Conclusion of Living in Love and Faith ‘not a full stop’ William Nye says

THE conclusion of Living in Love and Faith (LLF) is “not a final full stop”, the secretary-general of the General Synod, William Nye, has said.

After a web-based meeting last week, the House of Bishops issued an announcement declaring that the LLF process can be dropped at an end this yr (News, 16 January).

The decision had elicited “innumerable responses of hurt and anger from across the Church”, the leaders of the Together for the Church of England campaign said.

The agenda for next month’s meeting of the General Synod was published on Wednesday. It includes the text of the Bishops’ motion on LLF, during which they “recognise and lament the distress and pain many have suffered throughout the LLF process, especially LGBTQI+ people”.

The motion confirms that the LLF programme, and related Synod motions, “will conclude by July 2026” — in other words, with the passage of the motion. Other members of Synod are capable of table amendments to the Bishops’ motion.

This was “not a final full stop” on the discussion of issues related to sexuality, Mr Nye, said on Wednesday.

Rather, it was the Bishops proposing “that this chapter of labor ought to be drawn to a conclusion”, he said, and recognising that there have been “necessary issues that may proceed to be addressed through the establishment of a working group”.

The Bishops plan to ascertain a recent group to proceed discussions on the method by which stand-alone services of blessing for same-sex couples is perhaps introduced, alongside the potential of removing the present ban for the clergy on getting into same-sex marriages.

Consultation will even happen on the possible need for “pastoral episcopal provision” for opponents of any changes, the Bishops’ statement says.

“We imagine now we have fulfilled, albeit imperfectly, the February 2023 General Synod motion (News, 10 February 2023) as best we will given the range of views across the Church of England,” the Bishops write.

In an ad clerum after the choice of House of Bishops was announced, the Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, said that, while he continued to imagine “that the Church is on irreversible journey towards the greater acceptance of LGBT+ people . . . , it is obvious that the steps which have already been taken within the LLF programme have gone so far as goes to be possible in the meanwhile.”

Bishop Chessun said that he was considering “a variety of practical steps”, which were prone to include the appointment of LGBTQ+ “chaplains or advocates”, who can be “a source of support, encouragement, and advice for those with particular concerns”.

The chair and vice-chair of Together for the Church of England, an umbrella organisation of church groups campaigning for greater inclusivity, wrote in an open letter to the House of Bishops that the choice was in “the spirit not of Prophecy but of Procrastination”.

The letter, from the Vice-Dean of Bristol, Canon Neil Patterson, and an Oxford lay representative on the Synod, Professor Helen King, said that it was “not a time to despair”, but to “recommit anew to to a stronger and wiser Church that doesn’t hide behind legal formularies or fear of honest disagreement”.

They pointed to the Synod elections this summer (News, 2 January) as a chance to place same-sex marriage in church on the agenda. To be carried within the Synod, this may require two-thirds majorities in all Houses.