A gentle call to stay strong

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/203067

[The Toronto Star] 14 Apr 2007--Choosing his words carefully, the longtime former leader of the Canadian Anglican Church opened a conference on gay rights in the church last night with a gentle, but deliberate, nudge toward acceptance and a rejection of rigid doctrine.

"Matters of doctrine become matters of control," Michael Peers, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1986 to 2004, said, breaking three years of public silence.

"That's something you need to take away with you in the coming events."

The Anglican Church is facing a crisis worldwide as deep divisions over the ordination of gay priests and the blessing of same-sex marriages has pushed the church to the brink of schism.
The U.S. Episcopal Church, as Anglicanism is known there, faces expulsion from the worldwide Anglican communion if it doesn't reverse by Sept. 30 support for gay clergy and same-sex marriage blessings.

Episcopal bishops voted last month not to change their stance, despite a growing rift in the church, saying their theology supports gay rights.

The Canadian church faces similar sanctions after its June meeting in Winnipeg, where it is expected to allow each parish to decide whether to bless same-sex marriages.

Having promised his successor, Andrew Hutchison, he would not interfere in his work, Peers cautiously addressed the Whole Message Conference of gay Anglicans, focused on past conflicts over doctrine, such as the ordination of women in the 1970s. One prominent newspaper "was gleefully predicting the death of Anglicanism worldwide."