(Staff) The Council of General Synod (CoGS) has decided not to ask General Synod 2010 to amend church laws to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples. CoGS is the official arm of the Anglican Church of Canada that meets twice a year between the triennial national synods. It recently convened May 8-10 in Mississauga.

CoGS “reached a consensus that this is not the time to ask General Synod to amend the marriage canon.” Some members pushed for an expression of “regret” that this is not the time. However, the primate, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, said that while some Council members might feel regret, others did not, and so the language was kept neutral.

The Council’s decision was based on the fact that neither the Primate’s Theological Commission nor the Faith, Worship and Ministry Committee were of one mind on the issue either.

Bishop Linda Nicholls, chair of the Theological Commission said her Commission could not reach a consensus on this question: “whether the blessings of same-sex unions is a faithful, Spirit-led development of Christian doctrine,” a question posed to it by the last General Synod in 2007. She said that the theologians charged with the task of finding an answer “come from a diversity of positions” just as the denomination is of several minds.

She presented CoGS with the Galilee Report which expressed the process by which her Commission had arrived at its diversity of views but provided no definitive answer. Individual papers from various theologians on the Commission will be posted at the end of June on the ACC’s website. Responses are invited as late as Dec. 1, 2009. Those responses will be incorporated into the report of the Commission to General Synod 2010.

In March 2008 CoGS had asked the Faith, Worship and Ministry Committee to prepare “a theological rationale to allow for the marriage of all legally qualified persons,” specifically same-sex couples. The result was the Rothesay Report which was not conclusive but again, like the Galilee Report, reflected a great diversity of opinion on the issue.

Changes to the marriage laws can still be proposed at General Synod by individual delegates.