Episcopal Church give nod to gay marriages
Pupils injured in bus crash Harry’s inspired Bishop hails ‘momentous step’
FIVE pupils were injured when a double-decker school bus crashed.
The accident took place yesterday at 11.30am near New Galloway.
One girl aged 16 was taken to Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary with minor injuries and four others were treated at the scene.
The pupils were from Mearns Castle High School near Glasgow and were going to a Duke of Edinburgh outward bound course.
Police said inquiries were ongoing to find out what caused the crash. PRINCE Harry was Oz-inspired when he met the Australian athletes for the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney yesterday. THE Scottish Episcopal Church have taken the “momentous” decision to allow same-sex couples to be married in church.
A proposal to amend canon law to permit clerics to conduct weddings for gay couples was backed yesterday at the annual meeting of the church’s General Synod in Edinburgh.
The “historic” move – they are the first branch of the Anglican faith in the UK to allow same-sex marriage – has been welcomed by equal rights campaigners.
But it puts the Church “at odds” with the majority stance within the Anglican communion, said secretary general Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon.
Church members voted to remove the doctrinal clause which stated marriage is a “union of one man and woman”. It was replaced with a clause which asserts that clergy who do not wish to preside over same-sex weddings will not be compelled to do so “against their conscience”. The proposal was passed with 80 per cent support from the houses of Bishops and Laity, while 67 per cent of the Clergy backed the move – achieving the required two-thirds majority overall. Primus of the SEC, the Most Reverend David Chillingworth, below, said: “This is a momentous step. By removing gender from our marriage canon, our church now affirms a same-sex couple are not just married but married in the sight of God.” He acknowledged the decision will be difficult for some and added: “So, the journey which we now begin must also be a journey of reconciliation.”