Anglican church to bless same-sex marriage afterall

Questions about the integrity of the voting process in which Anglicans narrowly rejected a resolution to allow same-sex marriage emerged Tuesday, leading to a stunning reversal of the result.

Some members stood up to say their votes had not been recorded during voting late Monday, when passage of the resolution failed by a single vote.

"That is an issue of concern," said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the church. "We cannot leave this synod with this kind of confusion."

To pass, the resolution required two-thirds of each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. The clergy failed to reach that threshold by one vote that was apparently not counted because it was counted in the lay order.

The error was discovered after delegates requested a detailed hard copy of the electronic voting records.

Hiltz then declared the resolution in favour of same-sex marriage passed.

The apparent failure on Monday night — which followed a bitter and divisive debate — stunned those on hand into silence. Some wept openly, others embraced. Some were clearly in anguish.

On Tuesday, several bishops said they planned to go ahead with same-sex marriages regardless of the vote. In a series of statements, they expressed dismay at the defeat. At the same time, they leaned on a statement from the chancellor of the General Synod, who said the current marriage canon does not specifically ban solemnizing same-sex marriages.

The resolution still needs affirmation by the next synod in 2019 before it becomes church law.

About 1.6 million Canadians identify themselves as Anglican, according to Statistics Canada, and church figures indicate more than 500,000 of them are part of about 2,800 congregations across the country.

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