The Anglican Church of Canada’s House of Bishops agreed to honor, in part, the primates' request to enact a moratorium on rites for the blessing of same-sex unions. The bishops announced they would prohibit new rites, but would not ban existing ones - a response primates from the global south found inadequate.

Meeting in Windsor, Ontario, from April 25-May 1, the bishops unanimously endorsed a 13-point statement after a closed-door session on April 27. “We are sorry for the pain” caused by the diocese of New Westminster’s unilateral enactment of rites for the blessing of same-sex unions, the bishops wrote, and “we regret that together we have not achieved a level of consultation deemed sufficient to the magnitude of the issues under consideration.”

The bishops pledged to commit themselves as “fully as possible” to the recommendations of the Windsor Report, and recommended the Church’s delegates “voluntarily withdraw” from the June 21-29 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC). The final decision rests with Canada’s Council of General Synod which meets May 6-8 in Mississauga, Ontario.

The bishops declined to follow the primates' request to halt blessings of same-sex unions, writing “we commit ourselves neither to encourage nor to initiate the use of such rites until General Synod has made a decision on the matter.”

The director of communications and information resources for the Anglican Church of Canada, Sam Carriere, told The Living Church, “the statement does not change the status quo” as only new rites will be banned.

Archbishop Andrew Hutchison told the Windsor Star no new dioceses would be allowed to perform same-sex blessings and any breaches of the accord could result in disciplinary action against the offending clergy.

In a statement given to TLC, Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster wrote: “along with my fellow bishops, I have agreed ‘neither to encourage nor to initiate’ the rite of same sex blessing until General Synod in 2007.”

“The phrase ‘neither to encourage nor to initiate’ comes from the primates’ communiqué of Feb. 24," he explained. "Several primates have made it clear that the phrase means there should be no further actions beyond those already started.

“No bishop was in any doubt that I did not commit myself to a moratorium on same-sex blessings,” Bishop Ingham said. “The blessing of same-sex unions continues within the Diocese of New Westminster as provided by the regulations stipulated by our diocesan synod.”

The statement elicited a ready response from Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone. Archbishop Venables told TLC the statement predictably “follows all that has been done and said until now in that it doesn’t respond in any way to the obvious spirit and clear message of what the Communion has been saying, but rather ignores it.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s office declined to comment on the statement.

Over 40 American bishops and the secretary general of the ACC, Canon Kenneth Kearon, joined the Canadian bishops at dinner on April 27. Originally scheduled to attend the joint meeting of American and Canadian bishops, Archbishop Rowan Williams withdrew from the dinner following the primates’ meeting in Dromantine, saying it would be inappropriate for him to attend given the present estrangement between the North American Churches and the rest of the Anglican Communion. (TLC, March 27)

To read more news, features, and commentaries not available online, we invite you to subscribe to The Living Church magazine. To learn more, click here.