Australian Anglicans ‘disintegrating’

The conservative Diocese of Sydney has said the Anglican Church of Australia is ‘on a trajectory towards disintegration’ over a decision to allow the blessing of same-sex unions.

The church’s national appellate tribunal – a legal advisory body comprising three bishops and four lawyers – has ruled that Anglican priests may give a blessing to same-sex couples who have already been married elsewhere.

The tribunal found it would not breach the church’s fundamental declarations and principles, and it was up to each diocese whether they allowed such blessings.

Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies, who will retire in March, has written to hundreds of bishops, wardens and school chaplains saying the Bible and therefore the Anglican Church clearly taught that ‘the sexual union of two persons of the same sex was sin’, and ‘to bless such a union would amount to the blessing of sin’.

Dr Davies wrote: ‘While the world may deride our commitment to the standard of morality that God has established for His people, we have been called to holy and righteous living.’

Bishop Michael Stead – a leading candidate to succeed Dr Davies as archbishop next year – warned ‘the majority opinion [of the tribunal] has put the Anglican Church of Australia on a trajectory towards disintegration’.

Bishop Stead wrote: ‘Just as there are different codes in Australia which are all called ‘football’, there will be different versions of the Anglican Church of Australia, which have nothing in common except the name.’