Bishop disciplines retired  Archbishop

Colin Johnson, Bishop of Toronto, revokes licence of retired Archbishop and Metropolitan of Ontario

The retired Archbishop of Toronto has been disciplined and has had his licence to perform marriages suspended after he officiated at the wedding of a lesbian couple.

Archbishop Terence Finlay was reprimanded by Colin Johnson, the diocesan Bishop of Toronto, and his licence to marry was revoked until the end of the year.

The wedding service was held in Toronto’s Metropolitan United Church on June 24 and the United Church minister signed the license. The United Church permits same-sex marriages and they are legal in Canada.

Anglican canon (church) law does not allow homosexual marriages although priests in seven parishes in the Vancouver-area diocese of New Westminster are allowed by their bishop, Michael Ingham, to bless same-sex unions.

When it meets next June, General Synod, the governing body of the Anglican Church of Canada, will decide whether to allow the blessing of same-sex unions, at least as a “local option” (that is permitting individual dioceses and parishes to decide whether to bless such unions).

While Johnson himself supports same-sex blessings, he said at the time of his episcopal election in 2004 when he succeeded Finlay, that he would ensure that “the church does not disintegrate over this but remains unified.”

On Sept. 1 Bishop Johnson circulated a memorandum to all his clergy indicating that he had disciplined a cleric of his diocese who had presided at the marriage of a same-sex couple: “This is in breach of Canon XXI of General Synod, On Marriage in the Church. Same-sex marriages are not authorized at this time in the Diocese of Toronto and I do not condone diocesan clergy officiating at such marriages, whether in an Anglican church or elsewhere….

“Our oaths as ordained persons (i.e., people under Orders) require all of us to uphold the discipline of the canons, even if some of us feel called to work to amend or repeal them. Wherever a cleric functions, she or he does not act as an individual alone but bears the identity of the church we serve and represents all of us; that is part of what ordination is about. I am committed to the pastoral care of all people in the name of Jesus Christ.

“I am committed to ensuring the widest possible inclusion of people within the life of our Anglican Church. And I am also committed to maintaining the doctrine, discipline and unity of the church, which are part of my ordination vows.

In an interview with the newspaper the retired archbishop said, “The couple I married are very close friends of our family. I’ve known one since she was a small child; her father was one of my theological professors and…over the years our families have remained very close.”

He also told the Anglican Journal, “I married two people who love each other deeply; they care about the church and I believe their commitment has been blessed by God.” He said, “their love for one another was part of God’s divine love and it was appropriate that that be deeply blessed.”

In the same interview Finlay admitted that he regretted “any pain or embarrassment I caused him [Bishop Johnson].” He also said that  as an active bishop he had upheld the oaths of his office. “But for me now, this issue has moved from one of unity to one of justice.”

In 1991 Finlay asked the Rev. Jim Ferry, the parish priest at St. Philip’s, Unionville, who was living in a homosexual relationship, to resign. When he refused, Finlay fired him. A Bishop’s Court later upheld the dismissal. Finlay has since tried to have Ferry reinstated.

In 2003 the archbishop admonished the Rev. Sara Boyles of Holy Trinity, Toronto, for blessing the civil marriage of two lesbian Anglican deacons.

The interview with Archbishop Finlay can be read at www.anglicanjournal.com Bishop Colin Johnson’s full

letter can be read at www.toronto.anglican.ca.