Matters of the bedroom have played a pivotal role in shaping the Anglican Church.Almost 500 years ago, the controversy that helped create the church was over whether it was lawful for King Henry VIII to marry Anne Boleyn, one of his queen's ladies-in-waiting. Desperate for a male heir, whom his wife Catherine of Aragon could not produce, Henry VIII sought an annulment to the marriage so he could marry Ms. Boleyn.
Pope Clement VII of the Roman Catholic Church, which all of England subscribed to at the time, refused to grant permission for the annulment.
Furious, Henry VIII declared independence from Rome and so the Anglican Church was born.
This time around, a bedroom matter perhaps more radical than Henry VIII could ever have fathomed threatens to leave another historical landmark on Anglicanism.
But rather than rally the Anglican Church under one roof, this modern-day bedroom controversy threatens to tear the church apart. And into this fray entered the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa when last October it voted 177 to 99 to recognise the blessing of marriage for same-sex couples who have been civilly married.
Ottawa became the first diocese to do so in Canada. Other dioceses with similar inclinations include Montreal and Niagara Falls.
Ottawa Bishop John Chapman is the man who said that the final decision on allowing this blessing rests with him. He's a short man, a few inches above five feet, a bit stocky with a generous dose of greying hair, giving him a rather majestic look.
At the time, he said he would make his decision known after consulting with other dioceses in Canada and with members of the Anglican Communion abroad. Some have called his decision a diplomatic way of being non-committal.
Three months later, he's said nothing new.
If you think he's skirting the issue, Bishop Chapman's catchphrase is still consultation. And he's banking on the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of Anglican primates that takes place every 10 years in Canterbury, England.
"I am hoping that at the conference [which takes place in July], somehow we will find a way through," he says.
On the issue of blessing marriages for civilly married same-sex couples, Bishop Chapman says it's public knowledge that he supports the idea.
"I have had no problem with that, but I am in a position of trust for the whole diocese so I don't have the luxury of acting out my own preferences."
And in that respect, he believes that it is important to deal with the matter in a way where there are no winners or losers. But that's easier said than done. Already a group calling itself Anglican Essentials of Ottawa has broken away from the diocese and established its own church in the city's west end.
Bishop Chapman says that's not necessary, arguing that for centuries the Anglican Communion has found a way of "living together in the face of diversity."
"It saddens me; I would have preferred that we live under the same roof in disagreement."
But no punitive measures will be taken against the breakaway church.
"It's a free and open church. Individuals can come and go. You can't stop that."
He says he's heard stories of some parishes, irked by the blessing of same-sex marriages, placing themselves under bishops in the developing world, but that doesn't worry him much as there is no indication that anything of the sort has happened since same-sex marriage became an issue seven years ago.
"There's not going to be a groundswell of folks exiting the church," he says.
Even as he waits for Lambeth, where more than 800 primates–most of them from the developing world and who are vehemently opposed to the blessing of same marriage–Bishop Chapman expresses cautious optimism about a compromise.
"We won't ever agree–actually, I think if we did, I'd start to get nervous, because once everyone agrees, you start to feel like there's a whole lot of other people that are not included in this community because we just gathered the like-minded."
Last month, the head of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, sent a letter to Anglican archbishops worldwide warning that they risked exclusion from the church's councils if they went against "the mind" of the church. So far, Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop from the Diocese of New Hampshire in the United States, has not been invited to the Lambeth conference.
Asked what he makes of the letter, Bishop Chapman says that since same-sex marriage became an issue, Archbishop Williams has become a lightning rod for the media and that it's sometimes difficult to decipher what he is saying because of so many conflicting media reports.
"The reports are never consistent, but I hope his leadership will bring a resolution."
Hope, as it seems, is all he can wait for. But eventually, Bishop Chapman will have to walk the plank. And that is still seven months away. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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