Bishops add to pressure on Welby to lift gay marriage ban

THE Archbishop of Canterbury is facing mounting pressure to join bishops who are calling to reverse the Church of England’s ban on gay marriage.

The Most Rev Justin Welby has yet to publicly and explicitly state his stance on the issue.

However, Bishop Steven Croft said on Thursday that he wished to acknowledge the “acute pain and distress of LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church”, and said that he was sorry that his views on same-sex marriage were “slow to change” and had “caused genuine hurt, disagreement and pain”.

In his landmark declaration, which breaks ranks with the Church’s current view on the issue, he said that as well as being able to conduct marriages for their congregation, clergy should also be allowed to marry a same-sex partner.

According to canon law, no Church of England minister can bless or marry gay couples. But a number of other senior clergy, including bishops, have joined the Bishop of Oxford in publicly calling for the Church to change its stance.

Earlier this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury said he would not punish churches that held gay marriages, telling bishops at a decennial gathering of the Anglican Communion: “I neither have, nor do I seek, the authority to discipline or exclude a church of the Anglican Communion. I will not do so.”

Tensions were high at the Lambeth Conference in August, with attempts by conservative bishops to insert an antigay marriage clause into the gathering’s official resolution.

However, yesterday, the Bishop of Worcester, the Right Rev Dr John Inge, a diocesan bishop, and the Bishop of Dudley, the Right Rev Martin Gorick, a more junior suffragan bishop, publicly backed Bishop Croft’s call for a change in policy.

They published a joint letter on Twitter saying that “in the interest of transparency, we think it right for us to make our own beliefs and hopes plain”.

“In short, we believe that the time has come for the Church to honour and celebrate same-sex relations. People do not choose their sexuality and all should be able to express it within loving, committed relationships. Our preferred option would be for same-sex couples to be able to marry in church,” they added. The Bishop of Reading, the Rt Rev Olivia Graham, praised Bishop Croft’s “contemplative, compassionate and courageous views on sexuality and the Church”. The Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Alan Wilson, also tweeted his “thanks and warm congratulations” for articulating “an honest and Godly view”, while the Bishop of Oxford became the first serving senior bishop to explicitly call for the Church to conduct same-sex marriages.

A Church Evangelical Council spokesman said it “rejects the theological argument in Bishop Croft’s essay”.