Meanwhile, to the North …

More same-sex-marriage brouhaha from our neighbors in the Anglican Church of Canada.  The Canadian church has been a footnote in a lot of the discussions to date on what’s going on with the Episcopal Church.  At least one diocese has officially blessed same-sex marriages, as I recall, and, of course, Canada-the-country is allowing gay marriage (or at least civil unions, I lose track of which).

 I’d read this the other day, and thought it was a pretty reasonable position for the moment.  It’s a letter from the Canadian House of Bishops to the General Synod (their more snazilly-named General Convention) on the whole same-sex blessing thing. 

In short, it declines to support same-sex blessings (marriages), but it does everything but.  It welcomes gay couples, it allows for non-nuptual blessings and communal participation, it condemns any sort of prejudice against gays, inside or outside the church (e.g., excluding the children of gay households from being baptised), etc.  It also offers support for gay clergy in the church.

(Those sorts of things (or even supporting them) could get you arrested in Nigeria, of course, if Abp. Akinola had his way, but …)

The letter doesn’t close any doors, however, recognizing that these issues will be discussed at the next Synod (this year) and asking for some specific reports for the following Synod (in 2010) on the underlying theological issues.

In other words, it’s a position not all that different from where the Episcopal Church officially stands, so far as I can tell.  No word on whether even these positions will draw down the wrath of the conservative Primates (certainly the folks over at T19 see it as an heretical capitulation to same-sex blessings). It has been met, from the other direction, with disappointment from gay rights supporters in the Canadian church (though that story misstates the recent actions of the US House of Bishops).