Ministry at St Johns
with
Gays and Lesbians
Gays and lesbians have always felt welcome at St Johns, such that in years past some became "open" to the parish community. This openess not only made other gays and lesbians comfortable here in the parish but also helped the other members of St Johns to feel comfortable with all gays and lesbians in the church and the wider community. Experiencing the lives and feelings of gay and lesbian parishioners, coupled with this parish's passion for social justice, has led us to speak out on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons in the local Christian community, the greater Ottawa community as well as at the national level in the Anglican Church of Canada. [See Gordon Johnston's "A Homo-History of St John's Church" for more background on our early history.]
Opening the Doors:
The parish of St Johns hosted a number of meetings during 1996 and 1997 under the title "Opening the Doors to Gays and Lesbians" to which both Christian churches in the Ottawa area and the wider gay community were invited. Official participants from other Anglican and Roman Catholic parishes and United Church, Baptist and Unitarian Universalist congregations participated in the organisation and conduct of these conferences. An example of the achievements of these meetings can be seen in the summary report of the 12 April 1997 Open the Door Conference still available on this website.
Open and Affirming:
One of the many resolutions that came out of these Opening the Door conferences was an agreed statement titled Open and Affirming Churches that the members of the conferences wished all parishes and congregations would officially adopt as church policy. In early 1998, the Parish Council of St John's officially endorsed the Open and Affirming statement and requested that we post it on our website. Following our official endorsement of this statement, the Gay and Lesbian Task Group of the Diocese of Ottawa circulated the statement to all Anglican parishes in the diocese with a request that they discuss the statement and if possible adopt it as a parish policy. While several parishes in the diocese are welcoming to gays and lesbians, none of them has to date officially adopted that statement.
Proud Anglicans
A number of years ago Integrity/Toronto, as part of the Toronto Pride Parade, asked local Toronto parishes to parade behind a sign saying "Proud Anglicans" to indicate that they welcomed gays and lesbians as members of their parishes. The Proud Anglican movement has since grown and spread across the whole of the Anglican Church of Canada. St John's is proud to be listed on the Proud Anglicans website along with three other Diocese of Ottawa parishes.
Diocese of Ottawa Synod 2002
In the fall of 2002, our rector the Rev Canon Garth Bulmer placed a motion before our diocesan synod asking that individual parishes be permitted to bless same-sex unions. You can read Garth's motion and his supporting arguments on the Blessings page. Regretably Synod chose to table the motion but did set up a diocese wide "Dialogue" to take place centrally as well as in each parish.
Diocese of Ottawa Discussion 2003/2004:
The "Task Force on Blessing Same Sex Unions" established by the Diocese of Ottawa in response to the tabling of Garth's motion to permit such blessings held a "Day of Dialogue" [in fact it was conducted as a day of instruction] in November 2003 with representatives from all of the parishes in the diocese. Two members of our parish, Nicole Uzans and Gordon Johnston, attended this day-long workshop. Gordon and Nicole's report on the workshop and response from members of the parish can be found in their report: "Thoughts and feelings about the Blessing of Same-Sex Unions".
Claiming the Blessing
In 2003 a group of Anglican clergy and lay people who wish to see the Anglican Church of Canada extend blessings to same-sex couples came together to form Claiming the Blessing Canada At its meeting on Tuesday, April 20,2003 St John's Parish Council endorsed this desire and officially gave St Johns' support to this movement. More details can be found on our Claiming the Blessing webpage.
National General Synod 2004:
A motion [#134] was presented to the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada held in the summer of 2004, requesting approval for diocese to proceed on an individual basis to permit the blessing of committed same-sex unions. Synod decided to defer this part of the motion until their next meeting in 2007 but our rector, the Rev Canon Garth Bulmer, again speaking for all gays and lesbians in the Canadian church was able to have his motion that "[This Synod] affirms the integrity and sanctity of committed same-sex relationships" approved by General Synod!
Ottawa Pride Days
For many years now, St Johns has hosted a special "Pride Day Service" on the Sunday of the Ottawa Pride Parade with a guest preacher speaking on the place of gays and lesbians in the church. Our parish is fortutiously situated on the route of the Pride Day Parade and has flown our Rainbow Flag in front of the the church and offered drinks and other refreshments to the participants as they passed the front of the church.
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