Canada's only Anglican bishop to authorize the blessing of homosexual unions says the refusal by his fellow bishops to approve the rite for the national church is the product of institutional inertia rooted in homophobia, The Globe's Michael Valpy wrote today in his article Homophobia accepted in church, bishop says
Bishop Michael Ingham of the Vancouver-area diocese of New Westminster says homophobia, hiding behind interpretations of scripture, remains an acceptable prejudice in Canadian Anglicanism.
"There are members of our church who staunchly defend that. In my view, [it] is a total misreading of scripture and a misuse of the Bible to oppress people. But they clearly want to continue to do that."
A recent motion before the church's triennial general synod — or governing body — to allow individual dioceses to permit blessings of same-sex unions was approved by clergy and laity, but vetoed by a slim majority of bishops, who voted 21-19 against it.
Earlier, however, the bishops had voted by the same margin in favour of a resolution stating that the blessings were not in conflict with the church's "core doctrine."
Bishop Ingham kindly agreed to take questions from the readers of globeandmail.com this week on the issue.
Your questions and Bishop Ingham's answers appear at the bottom of this page.
globeandmail.com also invited a bishop who voted against the motion to approve the blessing of same-sex unions to take your questions. We received no response to that request.
The Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham has been bishop of the diocese of New Westminster since January 1994. Before that, he was Dean of New Westminster and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Vancouver.
He was born in Yorkshire, England in 1949. He studied at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, receiving an M.A. in Politics and Philosophy and a B.D. (First Class) in Theology.
Before being ordained, he did postgraduate work at Harvard University where he studied contemporary American theology. He also spent a semester at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem studying Judaism.
Bishop Ingham was ordained as a priest in Ottawa in 1974 and has served in parishes in Ottawa, Burnaby and West Vancouver. From 1989 to 1992, he was the principal secretary to the Primate of Canada in Toronto, and in that capacity travelled widely throughout the Anglican Communion.
He is the author of two books. Rites For A New Age, an introduction to the Book of Alternative Services, which was published in 1986, and Mansions Of The Spirit, an introduction to inter-faith dialogue, which first appeared in 1997.
Bishop Ingham is married to Gwen and they have two daughters.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements.
Please also be advised that we will not be publishing comments on this Q&A in the interests of furthering a thoughtful discussion of this controversial issue. If you wish to make a comment on the Anglican Church and same-sex marriage, please click on the "Related Articles" in the left-hand column of this page.
J. Loo: Hi, Bishop Ingham. Thank you for taking the time to answer questions on G&M.
Last weekend, the General Synod passed a resolution that perhaps received less media attention than the defeated motion to authorize individual dioceses to bless same-sex unions.
The General Synod resolved that the blessing of same-sex unions is not in conflict with the core doctrine (in the sense of being credal) of the Anglican Church of Canada.
