Human sexuality is highest priority for General Synod candidates
SEXUALITY is the highest priority for the coming synodical quinqennium, according to the Synod electoral addresses that have just been published.
In the analysis of the addresses by The Church of
England Newspaper, candidates express their hopeful wishes for a unified Church despite their theological differences.
The Rev Canon Dr Stephen John (Southwark) calls for ‘generous disagreement’; grateful for how the evangelical tradition has made him who he is but sees diversity as the ‘richness’ of Anglicanism.
Concerns over the Enabling Measure, Reform and Renewal and Religious Education are also high on the list. A noticeable absence is any sizeable mention of climate change.
The Rev Canon Simon Butler, pictured, is calling for reform of the General Synod to be ‘more accountable and less unwieldy’. He called the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Reform and Renewal plans ‘poorly communicated’, saying the Renewal element risks being neglected, leaving only Reform, which he refers to as ’the rearranging of deck chairs’.
As a gay, open orthodox evangelical, Simon is looking for a ‘stable’ policy from the Church over its position on marriage and sexuality.
“Any settlement cannot be on the basis of the institutional hypocrisy of an indefensible, discredited House of Bishops’ policy, disliked by all.” He says the current policy is a ‘double standard’ toward LBGT clergy.
The Rev Paul Bennett, standing for St Albans, says he is concerned about the centralisation of the Church’s system, which he says will allow the Archbishops’ Council to make ‘orders’ and bypass Synod.
Also standing for the diocese, the Rev Canon Sue Groom says the current system of Resourcing Ministeri- al Education is ‘teetering on the edge of collapse’, saying the Church mustn’t ‘adopt quick fixes to avert financial crisis’.
The Rev Samuel Allberry (Oxford) says he wants the Church to be better equipped to create communities where long-term singles can flourish, while the Rev Dr Andrew Atherstone wants to see an end to ‘harsh language and political posturing’ in Church of England debates.
The Rev Prof Mark Chapman called the General Synod the Church’s ‘critical friend’.
He is calling for those engaged in issues of human sexuality to ‘resist the urge to caricature other opinions, universalise their own experiences or second guess the outcomes of the listening process’.