It has turn into a longtime tradition, within the run as much as the Church of England’s General Synod for various interested parties to publish open letters or articles setting out their position. This yr isn’t any exception.
With General Synod as a result of meet next week, three letters from the orthodox wing of the Church appeared yesterday, in what appears to be a coordinated try and influence the continued debates about human sexuality, biblical authority and church law.
The first to seem was from eleven orthodox bishops, who called on their colleagues to take the time to construct a “sufficient consensus in relation to doctrinal matters”. Such a consensus would require two thirds of every House of General Synod to vote in favour of the proposals – something which shouldn’t be currently likely. They raised concerns about “the impact on the coherence of the Church’s lifetime of moving ahead in a way that may create fundamental fragmentations at parish, diocesan and national levels”.
The second was an open letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, from an orthodox grouping, often known as ‘The Alliance’, claiming to represent 2,000 clergy, who’ve announced their intention “to determine what would in effect be a latest de facto ‘parallel Province’ throughout the Church of England”, if the blessings go ahead.
The Alliance, which include leaders from HTB, New Wine and Church Society, claim that the proposals for allowing stand alone services of blessing represents, “an extra departure from the Church’s doctrine”, and accuse the House of Bishops of reneging on their decision to follow the right legal processes.
The third ‘letter’ appeared on the web site of the Society of St Wilfred and St Hilda, an Anglo-Catholic grouping throughout the Church of England. It was less strident than the others and recognised “the toll that that is taking amongst LGBTQI+ Christians, who’re strongly present in so most of the parishes we’ve got been formed in and now serve”. Nonetheless, they seem to share similar concerns about, “the necessity for serious consideration of the theological work already being done by the Faith and Order Commission (FAOC) of the House of Bishops and, subsequently, of the implications of that work for doctrine and ecclesiastical law, that are essential to the Church’s mission”.
These letters are symptomatic of the continued attempts within the Church of England, the broader Anglican Communion, and lots of other denominations as they wrestle with the deeper theological questions raised by modern understandings of human sexuality. Others have sought to seek out a spot of compromise, but ultimately failed.
The Alliance have set out quite a lot of steps they plan to take – perhaps echoing the Church of England Evangelical Council’s Ephesians Fund and offers of Alternative Pastoral Oversight from senior orthodox leaders. They have also said they are going to “seek to cooperate with the opposite orthodox Provinces throughout the Anglican Communion”.
It is subsequently value noting that several of the signatories of their letter were present as observers or mission partners on the recent Global South Fellowship of Anglicans Assembly (GSFA). The Communiqué from that meeting reaffirmed their view that, “With the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury forfeiting their leadership role of the worldwide Communion,” a world reset is required. It also outlined the “practical steps” that GSFA has taken to create “a well structured home for orthodox Anglicans”.
This places The Alliance’s de facto province in a little bit of a dilemma. According to the GSFA Covenant, for them to seek out a proper home within the GSFA, they are going to require the permission of the Archbishops of York and Canterbury. If nothing else, these letters could have raised the stakes for the formal and informal debates in York which begin next week.
Susie Leafe is director of Anglican Futures, which supports orthodox Anglicans within the UK.
