Australian Anglicans brand Scottish Episcopal Church 'contrary to the teaching of Christ'
Harry
Farley JOURNALISTSeptember 2017 |
Australian
Anglicans have passed a motion branding the Scottish Episcopal Church's decision
to permit gay marriage as 'contrary to the teaching of Christ'.
Tabled
by conservatives but winning support across the Church of Australia's ruling
general synod, it openly backs Anglicans leaving the Scottish Episcopal Church
(SEC).
The
vote on Thursday sets up a showdown next month as global Anglican leaders,
including the Scottish and Australian leaders, will gather in Canterbury for the
second time in less than two years.
It
comes after the SEC voted to remove the teaching that marriage was between 'one
man and one woman', leaving the door open for priests who wanted to conduct
same-sex weddings.
The
move has deepened divides within the worldwide Anglican Communion but the
Australian Church's decision to publicly criticise it will further heighten
tensions.
Its
synod approved a motion that 'notes with regret' the decision to change the
teaching on marriage and says: 'This step is contrary to the doctrine of our
Church and the teaching of Christ that, in marriage, "a man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one
flesh".'
It
goes on to express 'our support for those Anglicans who have left or will need
to leave the Scottish Episcopal Church because of its redefinition of marriage
and those who struggle and remain'.
The
text of the motion was altered several times throughout the debate, eventually
becoming more hardline than the initial statement. The final version received
widespread support across the three 'houses', passing by 60 to 45 votes among
the laity, 68 to 42 votes among the clergy and 12 to six votes among the
bishops.
Australian's
primate, the Archbishop of Melbourne Philip Freier, will meet the Scottish
Primus, the Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness Mark Strange, along with the
leaders of the other 39 Anglican provinces around the world next month.
Hinting
at a potentially tense encounter between the two leaders, the motion concludes
by praying 'that the Scottish Episcopal Church will return to the doctrine of
Christ in this matter and that impaired relationships will be restored'.
The
SEC's decision to allow gay marriage in church was widely celebrated among more
liberal leaning Anglicans around the world but has prompted retaliatory action
from conservatives.
The
traditionalist network GAFCON appointed Andy Lines as a 'missionary bishop' for
Europe in response, saying he will offer alternative oversight to Anglicans who
no longer feel they can come under the authority of their official bishop.
Two
conservative leaders have refused the Archbishop of Canterbury's invitation to
Canterbury next month on the basis of the SEC's decision.
The
Archbishop of Uganda, Stanley Ntagali was joined by the influential Archbishop
of Nigeria Nicholas Okoh who hinted at a split when he snubbed Justin Welby's
invitation earlier this week, warning the Church was 'in the midst of the next
great Reformation'.
'Everything
else is the same or worse,' Okoh wrote comparing Welby's tenure to that of his
predecessor Rowan Williams. 'There is endless debate, the will of the orthodox
Primates is frustrated and misrepresented, false teaching is not being
corrected, and nothing is being done to halt orthodox Anglicans in North America
(and maybe soon elsewhere) being stripped of the churches that have helped form
their spiritual lives.
'In
these circumstances, I have concluded that attendance at Canterbury would be to
give credibility to a pattern of behaviour which is allowing great damage to be
done to global Anglican witness and unity.' Christian
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