Courtesy: News6
Bishop met to discuss a crucial moral subject.
A group of bishops, including two from the Diocese of the Arctic, are “publicly dissenting” from the results of a vote to allow members of the Anglican Church of Canada to perform same-sex marriages. Last week, initial results showed the resolution failed by a single vote, but a subsequent recount showed a dramatic reversal.
For Maureen Doherty, a longtime Iqaluit resident, the controversy isn’t a surprise — but it is a disappointment. “For a lot of people, [the vote result] was a wonderful thing,” she said. “For many others, it was devastating.” Doherty has been involved in the city’s gay community for many years and is also a lifelong Anglican.
She said this step toward tolerance has also brought forward negativity and “hurtful bullying” which has no place in the church. With so many gay young people struggling to find acceptance, Doherty hoped the church might use this as an opportunity to become a safe haven. “Instead, what we’re hearing are words like ‘abomination,’ words like ‘we need protection,’ and that’s really upsetting for me — because I know these young people and they’re lovely and they’re wonderful and they want to live full lives.” The resolution will have to pass a second vote at an assembly of clergy, bishops and lay representatives in 2019, before it can become church law.
