Sydney, Australia
The blocking of a resolution rejecting same-sex marriage has threatened to divide Australia’s Anglican Church. A motion introduced to the 2022 General Synod by representatives of the Sydney Diocese sought to condemn the blessing of same-sex marriages.
On 11th May, the General Synod considered a resolution introduced by Sydney Archbishop Kanishka Raffel. The resolution said that “the solemnisation of a marriage between a same-sex couple is contrary to the teaching of Christ and the faith, ritual, ceremonial, and/or discipline of this church”.
The houses of clergy and laity voted in favour of the motion, but the House of Bishops rejected it on a 10 to 12 vote, effectively vetoing it.
The Diocese of Sydney is Australia’s largest Anglican diocese, with over 400 churches and schools. It does not ordain women to the priesthood and now requires school principals and board directors to sign a document signifying that they believe marriage is between a man and a woman. During Australia’s 2017 postal plebiscite on same sex marriage, the diocese donated $A1 million to the campaign for the ‘No’ vote.
The Sydney Archbishop told the Synod meeting that the Anglican Church was, “in a perilous position, and no-one should be mistaken about that”.
According to Rev Raffell, the issue of same sex marriage was, a “tipping point”, and that, “we ought to stop wasting each other’s time by gathering this way and supporting these structures”.
Raffel told General Synod that “it has proved to be the case that when statements like this one have failed…then some Anglicans have found their conscience has not allowed them to continue fellowship.”
An Anglican layperson who was part of the General Synod meeting for 30 years, Muriel Porter wrote in piece published on The Conversation that Sydney were looking to stack key committees and that, “conservatives are now in almost complete control of the national church”.
“All is not lost for the progressive position,” wrote Porter who has previously written books and articles critical of Sydney’s influence on the broader Anglican church. “The General Synod is a limited federal structure that gives the individual dioceses great autonomy. Until now, the progressive dioceses have held back on same-sex marriage blessings to maintain national church unity.”
She said that now “real unity is clearly a dead letter, some dioceses will perhaps step out confidently to embrace same-sex blessings and other progressive causes”.
“The Anglican Church of Australia might present many different faces in the future.”
The Anglican General Synod meeting is a national meeting of the church’s representatives. The meeting is structured similarly to Australia’s parliament.
The 18th General Synod was held at RACV Royal Pines Resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast from 8th to 13th May.
In another agenda item, the meeting called on the government to raise the age of criminal responsibility from the current age of 10.
