Last week Lambeth Palace confirmed that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Justin Welby, together with the Archbishop of York and “many other bishops” of the Church of England not consider the Church of England’s teaching on the subject of sexual intimacy.
In an interview with Alastair Campbell for the Rest is Politics Podcast, Justin Welby revealed that where he and the opposite bishops “have come to is to say that each one sexual intercourse needs to be inside a committed relationship, whether it’s straight or gay. We’re not giving up on the concept sex is inside marriage or civil partnership. We’ve recommend a proposal that where people have been through a civil partnership or a same-sex marriage under the 2014 Act, they need to have the ability to come back to a church for a service of prayer and blessing.”
A subsequent statement from Lambeth Palace confirmed that, “his pondering has evolved through the years through much prayer and theological reflection – particularly through the Living in Love and Faith process – and he now holds this view sincerely. It reflects his commitment to continuing to welcome, love and include LGBTQ+ people more fully within the lifetime of the Church.”
Despite a number of headlines on the contrary, the true news is that this statement has not, within the most important, caused an uproar or calls for his resignation.
This could also be as a consequence of the superb media management by Lambeth Palace – the Archbishop released a ‘personal statement’ the day before announcing the ‘recent’ discovery that his great-great-great grandfather was “an owner of enslaved people.” This filled up the secular papers’ religious column inches, leaving little space to comment on the later story.
The Lambeth Palace Statement also coincided with a gathering of the House of Bishops – making it hard for the orthodox bishops to protest publicly and for the Alliance, the informal network of orthodox Anglicans within the Church of England, to coordinate a response.
Or it might be just that it didn’t come as a surprise.
The language utilized by Lambeth Palace got here straight out of Justin Welby’s speech to the bishops on the Lambeth Conference in 2022, where he described those that had moved away from traditional teaching in these terms:
“They haven’t arrived calmly at their ideas that traditional teaching needs to vary. They should not careless about scripture. They don’t reject Christ. But they’ve come to a distinct view on sexuality after long prayer, deep study and reflection on understandings of human nature.”
And his interview with Alastair Cambell echoed his dismissive attitude at Lambeth to those that upheld traditional teaching. At Lambeth he said, “For the big majority of the Anglican Communion the normal understanding of marriage is something that is known, accepted and without query, not only by Bishops but their entire Church, and the societies through which they live.”
In the interview with Alastair Campbell, he repeated his completely unfounded suggestion that those that held to this teaching, not only did so unquestioningly, but in addition “want the death penalty for people who find themselves gay.”
It is hardly surprising then, when he proclaims publicly that he’s one among the spiritual, thoughtful, prayerful people, relatively than the unquestioning, ignorant individuals who apparently want to live in a society where gay people needs to be killed.
The orthodox who remain face a difficult balancing act.
The Alliance’s last letter set out each their strengths and their weakness. They represent “2360 clergy whose churches currently represent 42% of the Church of England’s average Sunday attendance and 53% of all under eighteen-year-olds inside the Church of England,” but in addition they acknowledge that while they might have the ability to form a de facto province within the Church of England – without transferred episcopal oversight they can’t offer any type of episcopal ministry inside that province. So, they’re still depending on the House of Bishops to supply them proper pastoral provision.
And that might also be a reason for not calling for the Archbishop of Canterbury’s resignation. Welby, with all his faults, has said over and another time that he desires to keep the orthodox within the Church of England. His successor could have other ideas.
The majority of the Anglican Communion have, nonetheless, had enough. They rejected the Archbishop of Canterbury’s leadership and authority months ago. As the GSFA said in July:
“The Church of England, has set itself to cement its departure from the historic faith by liturgical change. There can subsequently now be little doubt that the Mother Church of the Communion has forfeited her leadership role in the worldwide Communion and that the legacy ‘instruments of unity’, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the opposite instruments over which he presides, (the Primates Meeting, the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council) are all compromised.”
Many within the United Kingdom have done the identical, leaving the Canterbury-aligned structures and planting latest churches. Nearly 100 churches have already gathered together within the rapidly growing, Gafcon-authorised Anglican Network in Europe.
Or it’d just be that, having degraded the authority of his office and rejected the authority of God’s word, nobody is definitely occupied with his personal opinion.
