David Irving--Saskatoon--YES
Don Phillips--Rupert's Land--YES
Jane Alexander--Edmonton--YES
Robert F. Bennett--Huron--YES
Michael Bird--Niagara--YES
John Chapman--Ottawa--YES
Dennis Drainville--Quebec--YES
Linda Nicolls (coadjutor)--Huron--YES
Melissa Skelton--New Westminster--YES
Ronald W. Cutler--NSPEI--YES
Colin R. Johnson--Toronto--YES
Philip Poole (suffragan--York--Credit Valley)--Toronto--YES
Peter Fenty (Suffragan--York-Simcoe)--Toronto-YES
Geoffrey Peddle-E. Nfld + Lbd--YES
Mary Irwin-Gibson--Montreal--YES
Logan McMenamie--BC--YES
Barbara Andrews--Central Interior--YES
John E. Privett--Kootenay--YES
Nigel Shaw--Canadian Armed Forces--YES (likely but not 100% certain)

UNKNOWN: (11)

Michael Oulton--Ontario-- (possible yes?)
Percy Coffin--Western Newfoundland-- (leaning towards?)
Patrick Yu (suffragan--York-Scarborough)--Toronto--opposed in the past but may vote yes.
John Watton--Central Newfoundland (bishop elect)--(Strong NO in the past)
Rob Hardwick--Qu'Appelle--? (Has moved on the issue but maybe not yet to YES)
Bruce Myers--Quebec (coadjutor)--? (Not against personally but undecided because of ecumenical relations)
Mark MacDonald--National Indigenous Bishop--? (Perhaps yes if self-determination is respected)
Tom Corston--Moosonee--(leaning towards--but does he have a vote?)
Fred J. Hiltz--Primate--(in favor but does he have a vote?)
Lydia Mamakwa--Mishamikoweesh--NO or abstention or perhaps YES if self-determination is respected
Adam Halkett--Saskatchewan--Missinipi--NO or abstention or perhaps YES if self-determination is respected

NO: (10)

William Cliff--Brandon--NO (Cons. Ind. Diocese)
Archbishop Gregory Kerr Wilson--Calgary--NO
Stephen Andrews--Algoma--NO
William Anderson--Caledonia--NO (Strongly)
Michael Hawkins--Saskatchewan--NO (out of respect for Indigenous opposition)
David Parsons--Arctic--NO
Darren McCartney (Suffragan Bishop, Arctic)--NO
Larry Roberston--Yukon--NO
Fraser W. Lawton--Athabaska--NO
David Edwards--Fredericton--NO

TOTAL Number of Bishops: 40

Needed to Pass: 27 out of 40 (67.5%)

Number of Unknowns needed to pass: 8/12 (67%)

Marion Jenkins Cliff of Brandon is opposed to changing the canon. This is a very conservative diocese with a large percentage of indigenous people, most of whom won't remarry divorced persons. Apparently he is fine with marrying same gendered couples but does not view those marriages as celebrating the sacrament of matrimony. Apparently he doesn't see a need to change the canon as he interprets it as permissive as it exists.

There are hints that if the marriage canon fails a small number of dioceses will adopt 'local option', an idea from The Episcopal Church playbook, and proceed with marrying same-sex couples. It is most unlikely that they will be disciplined for their actions any more than Episcopal bishops were disciplined for doing the same thing.

It is a forgone conclusion that, sooner or later, the Anglican Church of Canada will allow same sex marriage knowing that they will not be disciplined by the weak-willed Archbishop of Canterbury who will not bar either TEC or the ACoC from attending the next Lambeth Conference.

*****

Bishop of Montreal will vote for same-sex marriage

by David of Samizdat
June 22, 2016

Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson will vote in favor of same-sex marriage at the July General Synod. It's hard to see how she could do otherwise since she has a number of clergy in her employ who are civilly married to other men.

The reasons she gives for her decision live up to the high standard of language-twisting set by other Anglican church of Canada bishops. The church, she says: "has the right and obligation to prayerfully consider new things and not simply to march in lockstep with society," said Gibson. But, she added, "Neither are we to remain stuck by interpretations of Biblical principles, which not everyone shares.

Except, of course, the new thing here requires precision marching in lockstep with society and to discard 2000 years of biblical understanding because not everyone agrees is to discard the entire bible since, well, not everyone agrees.

She continues by claiming the vote in favor makes her an ambassador[s] of reconciliation:

"If we are to be ambassadors of reconciliation, disciples of Christ, I see the potential in ministering grace and sacraments to more people and in calling all married couples to be models of Christian discipleship and hospitality." Except, the Anglican obsession with homosexuality has already shattered the Anglican communion so it can hardly be a reconciling influence. She claims that:

We will not all agree but we are one body.

And:

it is possible to achieve unity in diversity

Except that we have not been one body since Gene Robinson was consecrated and the diocese of New Westminster began blessing same-sex couples. Even Justin Welby has had to admit that there is no unity.

It sounds as if the Diocese of Montreal has decided to perform same-sex marriages even if the vote fails:

Several dioceses are more than ready to go ahead and some don't ever see that day coming. The chancellor of General Synod is being consulted and we will see what happens after General Synod concludes.

The Shared Episcopal Ministry has withered away, as, surely, the conscience clause allowing clergy to refuse to marry same-sex couples would, too:

The bishop also confirmed that since she assumed the episcopacy almost nine months ago a compromise arrangement known as Shared Episcopal Ministry, instituted by her predecessor, Bishop Barry Clarke, in 2011, to accommodate six clergy and several parishes who saw him as too favourable to safe-sex marriage has been allowed to lapse.

Taken together, in context, Mary Irwin-Gibson's charge to synod was, even allowing for the fact that she is an Anglican bishop, a masterpiece of prating twaddle.

*****

Diocese of the Arctic rejects changing the marriage canon

David of Samizdat
June 22, 2016

A small oasis of sanity in the vast desert of ACoC sexual neuroses.

Read it all in the Journal:

As the Anglican Church of Canada prepares for a controversial vote on whether or not to change its laws to allow for the marriage of same-sex couples, the diocese of the Arctic has sent a memorial to General Synod stating its commitment to maintaining the status quo.

The memorial, passed at the Arctic's 2016 diocesan synod in May, also notes that the diocese seeks to "preserve the unity of the church," and expresses a "sincere hope that [the diocese] can remain in fellowship and ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada, while standing with the larger Anglican Communion."

Holy Matrimony "is a creation ordinance which is restricted to, and defined as, a covenant between a man and a woman," the memorial says. "We seek to protect and promote this sacrament for the strengthening of the family, the stability of society, the unity of God's church, and the common good."

END