THE Anglican province at the centre of a row over same-sex blessings has put in place a plan to allow every diocese to approve gay “marriages”.

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada is expected to agree in May that “the blessing of same-sex unions is within the authority of a diocesan synod and that any Canadian Anglican diocese, if the bishop agrees, has the authority to perform such blessings”.

The move is certain to deepen the crisis over gay people in the Anglican Church because it comes while the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lambeth Commission is still in the process of finding a way forward.

The New Westminster diocese in Canada precipitated the present debate when the Bishop, the Right Rev Michael Ingham, agreed to authorise same-sex blessings in 2002.

The first blessings took place last year. The subsequent ordination of the openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, in the US, strengthened the determination of the conservative evangelical wing to resist any further advance of the liberals.

But any hopes of maintaining what remains of unity were in shreds last night after the Canadian Church’s general council agreed to place the new motion before the synod at a meeting that ended on Sunday.

Archbishop Bernard Malango, a member of the Lambeth Commission, which next meets in June, said: “These people are going berserk. They do not care about the Anglican Communion. They can do whatever they want but they must know they have separated themselves from the Anglican Communion. They are causing disgrace to the whole Church. They are acting without consultation and without thinking of the life of the communion.”

• The Bishop of Sheffield, the Right Rev Jack Nicholls, is urging clergy to study a new guide to the gay sex debate that includes the story of a bisexual man in an “open marriage” to a divorced bisexual woman who is having an affair with another woman.

  The Bishop has outraged evangelicals and traditionalists in the Church of England by his public commendation of Frankly Speaking, a guide produced by his diocesan staff that features stories of gay, lesbian and bisexual people in South Yorkshire. The guide was produced by the Sheffield diocese’s sexuality working group.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor