THE General Synod shall be asked next month to commit to examining what legal safeguards and structures are needed to forestall opponents of blessings for same-sex couples from leaving the Church of England.
The co-lead bishops for the Living in Love and Faith process — the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, and the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow — write on this week’s Church Times that “a reset” is required, and call for “reconciliation and bridge-building” between opposing factions.
The bishops, who’ve “differing views on relationships and sexual ethics”, will bring a set of “commitments” before the Synod when it meets at Church House, Westminster, next month, that are intended to “form the idea for a settlement that enables as many individuals as possible to stay throughout the Church of England”.
They write: “These commitments will honour the votes already taken by the Synod and the final sense of direction, while also inviting the entire of the Synod to make a commitment to the principle of being a broad Church wherein different views aren’t just accepted but honoured as a part of what it means to be the living, dynamic, and exquisite body of Christ.”
Furthermore, the commitments “may even commit us to an in depth examination of legal safeguards and appropriate structures that can enable as high a level as possible of unity and communion within the Church, while providing the reassurance needed for those concerned by the changes. . .
“They also acknowledge that more time shall be needed to agree the main points of a settlement, while doing all we will to make sure that that is in place before the subsequent elections to the Synod, thus ensuring that the elections aren’t shaped by this one issue alone.”
Read the article here.
