Tag: Protestant Clergy

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Loving disagreement and synodality – within and beyond Catholicism

Pope Francis arrives for his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, at the Vatican last week as Synod preparations continue.

By Christopher Landau

Watching the development of synodality within the Catholic Church is fascinating from an Anglican perspective. My first encounter with the Church of England’s General Synod was twenty years ago, when, as a junior BBC News producer, I happened to be present as the gay rights activist Peter Tatchell disrupted the proceedings alongside fellow campaigners. It became a memorable synod, for all the wrong reasons.

I have little doubt that some Anglicans’ ambivalence about our own mixed experience of synodical government means that developments in Rome are being viewed with more than a raised eyebrow.

What has fascinated me, in part, is the tone of some of the social media debates ahead of the Roman Synod. It is perhaps reassuring to realise that Anglican Twitter (of which I am reasonably familiar) shares similarly dysfunctional and corrosive attitudes to those which are seemingly widespread in Catholic social media discourse. Though I am reminded by one friend that Methodist Facebook is worst of all…

I left journalism to train for Anglican ministry, and along the way resumed theological study, considering the specific question of the ethics of Christian disagreement. In essence, I wondered why a faith grounded in love of neighbour found the active pursuit of that neighbour-love within the church so problematic.

Official Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission documents are surprisingly candid and illustrative in this regard. The 1994 ARCIC report, Life In Christ: Morals, Communion And The Church is fascinating on the reality of difference between the two communions, and the particular challenge of mutual caricature. Untruthful prejudices are confronted:

It is not true that the Roman Catholic Church has predetermined answers to every moral question, while the Anglican Church has no answers at all. It is not true that Roman Catholics always agree on moral issues, nor that Anglicans never agree. It is not true that Anglican ethics is pragmatic and unprincipled, while Roman Catholic moral theology is principled but abstract. It is not true that Roman Catholics are always more careful of the institution in their concern for the common good, while Anglicans disregard the common good in their concern for the individual. It is not true that Roman Catholic moral teaching is legalistic, while Anglican moral teaching is utilitarian. Caricature, we may grant, is never totally contrived; but caricature it remains.

For me, the enduring question is why Christians of all denominations remain so ready to assume the worst of each other, and broadcast that fact, whether on social or traditional media. The notion exemplified by Jesus’ words in John 13:35, that the mutual love within the church is itself an attractive missionary sign to those beyond it, seems remote.

And yet the New Testament is candid and consistent in its repeated calls towards the maintenance of loving unity within the body of Christ. Of course this doesn’t mean hard questions should not be faced, particularly when orthodoxy is at stake, but what repeatedly strikes me is the way in which this call to unity falls down the list of ecclesial priorities, despite the consistent urging found within both the Gospels and other New Testament narratives.

Within my own work, the contrast set out by St Paul between the fruit of the Spirit and the acts of the flesh is illustrative. Although, perhaps understandably, attention often focusses on the “big ticket” sins outlined in Galatians chapter 5, it is striking that several of the fleshly characteristics relate precisely to the nature of human interactions in the context of disagreements: discord, dissensions and factions, for example. Whereas the fruit of the Spirit exemplify characteristics which can be transformative in situations of conflict: forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

The simple observation is that any church debate, whether within or beyond a particular denomination, will be improved in quality in direct proportion to amount of the fruit of the Spirit present. This question of spiritual reality lies at the heart of how disagreements are faced, and how Christlike we are as we face them.

The irony for me, as I watch the Church of England teeter on the edge of self-destruction over questions of sexuality, is that often we find unity easier to pursue beyond a denomination than within it. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will pray for Christian unity in Rome this weekend, even as that same unity is seriously imperilled within his own jurisdiction.

We live with these ironies as we intercede for deeper unity. My own particular hope and prayer is that Christian leaders will recognise the spiritual dimension to our striving for unity – and that we will be faithful to the Lord’s desire for his followers to be one, as we face and debate our differences, whether within a synod or beyond it.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Finding a Church That’s ‘a Little More Inclusive’

— A former Catholic priest is St. Mary’s new pastor

The Rev. Brian Raiche, right, with his husband, Loren Lee, and their dog, Chloe, outside St. Mary of the Harbor.

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Brian Raiche was at the grocery store when he decided to reevaluate his relationship to the Catholic Church. Raiche was the priest at a parish in Averill Park, N.Y. Out shopping, he found himself face to face with a former parishioner who offered him some blunt advice, Raiche says.

“You’re in the wrong church,” she told him, adding that he seemed more like an Episcopalian than a Catholic. That encounter was in 2003. Raiche had been a priest for eight years, and when it came to disagreements about doctrine, his “primary concern,” he says, was the church’s restriction on leadership roles for women. “I empowered some women to preach, and that was frowned upon,” he says.

As an openly gay man, Raiche also found the church’s doctrines on sexuality problematic. All Catholic priests, regardless of their sexuality, are required to be celibate. “You couldn’t be married; you couldn’t be partnered,” says Raiche. “That can be pretty lonely.”

The church’s view of homosexuality is complicated. The catechism of the Catholic Church — a compendium of the church’s teachings meant primarily for bishops and priests — describes gay people as “objectively disordered.” At the same time, it says that those with “this inclination” face challenges, and so, “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.” Meanwhile, “Homosexual persons are called to chastity,” it concludes. That would seem to make the priesthood an option for gay people, although Pope Francis’s predecessor, Benedict,  reportedly was not on board with that.

Francis said during a 2013 news conference, “If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge?” The statement, though it seemed remarkable at the time, didn’t result in any change in church law.

Raiche takes in the view from the parish hall.

Raiche entered the priesthood at 29 and devoted 10 years to the Catholic Church. “I didn’t leave angry,” he says about his departure. “I just couldn’t represent it anymore.”

Ironically, his departure from the church led directly to a career supporting it. He moved from upstate New York to Boston to work for Trinity Fundraising Consultants, which advises Catholic churches.

Raiche worked at Trinity for six years, eventually as senior vice president, before starting his own firm, Cornerstone Fundraising. The work is secular rather than spiritual, Raiche says: “I do that as a consultant, not as a priest.” Episcopal priests can be “bivocational,” according to the church’s Title IV Canons website. They can preach and have other jobs as long as those are approved by the bishop. Catholic priests typically don’t work outside the church.

Nicholson Hall, the sanctuary at St. Mary of the Harbor.

Raiche met Loren Lee at a rehearsal for a Tanglewood benefit concert in 2005. Raiche played the piano, and Lee was the guest violinist. Lee was a regular at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newburyport, and Raiche soon joined him for Sunday services. In 2013, the couple had a “big church wedding” at St. Paul’s.

The Episcopal Church, Raiche says, “has a lot of what people love about the Catholic Church –– it’s just a little more inclusive.” That’s true for both clergy and congregations: women and LGBTQ people can be ordained, and priests are allowed to marry and have families. Gay parishioners are not asked to be celibate.

It wasn’t long before the rector at St. Paul’s asked Raiche to preach on weekdays. “Slowly I got back into things,” he says of returning to a pastoral role. In June 2015, Raiche was formally received into the Episcopal Church and a year later he became the rector at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Reading, where he worked until this past July.

Next to the coat rack, a painting by Jerry Farnsworth of St. Mary’s first full-time vicar, the Rev. Robert Wood Nicholson.

Raiche and Lee bought a condominium in Provincetown as a “getaway place” and investment property to rent in the summer. During the pandemic, they began spending more time here and attended outdoor masses at St. Mary of the Harbor. Raiche says they found a spiritual home at St. Mary, not to mention friendships: “We met all kinds of different friends during the off-season.”

Raiche says he wasn’t looking to lead a parish when the St. Mary position opened up. But he says, “When I received a call to serve the parish, my answer was an enthusiastic ‘yes.’ ”

Raiche became St. Mary’s year-round vicar in September. Now he, Lee, and their dog, Chloe, are getting settled — though with the church’s rectory, where they plan to live, undergoing renovation, and their Provincetown place rented out, the couple are still back and forth to their home in Newburyport.

AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod used St. Mary’s kitchen this summer for its free lunch program. Raiche looks forward to more community outreach of that kind.

One challenge for the church, Raiche says, is not peculiar to Provincetown: how to coax people back to Mass. During Covid, he says, “a lot of people just stopped coming.”

This past summer, St. Mary opened its kitchen to the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, which prepared meals for its free lunch program there. Raiche is looking forward to more of that kind of community work.

His main focus is on creating an inclusive refuge for those in search of a “spiritual home,” Raiche says. “People are just looking to belong.”

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Most Church of England priests back gay marriage, survey finds

— Major shift in attitudes in England since 2014 survey, when only 39% approved of same-sex weddings

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, faced sharp criticism last year for affirming a 1998 declaration that gay sex is a sin.

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Most Church of England priests want the C of E to allow same-sex weddings and to drop its opposition to premarital and gay sex, according to a survey.

In a major shift in attitudes over the past decade, a survey of priests in England conducted by the Times found that more than half supported a change in law to allow clergy to conduct the marriage of gay couples, with 53.4% in favour compared with 36.5% against.

The last time Anglican priests in England were asked, in 2014, shortly after the legalisation of same-sex civil marriage, 51% said same-sex marriage was “wrong”, compared with 39% who approved.

Last year a row erupted at the first Lambeth conference (a meeting of Anglican bishops from around the world) in 14 years, with the archbishop of Canterbury faced sharp criticism for affirming a 1998 declaration that gay sex was a sin.

But the new poll found that 64.5% of priests in England backed an end to the teaching that “homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture”. It also found that 27.3% of priests supported an end to any celibacy requirement for gay people, while 37.2% said they were willing to accept sex between gay people in “committed” relationships such as civil partnerships or marriages, and around a third (29.7%) said the teaching should not change.

Andrew Foreshew-Cain, founder of the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England, said the survey showed there was “no excuse for further delay and equivocation” in welcoming gay people into the church.

“The clergy of the Church of England are kinder, more generous, and more welcoming towards LGBTI people than the current official position allows,” he said. “The C of E, and in particular our bishops, needs to stop wringing its hands over gay people and move forward towards blessings and, in time, to celebrating same-sex marriages in our parishes.”

The survey results were encouraging, said Robbie de Santos, director of communications at Stonewall. “We hope that church leaders reflect on these findings,” he said. “Too often, LGBTQ+ people of faith face discrimination and prejudice simply for being themselves.”

The survey also found that three-quarters of respondents thought Britain could no longer be described as a Christian country. Almost two-thirds (64.2%) said Britain could be called Christian “but only historically, not currently”.

In the 2021 census of England and Wales for the first time fewer than half of the population described themselves as Christian.

The Times poll found that two-thirds of priests in England thought attempts to stop the drop in church attendance would fail, with only 10.1% thinking it would be halted, and 10.5% believing that congregations would grow again. Average attendance for Church of England Sunday services in 2021 was 509,000, down from 1.2m in 1986.

The survey also found that 80% of respondents would back the appointment of a woman as the archbishop of Canterbury, while two-thirds wanted an end to the system that allowed parishes to reject female leaders.

The survey also asked priests how slave trader memorials and statues should be dealt with: 15% backed the removal of such memorials, 14.1% said they should be left alone, while two-thirds said information should be added alongside them to highlight their links to slavery.

The survey analysed 1,200 responses sent out to 5,000 randomly chosen serving priests.

Responding to the survey on behalf of the church, the bishop of Leeds, the Right Rev Nick Baines, said: “The church is the church, and, as such, not a club. It has a distinct vocation that does not include seeking popularity. Repentance means being open to changing our mind in order that society should encounter both love and justice. And this means sometimes going against the flow of popular culture, however uncomfortable that might be.”

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Gotta have faith

— LGBTQ-inclusive spirituality books, part 1

by Brian Bromberger

At a time when evangelical/fundamentalist Christians are renewing their backlash against queer people, it’s imperative to remember there are other Christians appalled at this injustice and lack of compassion, who are supportive of their queer brethren, especially mainline Protestants and progressive Catholics.

Spurred on by the pandemic, these books mostly written by queer believers who want to supply succor and strength to those who have remained in the institutional church.

In this survey, many of these books are forming a nascent queer spirituality, which not only affirms LGBTQ people as loved by God and recognize the goodness and beauty of their experiences sexual and otherwise, but with spiritual practices helps them develop an existential well-being enabling them to weather oppression. We begin with Christianity, with other faiths in next week’s issue.

Called Out: 100 Devotions for LGBTQ Christians by E. Carrington Heath, $20 (Westminster John Knox Press)
Heath is a nonbinary Senior Pastor of the Congregational Church in Exeter, New Hampshire. These 3-5 minute devotions consist of a bible verse, a reflection, then a short prayer. Designed for progressive Christians, he covers topics such as coming out, relationships, chosen family, religious trauma, with such enticing titles as ‘Afraid of God?,’ ‘Alligators and Ice,’ ‘Open to Rearranging,’ ‘Compassion for the Bully,’ and ‘The Gifts of the Disagreeable.’ Perfect for a quick read right before you start your day for inspiration, strength, and fortification.

Queering Black Churches: Dismantling Heteronormativity in African American Congregations by Brandon Thomas Crowley, $29.95 (Oxford University Press)
Thomas, an African-American minister and a lecturer in Ministry Studies at Harvard Divinity School, provides an systematic approach for dismantling heteronormativity within African American congregations by first outlining a history of trans-and-homophobia in black congregations.

Then using the lenses of practical theology, queer theology and gender studies, he examines the theologies, morals, values, and structures of black churches and how their longstanding assumptions can be challenged. Drawing on the experiences of several historically Black churches that became open and affirming (United Methodist and Missionary Baptist examples) he explores how those churches have queered their congregations based on the lived experiences of Black Queer folks trying to subvert their puritannical ideologies.

Crowley wants to move beyond surface-level allyship toward actual structural renovation. At times theoretical, he winds up offering practical proposals for change that can be a valuable resource for students clergy, and congregants.

The Gospel of Inclusion, Revised Edition: A Christian Case for LGBT+ Inclusion in the Church by Brandan J. Robertson, $23 (Cascade Books)
An exercise in queer theology, Robertson is the Lead Pastor of an LGBTQ Missiongathering Christian Church in San Diego who makes a compelling case for queer inclusion based on an original contextualized reading of the six traditional passages referring to homosexuality in the Bible. He suggests that the entire thrust of the Christian gospel calls the church towards the deconstruction of all oppressive systems and structures and the creation of a world that celebrates the full spectrum of human diversity as honoring God’s creative intention.

Family of Origin, Family of Choice: Stories of Queer Christians by Katie Hays and Susan A. Chiasson, $21 (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)
A social scientist and a pastor asked their LGBTQ friends from church to help them understand how they navigate relationships with their affirming, non-affirming, and affirming-ish families of origin, even as they also find belonging in other families of choice. These are first-person personal stories and testimonies written by queer evangelical Christians as they come to terms with their sexuality and its impact on those closest to them. Useful for both cis-het and LGBTQ Christians who are interested in reconciliation and resiliency rather than walking away from the pain inflicted on them by the institutional church.

Queer Holiness: The Gift of LGBTQI People to the Church by Charlie Bell, $22 (Darton, Longman, and Todd)
Bell is a gay psychiatrist and ordained deacon in the Church of England. The book is a critique of that denomination’s treatment of queer Anglicans, but is also trying to develop a healthy LGBTQ spirituality that’s psychologically sound. Human experience, science, and reason are essential elements in developing a theology that celebrates God’s diversity in sexuality. “The Church has failed to provide good role models for LGBTQI people and we are wounding the body of Christ if we don’t repent and change our ways.” Bell is calling queer Christians to be prophets to the Church.

LGBTQ Catholics: A Guide To Inclusive Ministry by Yunuen Trujillo, $19.95 (Paulist Press)
Immigration attorney Trujillo has written a guidebook on how to start an inclusive LGBTQ ministry at your church, including the different types and levels, their purpose, their structures, the most common challenges, and best practices. She believes in a listening church and church of supporting people where they are, in whatever part of the journey they are in. She longs to see the day when queer Catholics will no longer need to ask, “Why stay?” LGBTQ Catholics are no longer invisible and dialogue has commenced. This seminal book focuses on Catholic parishes, but much of the guidelines would fit a church of any (or non) denomination.

LGBTQ Catholic Ministry: Past and Present by Jason Steidl Jack, $27.95 (Paulist Press)
A good companion book to Trujillo, Jack, who teaches religious studies at St. Joseph’s University in NY, provides a history of queer-friendly groups that have ministered to LGBTQ Catholics in the last 50 years, including Dignity (LGBT rights and the Catholic church), New Ways Ministry (support for queer priests and religious), Fortunate Families (straight allies/families), St. Paul the Apostle (a Paulist pro-LGBTQ parish in Manhattan), and Fr. James Martin, a Jesuit, whose ministry is trying to bridge the gap between the institutional church and the LGBTQ community. The book culminates in trying to create a new understanding of church that includes queer people and combats homo/transphobia.

God’s Works Revealed: Spirituality, Theology and Social Justice for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Catholics by Sam Albano, 29.95 (Paulist Press)
Albano is the national secretary of DignityUSA and lays out well-argued theological arguments critiquing the Catholic Church’s treatment of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Catholics as unjust and ignores their inherent dignity as God’s creation. He proposes a Catholic vision for same-sex marriage, a queer liberation theology, and an LGBTQI spirituality of suffering. He has some bold proposals but the schema is marred by its lack of inclusion of transgender Catholics, especially since he believes LGBTQI Catholics are called to be God’s friends in creating, loving, serving, and raising this world to new life.

I Came Here Seeking A Person: A Vital Story of Grace, One Gay Man’s Spiritual Journey by William D. Glenn, $29.95 (Paulist Press)
Glenn, a SF Bay area transplant, who began as a devout Catholic boy joining and later leaving the Jesuits religious order. He progresses go AIDS counselor and then later President of the SF AIDS Foundation, clinical psychologist, spiritual director, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, as well as with husband Scott Hafner, is the cofounder of its Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion. The book highlights key moments illustrating the above milestones in his life.

The title comes from Trappist author Thomas Merton, “suggesting the human journey is a series of seekings, the encounters we have with ourselves, others, and the divine presence.” He writes that the book isn’t a classical memoir, but “a recounting of two dozen+ encounters I have experienced that changed the direction of my life both in almost imperceptible ways and in ways that were utterly transformative,” whether it be a book, a person, a dream, an intuition, or a prayer experience. It’s evocative rather than full of biographical details.

It’s an honest, warts and all account of Glenn’s spiritual journey often moving and inspiring, integrating all his milestones through both a Jungian psychological lens, but also an Ignatian (founder of the Jesuits) spirituality prism too. The best chapters are the ones about AIDS and how it impacted his life. Also, Paulist Press, a mainstream Catholic publisher, is to be commended for producing four queer religious books in the last year, atoning for their previous absence of titles through the decades.

Gay Catholic and American: My Legal Battle for Marriage Equality and Inclusion by Greg Bourke, $26.00 (University of Notre Dame Press)
Compelling and inspirational memoir about information technologist Bourke, who became an outspoken gay rights activist after being dismissed as a troop leader from the Boy Scouts of America in 2012 and his historic role as one of the named plaintiffs in the landmark U. S. Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. After being ousted by the Boy Scouts, he became a leader in the movement to amend antigay Boy Scouts membership policies.

The Archdiocese of Louisville, because of its vigorous opposition to marriage equality, blocked Bourke’s reutrn to leadership despite his impeccable long-term record as a distinguished boy scout leader. Bourke describes growing up in Louisville, Kentucky living as a gay Catholic. With his husband Michael De Leon he has been active in a Catholic Church for more than three decades, bringing up their two adopted children in the faith. Bourke proud to be gay and Catholic was tenacious enough to fight for inclusion, that they are not mutually exclusive. Heartwarming and deeply affecting with the inside story behind the historic Obergefell case.

The Queer Bible Commentary, 2nd Edition, edited by Mona West and Robert E. Shore-Goss, $112 (SCM Press)
First published over a decade ago, it has been newly revised including updated bibliographies and chapters with new voices taking into account the latest literature relating to queer interpretations of scripture. Contributors, both English and American, draw on feminist, queer, deconstructionist, utopian theories, the social sciences and historical-critical discourses. The focus is both how reading from lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender perspectives affect the interpretation of biblical texts and how biblical texts have and do affect LGBTQ+ communities.

It’s scholarly but accessible to the educated reader with cutting-edge contributions exploring faith, gender, sexuality, bodies, activism, and queer rights. Probably definitive for now and yes very expensive, but it’s the type of book you will use continually whether it be for preaching, education, or your own spiritual enrichment. Extensive citations allows one to research topics and themes. Indispensable and monumental.

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians, Updated and Expanded Edition with Study Guide by Austen Hartke, $20 (Westminster John Knox Press) and Margins: A Transgender Man’s Journey with Scripture, $19.99 (Wm. Eerdman’s Publishing Co.)
Both these authors weave their personal trans experiences into reflections on well-known biblical stories, such as eunichs for Christ/Acts’ Ethiopian eunich, Jacob wrestling with God, sex worker Rahab and the Israelite spies, Ezekiel and the dry bones, the transfiguration of Jesus, and trans implications of the resurrection, not as a moment but a process. They reveal how these stories have helped shape their own identities. Both believe transgender Christians have unique and vital theological insights for the church, especially new ways to think about gender with clever chapter titles like “God Breaks the Rules to Get You In” and “The Best Disciples Are Eunuchs.”

They unpack the terminology, sociological studies, and theological perspectives that affect transgender Christians, contradicting the notion God makes mistakes. Hartke is the founder of Transmission Ministry Collective, an online community dedicated to the spiritual care, faith formation, and leadership potential of transgender/gender-expansive Christians.

He has an MA in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Studies. Kearns is an ordained priest, playwright, and theologian, who has given popular TED talks. Both books provide scriptural ammunition against religious critics who attack trans people as defying God’s binary creation of man/woman, promoting a more diverse, expansive view of the divine. “We know what it is to not fit in, to have to fight for a place for ourselves in the world and in the church.”

Help keep the Bay Area Reporter going in these tough times. To support local, independent, LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a BAR member.

Colors of Hope: A Devotional Journal from LGBTQ+ Christians, edited by Melissa Guthrie, $16.99 (Chalice Press)
Inspired by the colors of the original Pride flag, the book explores the themes of sexuality, life, healing, sunlight, nature, art and magic, harmony and serenity, and spirit matched with a color encompassing a weekly scriptural reading and a daily reflection or activity that reminds readers we are all children of God.

Then each section has faith sharing questions, making this book ideal for prayer, Bible, meditation, and recovery groups plus the wider non-LGBTQ church, since the whole project is inclusive and the broadest spirituality imaginable. Each of the contributors are part of Alliance Q, the queer affirming ministry of the Disciples of Christ (a very progressive Protestant denomination). “What color is hope? Hoping in color brings the joy, beauty, and power of the rainbow to life.” Hope is presented here as an embodiment of all faiths and an act of resistance.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!

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Divided Church of England to debate blessings for same-sex unions

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby attends the Church of England General Synod meeting in London, Britain, February 9, 2023.

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  • The assembly is due to meet from July 7 to 11
  • Synod to discuss blessings for same-sex couples
  • Church of England has refused to allow gay marriage
  • ‘This has not been an easy period’ – Bishop Sarah

The Church of England’s governing body will deliberate on how priests could carry out blessings for same-sex couples when it gathers in the cathedral city of York for a five-day meeting on Friday.

The assembly of bishops, clergy and laity – called the General Synod – is also due to discuss on Saturday how to protect vicars who might choose not to pray over the union of same-sex couples.

The CoE, which does not allow same-sex marriages in its 16,000 churches, in January set out proposals to let gay couples have a prayer service after a civil marriage, and apologised to LGBTQI+ people for the rejection and hostility they have faced. The synod voted in favour of the plans in February.

That caused a conservative group of Anglican church leaders from around the world to declare they no longer had confidence in the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, saying he had betrayed his ordination.

At home, however, there is pressure to go further, with some bishops publicly voicing support for same-sex marriages in churches.

Divisions have run deep for decades on how the centuries-old institution – mother church for the world’s 85 million Anglicans across 165 countries – deals with homosexuality and same-sex unions. Homosexuality is taboo in Africa and illegal in more than 30 countries there.

Welby, who is the spiritual leader of the wider Anglican Communion, called on bishops last year to “abound in love for all”. But he backed the validity of a resolution passed in 1998 that rejected “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture”.

Bishop Sarah Mullally told reporters last month: “This has not been an easy period for people right across a range of traditions and we know that has maybe been harder since February than it may have been before.”

She reiterated that the proposals would not change the doctrine that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that there would be protection for those who “on grounds of conscience” choose not to bless same-sex couples.

‘SLAP IN THE FACE’

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists have long been fighting for the same rights as fellow Christians who are heterosexual. Gay marriage has been legal in Britain for a decade.

“Faith is important to many LGBTQ+ people, which is why the Synod’s suggestion that blessings be provided in place of marriages (is) a real slap in the face to our communities,” Sasha Misra, Associate Director of Communications at LGBT rights group Stonewall, told Reuters via email.

Mullally said the CoE was absorbing different views on the complex matter, and that it would take time to produce the full proposals, which are expected when the synod meets in November.

Complete Article ↪HERE↩!