From
Anglican Journal:
“Despite all our differences we are passionately committed to walking together.” So said a pastoral statement approved today by the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada on the issue of same gender blessings. And it may mark the beginning of a new spirit and approach to a question that has divided the church in recent years.
....
The result is a document that acknowledges continuing differences within the church on the issue, and says “at this time, we are not prepared to make a legislative decision.” The statement instead committed the church to more dialogue. This compromise left both sides wanting more, but there was a new and surprising level of support from both sides, and the statement was approved by a large majority within the 350-member synod made up of lay people, clergy and bishops.
“For many members of General Synod there is deep sadness that, at this time, there is no common mind. We acknowledge the pain that our diversity in this matter causes. We are deeply aware of the cost to people whose lives are implicated in the consequences of an ongoing discernment process…,” they said. “For some, even this statement represents a risk. For some, the statement does not go nearly far enough.”
....
And there were concerns expressed. Kellina Baetz from the diocese of Algoma said the document “fails to acknowledge the reality that inaction is also action.” She pointed to a piece of the text that said “we accept that different local contexts call at times for different local discernment, decision and action.” Then she asked, “Now I understand that the language here is perhaps deliberately vague for good reason, but I don’t know how you call that anything other than affirmation of local option.” Local option is a term used for one proposed resolution to the issue in which dioceses and local parishes could decide whether or not to bless same-sex unions.
The delegates to General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada did what they did and what they felt they must do. Presumably, the ACofC did not make a "formal" collective decision to depart from the moritoria of the Windsor
Report, which has now become a list of rules that member churches of the Anglican Communion must follow, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury and other members of the AC, although how a report came to be a set of rules is still a mystery to me.
Oh, and it appears that the "rules" are more restrictive for some member churches than for others. In the end, I'll wager that the representatives from the Episcopal Church will be the only members of the ecumenical committees who will be asked to stand down, although we are not the only member church to have departed from "gracious restraint" in the matter of following the "rules" of the Windsor
Report.