Friday, June 4, 2010

Anglicans aim to defuse gay-marriage issue


From Montreal-

The Anglican Church of Canada has agreed to disagree when it comes to the fractious debate over gay marriage.

When priests, bishops and laypersons gather Friday for nine days of debate and discussion as part of the church's tri-annual General Synod in Halifax, the approach will be much different than three years ago, Archdeacon Paul Feheley said.

"This synod, we're approaching it not so much from the form of a winner-takes-all resolution," he said. "We're approaching it from a kind of conversational route and hoping by the end of synod, after numerous conversations and meetings . . . that the synod may come up with a statement on where the church is on this matter."

At the last national gathering in Winnipeg in 2007, a divided Anglican Church of Canada ultimately decided on a technicality not to give individual dioceses the right to decide for themselves whether priests should be allowed to bless same-sex unions.

The majority of the 300 delegates agreed to the idea, but church law requires separate majorities among priests, laity and bishops.

Read more:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Anglicans+defuse+marriage+issue/3108531/story.html#ixzz0ptsPmpOf

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