“WHERE, amongst our bishops, are those with the courage to act from love?” the Dean of Bristol, the Very Revd Mandy Ford, asked on Sunday, because the House of Bishops prepares to finalise decisions on the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process.
She joined the Dean of St Edmundsbury, the Very Revd Joe Hawes, who — alongside organisations campaigning for greater inclusivity for LGBTQ+ people — last week called on the Bishops to vary their minds (News, 11 December).
On Tuesday, the Bishops are resulting from confirm decisions announced in October, which might effectively forestall the introduction of stand-alone services of blessing for same-sex couples and maintain the present ban on clergy entering same-sex civil marriages (News, 17 October).
Groups against any change to the Church of England’s current position have also made their voices heard, albeit behind closed doors. On Friday, the administrators of the Alliance — a network of church organisations against the changes brought by the LLF process — wrote to the Archbishop-designate of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, and other members of the LLF programme board.
The letter, seen by the Church Times, says that the Alliance is “grateful” for the choice made in October, and confirms that, in consequence, the administrators were “glad to give you the option to pivot the Alliance Campaign”.
The letter refers to those calling on the Bishops to take a special path. “We can only imagine the pressure that this will likely be placing on you, and we pray for you as you meet to verify the selections that were made in October,” the letter says.
In the letter, the administrators of the Alliance, chaired by the chief executive of the church-planting Revitalise Trust, the Revd Sarah Jackson, also express “concern” that a “pathway towards same-sex marriage for clergy” was developing out of those decisions.
A recent “dialogue group” is being proposed, they are saying, and “a few of what has been said” seems to point that this group is effectively “a steering group with a mandate to bring to General Synod a timeline for the legislative process to explore same-sex marriage for clergy.
“We would have serious concerns if what was agreed in October now appeared to indicate a clearer pathway towards same-sex marriage for clergy than is useful or possible for the Church presently. Indeed, if such a steering group was introduced because the agreed way forward, we’d haven’t any option but to return to our original Alliance Campaign.”
The Alliance has previously issued warnings that a “de-facto parallel province” can be created within the Church of England if the LLF process progressed without the synodical processes that the Bishops now seemed poised to impose (News, 27 June 2024).
Owing to the requirement of a two-thirds majority, it currently seems highly unlikely that any further changes will likely be passed by the General Synod.
PREACHING in Canterbury Cathedral on Sunday, Dean Ford said that she hoped that the bishops would hear her words on the place of gay clergy within the Church of England.
“What I see are parishes up and down the country where gay clergy are preaching the gospel, visiting the sick, and celebrating the sacraments. I see gay clergy running foodbanks and warm spaces. I see gay clergy in prisons and hospitals, in among the most demanding ministries within the church. I see gay clergy leading Cathedrals, with creativity, wisdom, and humility. I see heralds of the Kingdom. I see the Kingdom breaking out,” she said.
In a sermon preached in St Edmundsbury Cathedral on 7 December, Dean Hawes made the same plea to the Bishops. He and Dean Ford, he said, had been “closely involved” with the LLF process, and believed that the time had come, “as those that have lived and breathed this often toxic air, to talk to a Church we love, but of which we now have come near despair”.
During the LLF process, those that believed in full inclusion had “pussyfooted around . . . in an effort to make compromise with those that imagine this to be unscriptural, ungodly, unnatural”, he said.
This had resulted in services “which definitely aren’t weddings, where the priest doesn’t actually bless, but in a mealy mouthed compromise, form of asks God to bless. And which, incidentally, apparently aren’t to be too celebratory in order to not frighten the horses.”
The blessings, often known as the Prayers of Love and Faith, will not be allowed to be utilized in stand-alone services, but may be used inside scheduled worship.
Dean Hawes also took aim at the foundations stopping priests from entering same-sex civil marriages — “marriage which individuals like me feel called to, long for, will not be allowed to enter into”, he said.
“Ordinands have waited and waited, and a few haven’t been in a position to be ordained. In previous years those brave few who defied the Church and got married anyway lost their licences: which implies homes and stipends and communities. And the threat still hangs over us.”
Addressing the Bishops directly, he said: “Enough is enough. You may reflect the divisions within the Church, but unlike the Church, you’re called to leadership.
“You have a narrow and shutting window wherein to steer the Church to a spot wherein it may well breathe out this toxicity of institutional discrimination and breathe in something good and life-giving.”
Referring to threats that parts of the Church would go away, he said: “We can hold together, without rickety structures of exclusion.”
Also addressing the Bishops, Dean Ford said: “You have gay neighbours, gay children, gay colleagues at work and gay priests here in your Cathedral and beyond.” Some were called to celibacy, but not all, she said.
“I think God has called me to faithful, everlasting, stability of life with one other woman. And that lifestyle bears fruit, I humbly imagine.”
