>From the  Toronto Star, Wednesday November 25, 1993:


ANGLICAN CLERIC URGES BLESSING OF GAY UNIONS
  by Michael McAteer/Religion Reporter

A high-ranking Anglican  cleric says it's time his  church approved some
form of service or rite that would bless the union of committed same-sex
couples.

The Very Rev Duncan Abraham, Dean of St James Cathedral on King St East,
said in  an interview  yesterday the blessing  of same-sex  unions could
ease the pain of homosexuals who feel excluded from the church

"It  seems to  me  the only  solution  is to  acknowledge  some form  of
commitment and then get on with our work," he said.

"It's something I arrived at over  the last few years. Certainly, when I
came here  that would  not have been  my position. But  I've go  to know
more and more of these people."

The Rev  Victoria Matthews, elected  last week as Canada's  first female
Anglican  bishop, said  more study  and  research is  needed before  the
church can consider changing its position on same-sex unions.

She  said that  while  church  guidelines on  homosexuality  may not  be
helpful at times, the complexities of  the issue do not call for changes
right now.

Guidelines  adopted  by  Canada's   Anglican  bishops  say  all  people,
regardless of  sexual orientation,  are equal  before God.  however, the
church  will  not bless  same-sex  unions  and candidates  for  ordained
ministry must promise to abstain from same-sex activity.

The guidelines  were at the  centre of  last year's Bishop's  Court that
upheld Toronto Bishop Terence Finlay's decision to take away the licence
of  homosexual  priest   Jim  Ferry,  who  refused  to   break  off  his
relationship with  his lover. Matthews  was one  of the five  members of
that court.

"I'm sure there  are many, many times  in which our policy  has not been
helpful," Matthews said  in an interview. "Certainly  it's never helpful
to put somebody in a position that  they feel they have no option but to
live a double life.  That's destructive."

But she said  she has done a  fair amount of reading  on the "incredibly
complex issue" and has concluded, "We don't  know as much as we think we
know."

Some of the studies cited are very, very shaky in terms of the research,
she said.

"That's not to  say that they are  wrong; it's to say there  is an awful
lot we still  don't know. People are making sweeping  claims that put us
in a very,  very difficult position, because from  the scientific point,
we don't know."

Matthews added that  interesting questions are being  raised by biblical
studies about whether the "prohibitions  in scripture are half as strong
as we saw them to be for a long time."

She said that while the United Church's approach to ordaining homosexual
has been courageous, she questions whether it has been helpful.

The United  Church says  sexual orientation  in itself  should not  be a
barrier to ordination and leaves the  matter of the blessing of same-sex
unions to local churches.

"I think  in the  end they  shot themselves  in the  foot with  the best
intentions," Matthews said.