Chronology of the same-sex debate in the Anglican Church of Canada

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Canadian Churchman files
Canadian bishops at the 1978 Lambeth Conference.

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Bishops at the 1988 Lambeth Conference.

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Archbishop Michael Peers at the 1995 General Synod, which affirmed the presence of gays and lesbians in the church.

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Leanne Larmondin
Members of eight parishes walk out after the synod of New Westminster approved the blessing of same-sex unions in 2002.

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Leanne Larmondin
New Westminster bishop Michael Ingham talks to media after he gives consent to a diocesan synod vote allowing same-sex blessings in 2002.

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Jim Solheim-ENS
Gene Robinson, a non-celibate gay priest, during his consecration as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

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ACNS/Jim Rosenthal
The Eames Commission outside St. George’s House, Windsor, England, where they drafted the Windsor Report in 2004.

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Lynn Ross
Delegates to the General Synod in 2004 queue to speak during a debate on the blessing of same-sex unions.

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Marites N. Sison
Anglican Essentials Network and Anglican Essentials are launched in Toronto in 2005.

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ACNS
Primates’ meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in 2005.

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Lynn Ross
Canadian-Anglican presenters await their turn to speak at the Anglican Consultative Council Meeting in Nottingham, England in 2005.

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Art Babych
A motion on same-sex blessings is flashed on a giant screen at General Synod, 2007.

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Marites N. Sison
Bishop John Chapman at a press conference after the diocese of Ottawa approved a motion asking him to allow same-sex blessings.

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Marilyn Jacobson
The retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Don Harvey, with Malcolm Harding, retired bishop of Brandon, who joined him in the Anglican province of the Southern Cone.

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Solange De Santis
Rev. Charles Masters of St. George’s, Lowville, Ont., and Rev. George Sinclair of St. Alban’s, Ottawa, are two priests who have left the Canadian church.

1975 — Integrity, a movement of gay and lesbian Anglicans, is established in Canada.

1976 — Canadian house of bishops appoints task force to examine church’s pastoral response to the issue of homosexuality.

1978 — Lambeth Conference of bishops affirms heterosexuality as the “scriptural norm” but recognizes need for “deep and dispassionate study of the question of homosexuality.”

1979 — House of bishops issues first major statement on homosexuality, upholding that marriage is only valid between a man and a woman; says homosexual persons may be ordained, but must lead a celibate life.

1987 — New Westminster diocesan synod urges congregations to undertake study on sexuality.

1988 — International Lambeth Conference of bishops calls for further study of homosexuality.

1992 — General Synod holds open forum on sexuality; requests the house of bishops and the National Executive Council (now the Council of General Synod) to commission a study of homosexuality and same-sex relationships.
Diocesan synod of New Westminster asks house of bishops to set same requirements for ordination for both heterosexual and homosexual persons.

1994 — Canadian Anglicans with conservative views on sexuality hold first Anglican Essentials Conference. General Synod publishes study program on human sexuality for parishes.

1995 — House of bishops establishes national listening process on human sexuality.
General Synod affirms presence and contribution of gays and lesbians in the church.

1998 — Diocesan synod of New Westminster votes 179 to 170 asking the diocesan bishop, Michael Ingham, to authorize the blessing of same-sex unions. Bishop Ingham withholds his consent pending consultation with the wider church. Lambeth Conference passes two resolutions on sexuality, one, stating that homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture, the other, encouraging dialogue with gays and lesbians.

1999 — Primates’ meeting urges provinces to exercise caution and restraint in ordaining non-celibate homosexuals and blessing same-sex unions.

2000 — Diocesan synod of New Westminster approves motion asking bishop to authorize a rite to bless same-sex unions. Bishop Ingham again withholds consent.

2002 — New Westminster synod approves a motion asking Bishop Ingham to allow same-sex blessings. Lay and clergy delegates representing eight parishes walk out of synod before the bishop gives his consent. Bishop Ingham establishes conscience clause to ensure that no clergy or parish will be forced to perform blessings and offers to invite a Canadian bishop to provide alternative episcopal care to those who request it. House of bishops issues statement asking dioceses to refrain from any action on same-sex unions.

2003 — First blessing of same-sex unions takes place at St. Margaret’s Cedar Cottage, Vancouver, diocese of New Westminster.

Some bishops of the Anglican Communion declare “broken communion” with the diocese of New Westminster.
Canadian house of bishops establishes task force on alternative episcopal oversight for dissenting parishes in New Westminster.
Episcopal Church in the United States elects Gene Robinson, a non-celibate gay priest, as bishop of New Hampshire. Some U.S. parishes place themselves under the oversight of another province.

Archbishop of Canterbury establishes Lambeth Commission on Communion to seek ways of arresting schism in the Anglican Communion.

2004 — In the U.S., conservative dioceses and churches form the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, now called Anglican Communion Network. Months later, in Canada, Anglican Essentials announces plan to form a Network and Federation to provide “pastoral care” to disaffected conservative parishes.

Four primates offer alternative episcopal oversight to dissenting parishes in New Westminster; four parishes accept, leave the Canadian church and form the Anglican Coalition in Canada.

General Synod defers decision on whether gay relationships should be blessed by church but passes resolution “affirming the integrity and sanctity of committed, adult same-sex relationships.” Synod asks primate to refer the issue to the Primate’s Theological Commission.

Eames Commission releases Windsor Report asking the Canadian and American churches to declare a moratorium on same-sex blessings and the election of gay bishops.

Diocese of Niagara synod passes resolution by a two-thirds majority asking the bishop to allow clergy to bless same-sex unions. The bishop withholds his consent.

2005 — Primates meet and ask Canadian and American churches to voluntarily withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council; also commit to neither encourage nor initiate cross-boundary interventions. Some primates refuse to attend the eucharist at meeting; Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams comments that “the communion is broken.”

Council of General Synod decides that Canadian delegates will attend but not participate at the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Nottingham, England.

Primate’s Theological Commission publishes the St. Michael’s Report, stating that the blessing of same-sex unions is a matter of doctrine “but not core doctrine.”

House of bishops agree “neither to encourage nor initiate” same-sex blessings until General Synod decides on the matter. Diocese of New Westminster imposes moratorium on allowing new parishes to permit same-sex blessings but to continue ceremonies in those that have received the bishop’s approval.

Canada legalizes gay marriage.

2006 — A panel formed by the Archbishop of Canterbury recommends that dissenting parishes in the diocese of New Westminster be granted an extended episcopal oversight but asks them to resume contributions to the diocese and work towards reconciliation. The provision, which is meant to be temporary, is modeled after the Shared Episcopal Ministry developed by the house of bishops in 2004.

Conservative primates meet in Rwanda, advocate creation of “a separate ecclesiastical structure of the Anglican Communion” for dissenting churches in the U.S.

2007 — General Synod agrees that blessing rites for gay couples are “not in conflict” with core church doctrine, but refuses to affirm the authority of dioceses to offer them.

Dioceses of Ottawa, Montreal and Niagara approve similar motions requesting their bishops to allow same-sex blessings.

House of bishops issues pastoral guidelines concerning church services for gay couples that stop short of blessings or marriage.

Two retired Canadian bishops – Donald Harvey and Malcolm Harding – relinquish their ministries in the Anglican Church of Canada to join the Anglican province of the Southern Cone.

The primate of the Southern Cone, Archbishop Gregory Venables, says his church will accept as members conservative Canadian Anglican churches that are in “serious theological dispute” with their dioceses or with the national church.

2008 — Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, clarifies in a letter to his fellow primates that the Canadian church has not altered its doctrine of marriage nor decided on the issue of same-sex blessings.

Vestries of 10 churches in the dioceses of New Westminster, Niagara, British Columbia, Ottawa, and Toronto vote to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and join the church of the Southern Cone.

Compiled by Marites N. Sison, staffwriter; with files from the General Synod Library, and Mel Malton, Anglican Journal contributor. Web production by Brian Bukowski.