The church will now have to follow general principles of human rights in its dealings with anyone they minister to or employ after the General Synod adopted a document calling for fair treatment of all.
The vote caps off more than 20 years of debate about whether or not the church should follow the same human rights principles as the secular world or whether it should have a different standard.
At issue for many delegates, debating at many meetings of General Synod since that body first called for the development of principles in 1980, is the idea that adopting a human rights policy at the national level might interfere with dioceses’ and churches’ rights to hire, or not hire, whom they wish.
This synod, the committee charged with preparing the document, entitled A Call to Human Dignity, had two sections of the meeting’s agenda to present and explain the rationale for the church to have human rights principles.
Those principles call for protection for:
All persons seeking spiritual care and nurture, as well as those pursuing employment and those people employed by our church shall be treated with courtesy, compassion, fairness and integrity by our church and its representatives or officials, without discrimination on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, family or marital status, race, colour, ethnic (or place of ) origin, ancestry, disability, creed or social-economic status.
Early at Synod, a short dramatization by a local group featured a woman speaking on the telephone to an Anglican parish where she’d interviewed for a job as an organist. The church, however, rescinded its job offer when it discovered she was not Anglican and had no intention of becoming so.
Days later at Synod, when the motion to adopt A Call to Human Dignity came before members, long queues formed at the microphones to speak for and against the resolution.
Rev. Canon Milton Barry spoke in favour of the motion, telling the meeting that his church hired two Muslim men in recent years. Both, he said, expected to be turned down for employment because they were not Christians. They recently converted to the Anglican faith and are members of Mr. Barry’s Toronto parish, Grace-Church-on-the-Hill.
“While it was not our intention, they were so impressed by the way they were interviewed, by the way they were treated,” said Mr. Barry.
One of the more vociferous objectors was Algoma Bishop Ronald Ferris, who pointedly asked for a vote by orders and by diocese. Even if the vote had passed by orders, where clergy and laity votes are counted separately, it could still have been struck down if a majority of dioceses voted against it. It was the only vote by diocese in recent memory of decades of General Synods.
“This document is about sexual orientation and promotion of gay love and bisexual love in the Anglican Church of Canada,” said Bishop Ferris. “Your next rector could be a practising bisexual and the person teaching your Sunday school could be in an open marriage.
“This is a war.”
Arctic diocesan bishop Chris Williams applauded the aims of the document but objected to what he described as the switch from language of pastoral care to language of employment.
“As a pastor, I want wholeheartedly to support this motion,” said Bishop Williams. “As an (employer) I couldn’t handle it with the employment language.”
While many Synod members objected to the document for being too wide ranging, others said they wished it would be even further reaching.
“I think it’s really shameful to only be held to the civil standard,” said Phyllis Creighton, a lay member from the diocese of Toronto.
Despite a warning earlier during Synod against applauding any motions, whether defeated or carried, some members began to clap after the Primate, Archbishop Michael Peers, announced the results of the vote by dioceses: 24 dioceses in favour; five against and one tied.
The Primate quickly banged his gavel, reminding Synod members, “Don’t do that, not after votes, particularly strongly contested votes.”
The five dioceses that voted against adoption of the principles were Athabasca, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Brandon and the Arctic. The diocese of Saskatoon had a tied vote.
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