Ban on clergy same-sex marriages
CLERGY WILL not be allowed to enter into same-sex marriages and there will be no services of blessing for such marriages, the House of Bishops decided at a meeting held after General Synod.
Pastoral guidance on same-sex marriage came as an appendix to a letter to the clergy and people of the Church of England from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
In their letter, the two Archbishops concede that the Bishops are not ‘all in agreement’ about the Church’s response to introduction of same-sex marriage but they go on to affirm that the Bishops are in agreement ‘that the Christian understanding and doctrine of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman remains unchanged’.
The Archbishops say they remain committed to a process of facilitated conversations across the Church of England as recommended by the Pilling Report.
The pastoral guidelines are clear that clergy should not offer any service of blessing for those who have entered into a same-sex marriage but, as is already the case with civil partnerships, the bishops say that they do not wish to interfere with the clergy’s pastoral discretion to offer the couple informal prayer ‘on the assumption that any prayer will be accompanied by a discussion of the Church’s pastoral teaching and their reasons for departing from it’.
On the subject of clergy entering into same-sex marriage, the Bishops are quite clear. They say that they are not ‘willing for those who are in a same-sex marriage to be ordained to any of the three orders of ministry.’ They also state quite unequivocally that ‘it would not be appropriate conduct for someone in holy orders to enter into a same-sex marriage, given the need for clergy to model the Church’s teaching in their lives’.
No doubt aware of the disagreement their statement will provoke, the Bishops remind clergy that at ordination they undertook to ‘accept and minister the discipline of this Church and respect authority duly exercised in it’.
Reaction in the Church was mixed. The Rev Simon Vibert, Vice Principal of Wycliffe Hall, welcomed the statement as a clear articulation of traditional Church teaching and called for ‘engaging, winsome and articulate evangelical voices who celebrate the goodness of God’s design for marriage’.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Anglican Coalition (LGB+TI) said it was ‘ appalled’ by the Bishops’ statement and described it as a ‘heavyhanded and legalistic imposition of discipline’.
LGB+TI described talk of the Church ‘welcoming’ lesbian and gay people as ‘ludicrous’ in the light of the Bishops’ statement which it also described as ‘cruel and unjust’ to clergy.
“The guidance is wrong in tone and content, and will further damage the Church’s mission, not only to LGB+TI people but to all people who respect truth and justice. It may seek to carry disciplinary authority, but it has no moral authority and cannot command respect,” the Coalition concluded in its own statement.
Although traditionalists and evangelicals welcomed the statement by the House of Bishops there were some questions about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call in his Presidential address for a ‘massive cultural change’ to enable people to flourish together despite deeply held differences on such questions as sexuality and women bishops.
Lee Gatiss, Director of the Church Society, said that for evangelicals to flourish in the Church of England there would need to be real and serious dialogue with conservative evangelicals and the appointment of 12 conservative evangelical bishops.