Canada: Conservative Anglicans livid over lesbian priest
Group denounces bishop; one church withholds its dues
Jennifer Green, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, May 20, 2006

Anglican Bishop Peter Coffin has allowed a married lesbian to work as a priest in Ottawa, incurring the wrath of a small but vociferous group of conservatives within the Anglican diocese.
One church has withheld about $36,000 of its dues to the the diocese in protest and several clergy signed an open letter denouncing their bishop.

The letter said Bishop Coffin reneged on the spirit of the Anglican church's national moratorium on same-sex unions by allowing Rev. Linda Privitera to work as a priest at St. John the Evangelist on Elgin Street. Rev. Privitera is an American citizen, ordained and married in Massachusetts, who came to Canada with her partner in November.

Bishop Coffin has honoured the moratorium that suspended any church blessing of same-sex unions, but he says: "I cannot see (homosexuality) as a sin. ... We have swept this under the carpet and made people live in fear and in silence." the rest