Category Archives: Same-sex marriage

Diocese of Rupert’s Land plans to proceed with same-sex marriages

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The bishop of Rupert’s Land has issued the following statement that clearly says – amidst the usual faux-pious gobbledegook – that he intends to go ahead with marrying same-sex couples in spite of the fact that the motion to approve same-sex marriages won’t be voted upon until the next general synod, that it is unlikely to pass anyway and that it could not receive final approval until 2019.

Fred Hiltz has already received an oracle  that this was bound to happen; I suppose Phillips, having seen that, thought to himself: “Why wait?”

An Update from the Bishop on Same-sex Marriages in our Church May 23, 2016.

It is my hope that this brief pastoral update will be helpful to members of our Diocese. Since the communication from the House of Bishops and the response from the Council of General Synod regarding the proposed change to the marriage canon back in March, 2016, I have noted both the interest and concern around how I view same-sex marriage in our Diocese, as well as the confusion and anxiety about what my approach to same-sex marriage might be.

Through continued prayer, listening to many voices, studying the Commission’s report, This Holy Estate, and much conversation, I am able to offer the following, hopefully straightforward, statement: I am convinced that the time has come for the provision for same-sex marriages in our Diocese to become reality. I am committed to working toward making that happen both as soon as responsibly possible, and in a grace-filled manner that minimizes the impact for those who struggle with this issue – both within and beyond our Diocese.

How this needs to take place is yet to be determined and it is important that I, our other delegates to General Synod, and all of the members of our Diocese, remain open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in discerning that path.

Yours [not in any way, shape or form – editor] in Christ,
Donald Phillips, PhD
Bishop of Rupert’s Land

There is a Facebook group for those who want to see the Marriage Canon changed

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Like-minded same-sex marriage enthusiasts have set up a Facebook group to encourage one another in their desire to see a Marriage Canon change to accommodate same-sex couples. As of this writing, there are 1269 members. In the spirit of full inclusion, it is a closed group, so you can only see what is going on if you join. I did and here is the stated purpose of the group:

As administrators of this group, we want to reiterate our purpose because we have more than doubled membership over the past couple of days. It’s important that we are all on the same page and that we continue to promote a safe space where people can be free to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions.

We want to clarify for everyone who is part of this group our intent in coming together here as stated in our description …

“This is to be a forum for support and to encourage each other as we head into this important conversation. Many continue to feel hurt and excluded; others are wanting to continue working for justice, respect and dignity for all as equal members of the body of Christ … the living out of our baptismal covenant. Pray for wisdom and the grace of God through the Holy Spirit as we continue this prophetic mission and ministry for equality for all, and especially our LGBTQ community!”

We trust that everyone who is here as a member of this group shares this purpose and desires this outcome.

The last sentence confirms that dissenters are unwelcome, a fact whose accuracy was reinforced after I posted this:

I’m opposed to changing the marriage canon but thought I would join the group to see if anyone has said anything that might change my mind. They haven’t.

The reply:

I was under the impression that people who have joined this group understood that Jesus loves everyone, all inclusive. I’m all for healthy debate but I’m unsure if that is possible in this situation.

So, as you can see, with full inclusion, no debate is possible.

Very shortly after posting my comment I was booted out of the group by the moderators.

I feel so excluded.

Marriage Equality

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For marriages to be equal, everyone would have to have to be hitched to a person who is no less or more attractive, capable, wealthy, fertile, sanguine, attentive, understanding, sympathetic or desirable than anyone else.

As with socialism, the only way this works is to compel all to sink to the lowest common denominator. We all have to marry unattractive, bungling, impoverished, impotent, miserable, disinterested, dense, uncaring, ugly and repugnant individuals – the sex of the person wouldn’t matter because there wouldn’t be any.

Of course, what those who tirelessly agitate for marriage equality really want is imbalance not equality: a contrived conjoining of two similarities, a consummation of anti-symmetry, a coitus of hollow infertility.

TEC changes the definition of marriage; Justin Welby is deeply concerned

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From here:

The Archbishop of Canterbury today expressed deep concern about the stress for the Anglican Communion following the US Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops’ resolution to change the definition of marriage in the canons so that any reference to marriage as between a man and a woman is removed.

While recognising the prerogative of The Episcopal Church to address issues appropriate to its own context, Archbishop Justin Welby said that its decision will cause distress for some and have ramifications for the Anglican Communion as a whole, as well as for its ecumenical and interfaith relationships.

Other than the fact that I am still waiting with considerable anticipation for an archbishop to voice a shallow concern, what I find most interesting about this is that Welby’s worry is not so much whether it is Biblically sound to redefine marriage, but whether TEC’s decision will hasten the demise of the pallid but still twitching carcass belonging to what used to be the Anglican Communion.

In order to remain credible, and in the absence of any more potent stricture on TEC than deep concern from Canterbury, what choice will Provinces that take the Gospel seriously have but to further distance themselves from TEC – and Canterbury?

Incidentally, does anyone doubt that the Anglican Church of Canada will follow in TEC’s footsteps? Anyone?

Scottish Episcopal Church considers change to Canon on Marriage

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Following the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC’s prophetic lead, the Scottish Episcopal Church is to consider changing its marriage canon to included same-sex couples.

In this context, “prophetic” means abjectly striving to fit into a world to which, the Bible tells us, the church is not to be conformed.

From here:

The General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church has today voted to begin a process for change in relation to its Canon on Marriage. It has therefore instructed the Church’s Faith and Order Board to begin the two year process which may lead towards canonical change. That change would potentially allow the marriage of same gendered couples in Church in late 2017. The option which Synod voted for states

Married lesbian threesome

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Apparently, there is a word for this: throuple.

When asked what the benefits are to having three people in a marriage, one of the ladies notes that chores are much easier when distributed between three people; good point. She went on to say: “poly-fidelity is not something seedy…. it can be a perfectly acceptable choice of life and love.”

The obvious question for the Western Anglican Church is, since blessing same sex married couples is now de rigueur, what possible reason could our trendy bishops have for not blessing – for excluding – committed poly-monogamous throuples? After all, Jesus said absolutely nothing about poly-fidelity.

happy throupleFrom here:

Doll, Kitten and Brynn, from Massachusetts, were joined together in a marriage-style ceremony last August and are expecting a daughter in July.

Kitten, 27, is pregnant after undergoing IVF treatment using an anonymous sperm donor, and the trio eventually plan to have three children – one for each of them.

[…..]

The so-called ‘throuple’ worked with a specialist family lawyer who drew up the paperwork and drafted the ceremony so that all three of them were obligated and bound to each other .

While Brynn and Kitten are legally married, Doll is handfasted to both so the threesome are as equally married to each other as legally possible.

New evidence that children fare better with married parents of the opposite sex

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That children need a female mother and male father who are married to each other used to be a matter of common sense. That kind of sense is less common these days but a new study confirms conventional parenting wisdom.

Read it all here:

There is a new and significant piece of evidence in the social science debate about gay parenting and the unique contributions that mothers and fathers make to their children’s flourishing. A study published last week in the journal Review of the Economics of the Household—analyzing data from a very large, population-based sample—reveals that the children of gay and lesbian couples are only about 65 percent as likely to have graduated from high school as the children of married, opposite-sex couples. And gender matters, too: girls are more apt to struggle than boys, with daughters of gay parents displaying dramatically low graduation rates.

[…..]

children of married opposite-sex families have a high graduation rate compared to the others; children of lesbian families have a very low graduation rate compared to the others; and the other four types [common law, gay, single mother, single father] are similar to each other and lie in between the married/lesbian extremes.

[…..]

the particular gender mix of a same-sex household has a dramatic difference in the association with child graduation. Consider the case of girls. . . . Regardless of the controls and whether or not girls are currently living in a gay or lesbian household, the odds of graduating from high school are considerably lower than any other household type. Indeed, girls living in gay households are only 15 percent as likely to graduate compared to girls from opposite sex married homes.

Same-sex marriage showdown at All Saints, Sanderstead

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Read it all here:

Peter Gowlland, 78, was accused of sowing discord among worshippers at the liberal-leaning All Saints Church in Sanderstead, Surrey, by inviting them to sign a petition against the Government plans to introduce same-sex weddings.

Despite being told by his Archdeacon to “withdraw” from ministry for two months as a result, Church authorities continued to insist last night that he had “not been suspended”.

The retired science teacher says he was told “we don’t do that here” by a fellow lay reader when he set out a pile of leaflets promoting the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey’s Coalition For Marriage before a Sunday service last month.

Matters came to a head shortly during the service when he urged parishioners in his sermon to be “bold like the apostles” and register their opposition to the redefinition of marriage.

It prompted what might pass in the Church of England for a public showdown: a brief and polite disagreement with two other lay readers in front of the congregation, a retired bishop and the visiting Worldwide President of the Mothers’ Union.

It goes to show that there are ways to have fun in a liberal Church of England parish.

All Saints proudly proclaims:

Whoever you are, and wherever you find yourself on your journey of faith, there is a place for you at All Saints’.

But if, on your journey of faith, you find yourself at a spot where you disagree with same-sex marriage, keep it to yourself.

 

The Anglican Church of Canada self-destructs over 0.1%

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According to Statistics Canada there are 45,345 same-sex couples in Canada and about 7,500 of them are married – 0.1% of all married couples. 37,900 are same-sex common-law couples.

Heretical ideas have been allowed to roam unchecked in the Anglican Church of Canada for decades, but it was the blessing of same-sex couples that was the last straw that finally drove many orthodox parishes to separate from their dioceses.

The Anglican Church of Canada likes to claim that this is a “justice” issue; but is it really – the church has torn itself apart for the sake of 0.1% of married couples?

I am convinced that the percentage of same-sex partnered priests in the ACoC is higher – far higher – than the national average. The real reason for the church’s obsession with blessing same-sex couples is self-interest on the part of homosexual Anglican priests: they refuse to mend their ways and they seek justification for not doing so.

Here is a graphic from the CBC:

 

 

 

Canada changing civil marriage law

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From here:

Canada has to update its civil marriage law to recognize gay unions for couples who live outside the country, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Friday.

The irony is the law is being changed not to make it easier for same-sex couples to marry, but to make easier for them to divorce. No doubt in another few years same-sex couples will decide marriage is irrelevant and simply shack up together. There is a bizarre symmetry in all this.

The case arose out of a court filing where a federal lawyer said Canada couldn’t grant a lesbian couple a divorce because they were never married in the first place. One woman lives in England and one in Florida. Neither jurisdiction recognizes same-sex marriage.