The provincial synod of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has
voted against the introduction of blessing services for same-sex
marriages.
The motion,
from the Diocese of Saldanha Bay, required a simple majority in all
three houses of the synod (laity, clergy and bishops) along with an
overall two-thirds majority of the whole synod.
But it was rejected in
all three houses and failed to get anywhere near the two-thirds overall
majority.
“From those figures you will see the strongest support, albeit a
minority, came from the clergy, and the least strong from the bishops,”
the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, said afterwards “We live in a
democracy, our Church has strongly advocated democracy, and people on
all sides of the debate have to accept the result.
“At the same time, the debate is not over. Without trying to predict
its ultimate outcome, or to suggest what that should be, it was notable
that a number of opponents of the motion did not reject it out of hand,
but suggested instead that opinion in our Church was not yet ready for
such a move.”
Archbishop Makgoba, the Primate of Southern Africa, said that support
for the motion was “quite substantial” when compared with other African
Anglican provinces “most of which are vigorously opposed to same-sex
unions in any form.”
He said that the debate at last week’s Synod was “the first time this
issue has been seriously debated by our Church” and stressed that it
wasn’t necessarily the end of the debate, because “representatives are
free to raise it again at future synods.”
In his comments, Archbishop Makgoba recognised the pain that such
debates cause people on both sides of the debate and said that it was
“palpable”, and said: “no one celebrated or applauded the outcome,” he
said. “There are no winners or losers in the Kingdom of God, and we
recognised that whichever way the vote went, there was going to be
pain.”
He said that he was “deeply pained” by the outcome, adding: “If one
of you, my church members, is in pain, then I am in pain too.”
Archbishop Makgoba said: “Our Church, like South Africa as a nation,
has previously provided an example to the world over how we can overcome
differences over issues that people feel strongly about, such as
sanctions against apartheid and the ordination of women as priests.
“It remains my hope that those on both sides of this debate can
overcome their differences in a way that will be an example to the rest
of the Anglican Communion, which is as divided over the issue as we
are.”
And he concluded his statement with “a word to our lesbian and gay
sisters and brothers” by saying that “Nothing that I heard in the last
two days takes away from what the bishops have already said to people of LGBTI orientation:
“‘You are loved by God, and all baptised, believing and faithful
persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body
of Christ. We recognise that many of you are baptised and confirmed
members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction
of the Church, and God’s transforming power for the living of your
lives and the ordering of your relationships. We urge you to stick with
us to play your full part in the deliberations to come.’”