Canadian Church Synod Actions Important
Diocesan Press Service. September 14, 1965 [XXXV-2]
The decisions reached at the 1965 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, have many implications for the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.
The Synod approved a set of Principles of Union with the United Church of Canada. These Principles were drawn up and agreed to earlier this year by the Committees of Ten of each church and are the result of more than 20 years of conversations. These Principles set forth matters of faith agreed upon including the Apostles Creed, the oneness of Christianity, sacraments and the ministry. The question of Apostolic succession is left open, although the office of Bishop was accepted. Questions of structure, acts of union and unification of ministries are left to be dealt with in detail by special committees after both churches approve the Principles. The Principles and the approval by the Anglican Church of Canada are particularly important to the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. as it is presently engaged in talks with the Methodist Church, The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., The United Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ and the Evangelical United Brethren Church. These union talks are known as the Consulation on Church Union.
The Anglican Church's approval of a new marriage canon follows a similar measure enacted at the 1946 Episcopal General Convention. The legislation, which must be confirmed by the 1967 Synod, would lift the Canadian church's absolute ban on the remarriage of divorced persons while the other partner is living. The new canon would provide for the appointment of an Ecclesiastical Matrimonial Tribunal with the power to declare that a previous ceremony was not a true in marriage in the eyes of the Church and therefore no impediment to marriage under canon law; and also to give permis4ion to marry according to the rites of the Church to persons who have been. divorced from partners still living. Such permission would be granted only if certain conditions are met. The proposed canon also sets forth new regulations regarding all marriage ceremonies. These include thirty days notice and pre-marital counseling. Both parties would also be required to sign an agreement stating their intention to seek Christian marriage.
Speaking at the Synod, the Rt. Rev. Ralph S. Dean, Anglican Executive Officer, warned of the danger of reaching "an impossible impasse" in efforts to implement the MRI document which came out of the Anglican Congress two years ago. Discussing the non-financial aspects of the program, the Bishop said that it is in danger of becoming simply words and the instant cure-all to all problems. "It is time we really came to grips with mutuality," he advised, "not merely by increasing the layman's participation in Anglican clubability." He also commented that Anglican churchmen, in supporting the pan-Anglicanism represented in MRI, should not lessen support of ecumenical projects of the World Council of Churches.