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Text of the page (random words):
mitted as an exception to the rule with certain conditions when the current canon xxi was adopted in 1967 the general rule forbidding re marriage is stated explicitly in section 9 of the canon with the exception provided for in parts iii and iv it should not be surprising that canon xxi is silent on the question of same sex marriage given that it was adopted in 1967 years before same sex couples began pressing for the right to marry in canada and even before same sex relations were decriminalized the idea simply could not have occurred to the drafters of the canon nor apparently did it occur to the drafters to include a definition of marriage in the canon in effect the civil definition of marriage as set out by parliament is implied by the provision at section 5 that the requirements of civil law must be met at any rate general synod would not have the authority to exempt couples from the requirements of civil law it is sometimes suggested that our canon must in some way prohibit same sex marriage because of a couple of gendered references to the couple but in fact the vast majority of references to the couple are already gender neutral see for example sections 2 3 4 6 7 8 and 9 which use terms such as parties to the marriage and persons to refer to the couple the two incidental gendered references to the couple may be oversights in the drafting process but at any rate nowhere does the canon state that marriage is limited to couples of the opposite sex it doesn t prohibit polygamy either though no anglican i know of is advocating such a change which would violate civil law anyway ah say some but what of the reference to the marriage of man and woman in the preface to the canon surely that counts no it doesn t the preface is nothing more than a discussion of marriage prefatory to the actual canon like the preamble to an act of parliament it is of no legal force and even the preface doesn t actually define marriage it merely affirms the goodness of the union of man and woman in marriage paragraph 2 and the chancellor s memo the living church claims that the chancellor suggests that the existing canon xxi on christian marriage deals only with the marriage of one man and one woman and as such cannot be taken to prohibit same sex marriage but that s not what the memo says rather the memo states that as i have noted above the canon was drafted at a time when same sex marriage was impossible it does not say that the the canon deals only with the marriage of one man and one woman it says that the canon does not currently contain any prohibition of solemnization of a marriage between persons of the same sex the memo also states that there is no definiton of marriage in the canon you can read the memo in full here pdf see especially paragraphs 31 and 32 second reading of an amendment to canon xxi will be before the general synod as it meets this week the resolution as it stands does three things it declares that the canon applies to same sex marriage as well as opposite sex marriage it replaces the couple of gendered references to the couple with gender neutral language it adds a provision prohibiting solemnization of a marriage between a same sex couple except where the bishop grants permission people of good will may in good faith disagree on whether the motion should or should not be adopted but either way this will be an important debate in the life of our church it would be preferable that the debate be well informed the mischaracterization of the chancellor s memo in the living church article does nothing to inform the debate quite the opposite posted by alan t perry at 00 23 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 14 february 2018 oaths subscriptions and consensual compact occasionally the question arises as to the nature and status of the constitutions and canons of the various synods in the anglican church of canada fundamentally enquirers ask about the basis for the authority for such rules legally the anglican church of canada and its constituent parts are understood as voluntary associations in such an organization two or more persons agree to be bound together for common purposes and undertake mutual duties and obligations i am grateful to russell sandberg s law and religion for this succinct definition at pages 72f voluntary associations exist in many forms throughout our society a secular example would be a curling club voluntary associations generally need some form of structure for internal governance and ultimately need to develop rules for governance and operations this is as true for a church as for a curling club though obviously the details differ significantly members of voluntary associations agree or are deemed to agree to the rules of the organization this is referred to as the doctrine of consensual compact in the case of a curling club or some similar organization a new member might be given a copy of the rules possibly a membership card and there would typically be some kind of annual membership fee membership would confer rights and obligations notably the obligation to abide by the rules and there would be some mechanism to change the rules from time to time if we understand the church as a voluntary association the doctrine of consensual compact implies that the members of the church are understood to have agreed to the rules and to the system of governance which adopts amends interprets and enforces those rules that is under the doctrine of consensual compact members of the anglican church of canada are deemed implicitly to have agreed to be governed by our bishops in synods and by the constitutions canons and other policy instruments that have been adopted or may be adopted from time to time when clergy are ordained or licensed they take oaths which are prescribed in provincial canons thus in canada a cleric will swear i n do solemnly declare that i profess the faith set forth in the scriptures and in the catholic creeds and affirm my allegiance to the doctrine of the anglican church of canada as set forth by the book of common prayer and in the ordinal in public prayer and in the administration of the sacraments i will use the form of the book of common prayer and none other except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority i will pay true and canonical obedience to the bishop of _____ and to his her successors in all legal and honest demands i will pay true and canonical obedience to the canons which have been or are from time to time passed by the general synod the provincial synod and the synod of the diocese of _____ similar oaths are found in rupert s land as follows i a b do solemnly make the following declaration i assent to the solemn declaration adopted by the first general synod in 1893 as printed in the book of common prayer and to the book of common prayer and of the ordering of bishops priests and deacons i believe the doctrine of the anglican church of canada as therein set forth to be agreeable to the word of god and in public prayer and administration of the sacraments i will use the form in the said book prescribed and none other except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority i a b do swear that i will pay true and canonical obedience to the bishop of in all things lawful and honest so help me god i a b do willingly subscribe to and declare that i assent to and abide by the constitution and canons of the general synod provincial synod and the synod of the diocese of that are lawfully in force from time to time and in british columbia and yukon the oaths are i do solemnly make the following declarations i profess the faith set forth in the scriptures and in the catholic creeds and affirm my allegiance to the doctrine of the anglican church of canada as set forth in the book of common prayer and no other except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority i will pay true and canonical obedience to the bishop of and his or her successors in all legal and honest demands i will abide by the canons which have been or shall be from time to time passed by the general synod the provincial synod and the synod of the diocese of for some reason the province of ontario no longer specifies the oaths to be taken on its canons having delegated these to the dioceses however that province has provided a recommended form of oaths which i believe are in general use as follows i _________ do solemnly make the following declarations a i profess the faith set forth in the scriptures and in the catholic creeds and affirm my allegiance to the doctrine of the anglican church of canada as set forth in the book of common prayer in the ordinal and in the book of alternative services b in public prayer and in the administration of the sacraments i will use the form in the book of common prayer or the book of alternative services and none other except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority c i will pay true and canonical obedience to the bishop of __________ and to his her successors in all legal and honest demands d i will pay true and canonical obedience to the canons which have been or shall be from time to time passed by the general synod the provincial synod or the synod of the diocese of __________ the key point here is that the norm is that clergy at their ordination and licensing make explicit what is already implicit in the doctrine of consensual compact that is not only are clergy as members of the anglican church of canada deemed to have agreed to the relevant constitutions and canons by consensual compact they also explicitly swear an oath to obey the canons this undertaking is made in writing occasionally someone suggests that they only agreed to abide by the canons that were in force when they took the oath and that they are thus not bound by some new piece of legislation to which they take exception but that s not what the oaths say the oath is to abide by the canons which are in force from time to time our system of governance through synods allows for the adoption of new canons and the amendment or repeal of existing ones and when synods legislate clergy have already accepted and sworn on oath that any new legislation applies to them similarly clergy sometimes assert that their oath of canonical obedience of the bishop applies only to the bishop who was in office at the time of the oath and that when a new bishop takes office they don t have to obey him or her again that s not what the oaths say the key phrase in canada and british columbia and yukon is the bishop of and his or her successors and in rupert s land even though explicit reference to the successors is omitted the oath is to the bishop in his or her official not personal capacity which implies the bishop who is in office from time to time so what does one do if a synod legislates in a way that one finds intolerable it s no good claiming to reserve the right not to be bound by some rule that one disagrees with really there are only three options the first is to live with it the second is to propose subsequent amendments that might make it more livable bearing in mind that there is no guarantee that such amendments will be adopted and the third is to leave the church for clergy this last option involves relinquishing ministry pursuant to canon xix the colloquial term being laicization obviously this last course of action would not be an easy step to take but that is the ultimate remedy for under the doctrine of consensual compact as long as one is a member of a voluntary association one is presumed to consent to the organization s rules and clergy in particular are bound by the canons under oath thus we see the doctrine of consensual compact in action posted by alan t perry at 15 41 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 19 july 2016 canonical history made at general synod in adopting resolution a143 pdf the general synod of the anglican church of canada has made history the resolution authorized three sets of liturgical texts for trial use for the next three years the texts in question are seasonal forms of the daily offices collects for the revised common lectionary and an inclusive language psalter these are all available on line at the time of writing the web page there still says they are encouraged for use where permitted by the diocesan bishops although liturgists will appreciate these new texts none of this sounds particularly ground breaking but on one very specific point the resolution certainly was what made history was the choice of verb in the resolution authorize one might be forgiven for a bit of confusion about the significance of this verb after all surely the general synod has the authority to authorize liturgical texts and periodically does so so why is this worthy of even a nano second of thought the fact is that although the general synod of the anglican church of canada does have the authority to authorize liturgy it has studiously avoided exercising this authority since it approved the 1962 book of common prayer rather since that time the general synod has preferred the route of producing liturgical texts and commending them for use but only under the auspices of the local diocesan bishop in his or her exercise of the power of jus liturgicum liturgical law in the anglican church of canada is not very developed a comment that might equally be made in a number of areas of our canon law so much of the authority over liturgy that is fleshed out and clearly specified in other anglican provinces is left to some combination of custom and the bishop s jus liturgicum which some would argue is also customary what is clear is that it is a fundamental principle of anglicanism that in public worship clergy are permitted to use only texts that have been approved by lawful authority we find this stated in so many words in the principles of canon law common to the churches of the anglican communion principle 56 2008 anglican consultative council the principle is given force in the oaths and subscriptions taken by clergy at the time of their licensing thus for example clergy in the ecclesiastical province of rupert s land are required to swear that in public prayer and administration of the sacraments i will use the form in the book of common prayer and none other except so far as shall be ordered by lawful authority canon vi the general synod s declaration of principles sets out the distribution of lawful authority in a variety of provisions some explicit and some implicit section 6 j gives the general synod jurisdiction over the revision adaptation and publication of a book of common prayer and a hymnal for the church section 7 b viii gives authority to the provincial synods to authorize special forms of prayers services and ceremonies for use within the province for which no provisions have been made under the authority of the general synod or the house of bishops of the anglican church of canada implicitly then bo...