In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders include the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Assyrian, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic and some Lutheran churches. Except for Lutherans and some Anglicans, these churches regard ordination as a sacrament.
Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." In 2017, clergy within the Church of England indicated their inclination towards supporting same-sex marriage by dismissing a bishops' report that explicitly asserted the exclusivity of church weddings to unions between a man and a woman. At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
The Church of the Holy Trinity is an Anglican church located at Trinity Square in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Brent Hawkes, is a Canadian clergyman and gay rights activist.
Charles Ellsworth Bennison Jr. is an American bishop. He was the 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.
The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are located in South Africa, and one each in Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and Saint Helena.
Michael Geoffrey Peers was a Canadian Anglican bishop who served as Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada from 1986 to 2004.
Florence Li Tim-Oi was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion, on 25 January 1944.
The Diocese of Toronto is an administrative division of the Anglican Church of Canada covering the central part of southern Ontario. It was founded in 1839 and is the oldest of the seven dioceses comprising the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. It has the most members of any Anglican diocese in Canada. It is also one of the biggest Anglican dioceses in the Americas in terms of numbers of parishioners, clergy and parishes. As of 2018, the diocese has around 230 congregations and ministries in 183 parishes, with approximately 54,000 Anglicans identified on parish rolls.
John Michael Miller, CSB is a Canadian bishop of the Catholic Church. He is the Archbishop of Vancouver, succeeding to the position in 2009 after serving as its coadjutor archbishop and as Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education. Prior to his appointment as bishop, he was a professor and academic administrator at the University of St. Thomas (UST) in Houston.
Colin Robert Johnson is the former Anglican archbishop of Toronto and Moosonee, and he served as Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario from 2009 to 2018. He was the 11th Bishop of Toronto, the largest diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Terence Edward Finlay was a Canadian Anglican bishop. He served as Metropolitan of Ontario and Archbishop of Toronto from 2000 to 2004.
The Anglican Church of Canada is the third largest church in Canada, after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada. After many years of debate, the first blessing of a same-sex partnership took place in 2003, by the Diocese of New Westminster, in Vancouver. This was not considered a marriage ceremony, but rather a blessing of "permanent and faithful commitments" between persons of the same sex.
James Fielding Sweeny (1857–1940) was an Anglican bishop. He was the 4th Bishop of Toronto and Archbishop of Ontario.
Louis Ralph Sherman was an Anglican bishop in Canada in the 20th century.
Lewis Samuel Garnsworthy was a Canadian religious leader. He served as the Anglican Bishop of Toronto from 1972 to 1989 and was the Archbishop of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario from 1979 to 1985.
John Walder Dunlop Holder is a former Barbadian Anglican archbishop. He was the Anglican Archbishop of the West Indies and held the See of Barbados.
Terrence Owen Buckle was a Canadian Anglican bishop. He was Archbishop of Yukon from 1995 to 2010 and Metropolitan of British Columbia and Yukon from 2005 until 2010, in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Kevin Robertson is a Canadian Anglican bishop.
Richard Joseph Gagnon is a Canadian bishop of the Catholic Church. He is the Archbishop of Winnipeg, appointed to the position in 2014 after previously serving as the Bishop of Victoria. He has also served as President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) since September 2019. Gagnon attended high school and university in Greater Vancouver, before studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical Beda College in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1983 and served in the Archdiocese of Vancouver as an assistant pastor and parish priest for two decades. He became vicar general of the archdiocese in 2002 and was consecrated as a bishop two years later. Gagnon has been noted for his work toward reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Victoria and Winnipeg. He is also noted for calling the first diocesan synod in the Archdiocese of Winnipeg.
