LambethConference.net/Canada reports on a ceremony in Montreal Cathedral in which its director of music’s civil union with another man was “acknowledged”. The bishop had refused to permit his priests to bless same-sex “marriages”, in line with the policies of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Communion. But in a service in the cathedral the couple
went to the front of the church for blessings by Dean Michael Pitts and Rev. Canon Joyce Sanchez, associate priest.
So was this a blessing of the “marriage”? Apparently not:
“They blessed us,” the music director said in a later interview. “They did not bless our marriage.”
Hold on! The couple went to front of the church together, and two priests blessed them. What is the difference between that and blessing their “marriage”?
So here we apparently have two priests in senior positions, a cathedral dean and a canon, defying the authority of their bishop and of the national and international church, and apparently trying to justify it with semantic trickery. Will they get away with it, I wonder?
Whilst I agree with your concerns, Peter – and indeed with your position on the subject in general – I do feel the need to acknowledge that the couple in question have been living in a faithful monogamous relationship for over thirty years.
Tim, my point here is more about whether the church keeps its own rules.
We had always hoped that our Christian faith was about a search for truth, so we are surprised that you have made assumptions and published something which was completely untrue, when it would have been perfectly easy to check the facts with us.
The liturgical acknowledgement was planned following the guidelines issued by the Canadian House of Bishops for a pastoral response to same-sex couples within our communities. The conformity of the liturgical action to the guidelines was checked by our Bishop, who was fully aware of what was to happen and gave his approval.
The last time we checked, libel was not a Christian virtue.
The Very Revd Michael J. Pitts
The Revd Canon Joyce Sanchez
Dear Dean Pitts,
I am sorry if I have misrepresented your service as not being properly approved by your bishop and your national church. So I can now say that it is not just you but your bishop and your national church who have abandoned the international rules of Anglican Communion by blessing a sinful relationship.
The last time I checked, homosexual acts were not a Christian virtue. But see what I have written elsewhere about circumstances in which I might accept some kind of blessing of a same-sex relationship.