THE names of the seven men commissioned as “leaders” at a service in St Helen’s, Bishopsgate, last week (News, 29 July), should not being publicised out of concern about “repercussions”, the Rector of the church, the Revd William Taylor, said on Wednesday.
Mr Taylor told the Church Times that he was concerned that those that had been commissioned is perhaps sanctioned by bishops of their dioceses.
They had not been named outside of the churches and networks wherein they might work, and this was to “protect their ministries and that of their incumbents from repercussions”.
“In a few of the dioceses where these individuals are serving, there may be a well-founded concern that diocesan bishops misuse their power and take punitive motion to limit the ministry of the churches or commissioned leaders themselves,” he said.
A spokesperson for the diocese of London said on Wednesday that the diocese was “conscious of questions raised regarding the recent commissioning services which have taken place at All Souls Langham Place (News, 19 July) and St Helen’s Bishopsgate.
“Incumbents have been reminded before and following these services of their responsibilities to make sure that the law of the Church of England as expressed in canon and liturgy is observed, and that every one safeguarding requirements are fully met.”
Mr Taylor said that the parishes where the newly commissioned individuals “are serving their training posts” complied with C of E’s safeguarding procedures, and that “many” of those parishes were contributing to diocesan safeguarding costs despite withholding parish share.
He also provided more detail in regards to the “informal church family meals” that may happen at St Helen’s, and which the liberal Catholic network Affirming Catholicism had criticised, saying that they appeared to amount to “eucharistic services led by lay people in roles not recognised by the broader Church of England”.
These gatherings would “happen individually from formal Church of England services”, and could be led by the commissioned men only after the completion of the primary yr of service.
“The churches wherein the individuals are serving their training post are conscious that this will not be ideal, and that it’s an interim measure necessitated by the House of Bishops’ divisive LLF [Living in Love and Faith] proposals,” he said.
Last Friday, Mr Taylor had said in a video on the St Helen’s website that he expected that the lads could be ordained “less publicly, sooner or later, by Anglican bishops not in partnership with the unorthodox bishops of the Church of England”.
Asked on Wednesday whether he expected these ordinations to be recognised throughout the C of E, he said that he was confident that they might be accepted “by orthodox diocesan bishops”, and that “once a separate province has been established within the Church of England they can be welcomed into that province.”
Mr Taylor had said in his video that the House of Bishops had put the C of E on a “pathway of self-serving and divisive schism”, and had called for structural change to accommodate opponents of the introduction of blessings for same-sex couples.
The chair of Together for the Church of England, Canon Neil Patterson, said on Wednesday: “We are particularly saddened by the heated rhetoric that has grow to be increasingly present in relation to the modest pastoral arrangements provided through the Prayers of Love and Faith, that are a good distance in need of equal marriage.”
Canon Patterson said that Together, which is a coalition of several groups campaigning for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion, “look ahead to continued dialogue with the House of Bishops and good faith partners, as we work together in our shared mission”, and expressed a hope that “those with whom we disagree might recommit themselves to fruitful dialogue and finding a approach to be together within the Church of England”.
Speaking to the Church Times, Mr Taylor emphasised that not all the parishes for which individuals had been commissioned might be described as “wealthy”.
One of them had raised funds from other churches to give you the option to employ the one that had now been commissioned, he said, and a lot of the parishes were based in “areas of considerable social and financial need”.
Accounts filed with the Charity Commission show that St Helen’s received £4 million in income in 2022, almost £3.2 million of which got here from donations and legacies.
That yr, it gave £44,400 to the Diocesan Common Fund, and spent greater than £1.7 million on staff salaries, expenses, and pension contributions.
In comparison, St Anne’s, Limehouse, whose assistant minister Mervin Kissoon was among the many seven men commissioned last Wednesday, reported a complete income of lower than £200,000 in 2022.
A public post on the church’s Facebook page congratulating Mr Kissoon was deleted on Wednesday.
Last Wednesday’s service was not, Mr Taylor said on Friday, an official event of the Alliance — a coalition of Evangelical and Catholic opponents to the House of Bishops’ proposed plan of action — but highlighted the participation of the leaders of the Church of England Evangelical Council.
The director of the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic organisation Forward in Faith (FiF), Tom Middleton, who has been a daily signatory to Alliance letters (News, 5 July 2023; News, 1 September 2023), didn’t attend the service.
A spokesman said on Wednesday that FiF “continues to be a participant member of the Alliance on the idea that it’s vitally essential for the sacrament of Holy Matrimony to be promoted and preserved in its traditional form”.
As the commissioning service had taken place “outside of the auspices of the Alliance”, nevertheless, FiF had no further comment to make.
On Tuesday, a Church House spokesperson said: “The lead bishop for LLF, alongside the LLF staff team, are in conversation with different networks as a way to bring further detail to proposals to the House of Bishops in October.
“We are searching for to maneuver forward as one Church. That would require grace, realism and a recognition that, as Christians, we hold a wide range of views on these questions, all of that are held with integrity and all of which deserve respect.”
