Gafcon Australia

Clergy and laity strongly favored a resolution declaring that marriage is between a man and a woman, but the bishops narrowly said no.

The ACANZP split has had little effect; same-sex blessings are still rare, and only 17 of 500 congregations left.

Same-sex marriage is still a divisive issue, but Bishop Richard Condie hopes the COVID delay may have calmed the waters.

Archbishop Geoffrey Smith strongly criticized a plan to form a non-geographic diocese for disaffected conservative congregations that “will be forced to leave the Anglican Church of Australia.”

The Very Rev. Kanishka Raffel, dean of Sydney’s St. Andrew’s Cathedral, was unanimously elected as the 12th Archbishop of Sydney by the diocese’s synod on May 6. Raffel, a London-born Sri Lankan and a Buddhist convert to Christianity, will be the first person of color to lead the vibrant conservative evangelical diocese, which has great power and influence in the GAFCON network.

The traditionalist group pledges to see approval from the Gafcon primates for an alternative diocese if enough of the Anglican Church of Australia's parishes disaffiliate from their dioceses in opposition to same sex blessings.