That would effectively postpone a decision on the issue many predict will fracture the 77-million-strong world-wide Anglican communion.

"My gut hunch feeling as an old hand at watching this kind of stuff is I'm
not sure there are enough votes for the local option to pass at this time," Spence told The Spectator.

The local option would enable each diocese, with the agreement of its bishop, to bless "committed same-sex unions." The five-part motion to be voted on June 2 would also allow for so called "flying bishops" to minister to dissenting parishes within dioceses that approve same-sex blessings.

An independent study for the church's national executive last March concluded the issue shouldn't be dealt with now because so many Canadian Anglicans are at odds with it.

"I personally don't have a problem with this. I feel that God created all of us," said Spence, who will vote in favour of the local option. "If, as a church, we move to the blessing of same-sex unions, I can accept this. But my role as bishop is to be pastor to all the people in the diocese."

In the larger debate surrounding same-sex marriage, Anglican churches
possibly blessing committed gay and lesbian relationships may seem tame. Courts in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and now Massachusetts have recognized gay marriage as a matter of equal rights. But Anglicans are agonizing over whether to allow clergy to bestow blessings on such couples and for congregations to embrace them. Even if the motion passes, same-sex couples could still not be
married in the Anglican Church.

Although several European countries and the state of California have
introduced what are called registered domestic partnerships for same-sex couples, only Belgium, the Netherlands, three Canadian provinces and one American state permit gay and lesbian couples to marry.

The Supreme Court of Canada is reviewing federal marriage law after the Ontario Appeal Court ruled it unconstitutional by discriminating against same-sex couples.

In 1995, the Canadian church moved to accept celibate gays and lesbians in the life of the church. But that changed in 1998 at the Lambeth Conference, the once-per-decade meeting of Anglican bishops from around the globe that sets policy for the church's 38 self-governing branches. A majority at Lambeth upheld marriage as being between a man and a woman, ruled homosexual activity incompatible with scripture and closed the door on gay clergy and same-sex blessings.

But there is dissent within the church:

* In 2002, Anglicans in the Diocese of New Westminster voted to allow their clergy to bless same-sex unions;

* Last summer, The Very Rev. Peter Wall, dean of Niagara diocese and
second-in-command to Spence, was disciplined for marrying a lesbian couple;

* Last fall, the Episcopal Church in the United States consecrated the first openly gay bishop, Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson.

Chris Ambidge, the spokesman for Integrity Toronto, part of a 3,000-member international group of Anglican gays, lesbians and their supporters, says the Canadian church has been talking about gay issues since 1979 when the House of Bishops decided it would not call into question the ordination of a celibate homosexual.

"The rest of the church can't say we haven't had long enough to discuss it," said Ambidge. "It's been a generation."

Having visited dozens of parishes in and around Toronto, Ambidge said the "yes" camp inevitably includes gays, lesbians and their friends and families, while the "no" camp is populated by those who maintain scripture denounces homosexuality.

Ambidge calls the scriptural argument "selective literalism" because those who uphold it are simply refusing to change their minds.

Meanwhile, the debate may gather steam if the issue isn't tackled at general synod, said Rev. Daniel Brereton, vicar at Christ's Church Cathedral and co-founder of the local Integrity chapter.

END