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Anglican Communion begins split after Canadian diocese's same-sex union ceremony
While leaders of the Anglican Communion met last week and reiterated the church's ban on same-sex unions, Michael Ingham, the bishop of British Columbia's New Westminster diocese, authorized such blessing ceremonies. On Wednesday night, St Margaret's Church in East Vancouver blessed the union of Michael Kalmuk and Kelly Montfort—and Kelly, in this case, is a man's name.

"We've kind of helped write history here tonight," Kalmuk told The Daily Telegraph of London. Just how historical the ceremony was remains to be seen. Such ceremonies have taken place in other Anglican churches (including some in the Episcopal Church here in the U.S.), but never with a diocese-provided rite.

It's "highly unlikely" that Ingham will be disciplined by either Canada's top Anglican leader, Michael Peers, or Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, reports the Vancouver Sun. Both privately support homosexual unions and the ordination of gay clergy, but criticized Ingham's actions. The Anglican leaders, known as primates, have "nothing approaching a consensus in support of same sex-unions," said Williams. "I very much regret the inevitable tension and division that will result from this development."

Indeed, the division has already begun. The Church of Nigeria, the largest Anglican diocese in the world, severed communion with Ingham and his diocese after the ceremony, and several other primates are taking similar measures. "He needs to repent," Archbishop Livingstone Mpalanyi-Nkoyoyo, Primate of Uganda, told the Telegraph. "His teaching is heretical."

The story is unlikely to be a flash in the pan, but just how deeply this will divide the Anglican Communion remains to be seen. Keep an eye on the Canadian Anglican News Network and the Anglican Communion News Service for more developments.

More articles on the controversy:

• Bishop defends same-sex blessings | Says it's time for Anglicans to accept the decision and move forward (CBC)
  
  
• Vancouver parishes to bless gay unions | Controversial bishop first to formally approve rite, says it is Christian 'duty' (The Ottawa Citizen)
  
  
• B.C. bishop tries to end rift over blessings (Canadian Press)
  
  
• Bishop authorizes same-sex blessings for six Anglican congregations (Vancouver Sun)
  
  
• Anglicans to bless same-sex unions in B.C. | Bishop Ingham is believed to be the first Anglican bishop in the world to formally approve such blessings, although some U.S. bishops have informally allowed such ceremonies (National Post, Canada)
  
  
• Archbishop of Canterbury regrets blessings | The archbishop of Canterbury expressed "sadness" Thursday over a Canadian diocese's decision to permit blessing ceremonies for homosexual couples (Associated Press)
  
  
• First Anglican 'gay wedding' infuriates traditionalists | Evangelical primates demanded firm action against the Bishop of New Westminster, the Rt Rev Michael Ingham, after he issued a rite for same-sex blessings in his diocese in western Canada (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Blessing for male partners reopens church's wounds on gays | Pressure on archbishop after Canadian ceremony (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• 'I delight in you. I will go with you wherever God calls' | Ceremony sure looked, sounded  like a wedding (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Earlier: Rulings bring marriage closer to reality for gay Canadians (Seattle Times)

Politics and law:

• Televangelist given key Zambian post | Zambia's leader has named a popular television-evangelist and former opposition leader as his new vice-president (BBC)
  
  

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June (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47