Archbishop of Sydney Responds to Wangaratta Vote

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Anglican Diocese of Sydney

Public Statement

Response to a vote by the Synod of the Diocese of Wangaratta

The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has issued a statement in response to a vote by the Synod of the Diocese of Wangaratta to authorise a service to bless civil marriages. The Bishop of Wangaratta has claimed this service would allow for a blessing of same-sex unions and that he personally intends to use it for that purpose.

Archbishop Davies said “It is highly regrettable that clergy and lay people in the Diocese of Wangaratta have chosen to follow their Bishop rather than the clear words of Scripture concerning God’s design for human sexuality (Matt 19:4-12). 

The doctrine of our Church is not determined by 67 members of a regional synod in Victoria nor is it changed by what they may purport to authorise.

Time and time again, the General Synod has affirmed the biblical view of marriage as the doctrine of our Church. To bless that which is contrary to Scripture cannot, therefore, be permissible under our church law.
    
The circumstances of this event are reminiscent of the actions of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada in 2003. It is now universally acknowledged that those events were the beginning of the ‘tear in the fabric of the Anglican Communion’.

Moreover, to claim the authority of our Church to carry out a service of blessing contrary to the biblical view of marriage and the doctrine of our Church will certainly fracture the Anglican Church of Australia.”
    
Dr Glenn N Davies
Archbishop of Sydney
2 September 2019

davidould.net understands there is now considerable activity behind the scenes, including detailed correspondence with the Primate.

Were a disciplinary procedure to be moved against Bishop John Parkes it would be under the Special Tribunal Canon 2007. It is entirely likely that one action that would trigger such a move would be Bishop Parkes presiding at the now much-publicised blessing of the upcoming marriage of Archdeacon Emeritus John Davis and Robert Whalley.

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  1. linda nolan

    Dear Archbishop Davies,
    The horse has bolted. You and your fellows, including the Primate, have had 21 months since the legal definition of Australian marriage was changed from the union of a man & a woman (also Christ’s definition) to the union of 2 people. At any time you could have instructed all ministers in your patch to offer stand-alone religious marriages thereby showing any wayward colleague and every trusting parishioner alike, your wholehearted commitment to “the biblical view of marriage and ACA doctrine”. The same goes for the Primate, for the whole country. Surely you did not see elements of the legal solemnisation (representing the Commonwealth, issuing marriage certificates, providing a public service, etc) as obviating Christ’s clear teaching? For worthless trappings such as those? Respectfully, Linda Nolan

    1. Geoffrey McAuliffe

      You do not understand the biblical view of marriage and therefore your comments are invalid.

  2. Robert Bruce

    This is indeed a Joshua 24:15 moment. We will all feel challenged by it but we can rise to the challenge by standing together for the principles Jesus taught. The Anglican Church of Australia is a strong body of committed Christians that will not be divided while the Holy Spirit is with us.
    If some who are not committed to the Word are determined to reject biblical teachings and go another way, we cannot force them to stay with us, but that would not amount to a division. It would be a voluntary departure of a few who have decided to reject what they used to believe or apparently used to believe. We will be saddened for them and the path they have chosen rather than the Way, but ultimately we will be better of without them. Without the distraction they represent we will be in a stronger position to uphold the Word and reach out with the Gospel.

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