General Synod begins on Friday and it looks as if the “latest spirit of generosity and pragmatism” which Bishop Martyn Snow recently identified goes to be in brief supply.
Earlier this week, the orthodox grouping ‘The Alliance’ wrote an open letter to the Archbishops of York and Canterbury pleading with them, to not introduce standalone services of blessing for same-sex couples without following, “the lawful constitutional path to preserve the unity of the Church throughout the Anglican Communion.”
But it was not only the method that concerned them – The Alliance consider that introducing such services would “be a part of a schismatic move which departs from the teaching received and upheld not only by the overwhelming majority of the Anglican Communion (representing around 75% of the Anglican Communion’s 80 million members), the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches but additionally the overwhelming majority of other churches all over the world”.
The Alliance went on to suggest that if General Synod went ahead with the plan recommend by the bishops they might “haven’t any alternative but rapidly to ascertain what would in effect be a latest de facto ‘parallel Province’ inside the Church of England”.
This was fighting talk and maybe unsurprisingly their letter couldn’t go unanswered and one of the crucial senior bishops within the Church of England, the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, was given the duty.
In an open letter he questions The Alliance’s mandate, claims there isn’t a significant doctrinal change, and alleges there was “a really considerable consensus on the Lambeth Conference in 2022 about accepting different views on sexuality yet still walking together”.
It seems that identical to the Archbishop of Canterbury before him, Bishop Croft would somewhat forget that tons of of bishops boycotted the Lambeth Conference because they might not walk along with those that have departed from the teaching of the Church. It also seems to have slipped his mind that many who did attend were also very clear that they too couldn’t walk together.
The truth is, there was no vote at Lambeth and there was no opportunity for bishops to dissent from the party line espoused by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Bishop of Oxford could have forgotten the events of 2022, but surely he cannot have missed the more moderen statements from Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans, who between them represent about 75 per cent of the Anglican Communion. Again and again they’ve said that in searching for to vary the teaching and practice of the Church, the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury have forfeited their leadership role of the worldwide Communion.
In the sunshine of that global consensus, it’s each boastful and patronising for the Bishop of Oxford to suggest that, “Not a single one in every of these proposals subsequently amounts to a change within the Church of England’s doctrine of marriage.”
Bishop Croft went on accuse The Alliance of “catastrophising language” before doing a little catastrophising of his own in reference to the “de facto parallel Province”.
“I’m afraid,” he wrote, “this needs to be named for what it’s: a proposal for a deep and disproportionate schism within the lifetime of the Church of England and, surely, a proposal which can grieve Anglicans in every place.”
The gloves are off. There is a danger that other vital questions, won’t receive the eye they deserve because members of Synod are too distracted or despondent to take part in other debates.
But not all are resorting to catastrophic language. One member of the House of Clergy, who has asked to stay anonymous, read the Bishop of Oxford’s letter, and easily commented, “This may be very robust language indeed, I’m not looking forward to General Synod in any respect.”
Susie Leafe is director of Anglican Futures, which supports orthodox Anglicans within the UK.
