Rev John Dunnett has resigned his title of Honorary Canon at Chelmsford Cathedral following using controversial ‘Prayers of Love and Faith’ for same-sex couples during a Sunday service in November.
Dunnett can be national director of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) and chair of the Chelmsford Diocesan Evangelical Network (CDEN). He gave his title after a letter was sent to the bishop and the Cathedral dean in late November, expressing “sadness and profound concern at the choice” to supply the prayers.
The prayers are controversial because they’re the results of the Church of England’s now concluded Living in Love and Faith process that examined how the church should engage with the query of homosexuality, gender, relationships and marriage.
The Prayers of Love and Faith offer blessings for homosexual couples and might be used as part of normal services.
The letter was signed by over 150 clergy and lay officers, and said that including the prayers “stands at odds with biblical (and Anglican) teaching on marriage and sexual ethics” and had led to many “feeling disenfranchised from the life and worship of the Cathedral”.
The Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Rev Dr Jessica Martin, responded in late January and said that the choice to incorporate Prayers of Love and Faith would neither be reconsidered nor reversed.
Dunnett said that, while he remained committed to life and mission of the church within the diocese, he couldn’t in good conscience keep his title of Honorary Canon.
“I actually have not taken the choice to resign from being an Honorary Canon flippantly or enthusiastically,” he said.
“It has been a privilege to have carried this honour over the previous couple of years. However, the Dean and Chapter’s decision to make use of the Prayers of Love and Faith at Chelmsford Cathedral has alienated lots of us who hold to the historic and biblical Anglican doctrine.
“My fundamental objection, which is shared by members of CDEN, is that we consider the Prayers of Love and Faith to be endorsing something that’s contrary to the teaching of the bible.
“We don’t consider that a commendation from the House of Bishops on this matter has any authority whether it is at odds with Scripture.”
 Rev John Dunnett has resigned his title of Honorary Canon at Chelmsford Cathedral following using controversial 'Prayers of Love and Faith' for...){kind=link}