Alan McCann, a rector in Connor and a committee member of Reform Ireland, says in today’s News Letter that the C of I is “heading for a split if this situation is not addressed”.
The News Letter report by Sam McBride states:
THE civil partnership of a Church of Ireland minister threatens the church’s international links within the Anglican Communion and with other Christian churches, a Church of Ireland minister has said.
The Rev Alan McCann said that as the news of the Very Rev Tom Gordon’s same-sex union has spread around the world on the internet he has been contacted by Christian leaders in north America and Africa raising concerns about future co-operation on mission work.
The Rev McCann, who is also a deputy grand chaplain in the Orange Order, said that dean Gordon’s civil partnership had ended the “hypocrisy” in the church, which was “heading for a split if this is not addressed”.
In a searing assessment of his own church’s handling of an issue which has threatened schism in the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Rev McCann claimed that the Church of Ireland had attempted to ignore “the elephant in the room” by not taking a position on whether homosexuality is normal or sinful.
The Rev McCann is a committee member of Reform Ireland, one of four Church of Ireland groups which earlier this week issued a statement demanding answers from the church hierarchy. He said that it was a “line in the sand” for evangelical members of the church, who are mostly found in parishes north of the border.
The Rev Alan McCann, who is a rector of Holy Trinity Parish in Carrickfergus and undertakes annual mission trips to Uganda, said: “This is a sad and painful time for the Church of Ireland.
“This action will damage our relationships with other Christian denominations within Ireland and will cause difficulties for mission in other parts of the world.
“Since this story has broken I have had emails from fellow Christian leaders in Africa and America assuring me of their prayers for us but also raising concerns about future co-operation on mission work. They have to consider if they want to be associated with, and in fellowship with, clergy and parishes that belong to a denomination where such an action has taken place.”
On Wednesday the church’s leader in Ireland, archbishop Alan Harper, released a statement in which he said that he hoped fears of a split were “premature”.
However, the Rt Rev Harper was careful not to say whether he believed it was right for his ministers to be in same-sex partnerships. The archbishop’s spokesman has said that he is too busy to be interviewed about the issue by this newspaper.
The Rev McCann said the church had to address the issue head-on, adding: “I suppose the only good thing I can say about this is at least the hypocrisy of the situation in the Church of Ireland is over – we have lived with such for years with everyone trying to ignore the elephant in the room and now the elephant has caused such a stink that no one can ignore it any longer.
“I cannot see how dean Gordon or bishop Burrows did not foresee this furore from the evangelical wing but I suspect they are hoping it will blow over and become accepted within the Church of Ireland.
“It won’t be accepted by many of us and we are heading for a split if this situation is not addressed.
“Dean Gordon and bishop Burrows have departed from the doctrine and historical teaching of the church on the issue of human sexuality and marriage.
“They have made no attempt to bring this before synod or any other body of the church. They have acted unilaterally without any consideration for the wider Church of Ireland or any thought as to the offence and pain this will have caused.”
The Rev McCann said that evangelical members of the church had no desire to go on “some witch hunt over people’s personal lives” but said that they could not “ignore such an openly sinful act as this”.
“This is the line in the sand concerning the teaching of Scripture. The Bible is clear – a homosexual relationship is sinful and outside of God’s will for humanity.
“The Bible is clear – the marriage of one man to one woman in faithful commitment is the God-given gift and place for the expression of sexual intimacy.
“If a bishop, or clergyman, of whatever office, cannot faithfully teach this and faithfully live accordingly in their own life, then they are failing to keep their ordination vows. For me personally to fail to state this clearly is to fail to stand for the Biblical truth and teaching of the two millennia of the Christian church.”
In the same issue Ian Paisley in his weekly column takes an approach which is mainly in agreement with Mr McCann’s views.