglican Church of Canada’s General Synod, the church’s Council of General Synod (CoGS) has decided.

Meeting from May 8-10 in Mississauga, Ontario, CoGS—the church’s senior governing body between meetings of General Synod released a statement at the close of their meeting saying “this is not the time to ask General Synod to amend the marriage canon to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples.”

The 2007 General Synod asked CoGS to direct the Primate’s Theological Commission to consult with dioceses and parishes as to whether the blessing of same-sex unions was a “faithful, Spirit-led” development of Christian doctrine, and to address Scripture’s “witness to the integrity of every human person” and the concomitant question of the sanctity of human relationships.

Earlier this month the Primate’s Theological Commission released its Galilee Report, stating that it could not reach a consensus on the moral efficacy of same-sex blessings, and could not speak as one on this issue.

In March 2008, CoGS asked the church’s Faith, Worship and Ministry Committee to prepare “a theological rationale to allow for the marriage of all legally qualified persons.” Committee chairman Janet Marshall told CoGS they were unable to respond fully to the request as many on the committee were concerned they were being asked to support only one side of the debate.

In a communiqué released at the end of their meeting CoGS stated that “further work needs to be done” on the distinction between “a blessing and a nuptial blessing”, “any distinctions among marriage, the blessing of a civil marriage, and the blessing of a union”, “and the theological significance of blessing the civil marriage of a same-sex couple.”

The resolution to be sent forward for consideration by General Synod would be to affirm the church’s current practice of allowing limited pastoral blessings of gay couples, while not permitting gay nuptial blessings, and for “continued study, discussion and discernment within the church of what God is saying to us about publicly authorized rites for the blessing of unions, the blessing of civil marriages, and marriage in the church, of same-sex couples.”