Anglican Mainstream

PARTICIPANTS and observers on both sides of the debates in the General Synod on homosexuality last week have agreed that they were conducted with civility. But they have drawn different conclusions about the outcome.

The Revd Paul Perkin, whose motion criticising the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Statement on civil partnerships was heavily amended by the Bishops, did not feel that the questions he had posed concerning marriage, the family, and the responsibility of clergy and bishops to adhere to the Church’s teaching on sexuality, had been addressed.

“I was addressing objective issues, and didn’t think, by and large, these were picked up,” he said on Tuesday. “My original motion hoped to ask the House of Bishops to review their statement, and to bring it back for discussion by Synod, but, in the amended version, they have agreed to keep it under review.”

Mr Perkin was not optimistic that the debate had moved anything on. But he acknowledged that joint support — for opposite reasons — of the amendment that declined to affirm that the pastoral statement had been balanced and sensitive had been “quite a serious statement from a coalition sending a signal to the House of Bishops”.

The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship charged opponents with using “emotional appeals” and “‘personal’ stories about homosexual couples’ love for each other making them no different from married couples”, as against “arguments based squarely on the Bible”. The result of the Synod’s debates had fallen short of the “clear public stand” for which many Christians had been hoping, it said.

Alison Ruoff, a member of the General Synod and of Reform, described some of the speeches on civil partnerships by clerics as “truly shocking” in a letter to The Daily Telegraph. She declared: “No longer is there any shame about anything. Descriptions of ‘loving partnerships’, including the mention of sex, were par for the course. The bishops sat there unmoved. Only ten years ago, clergy would have not only been disciplined but ‘unfrocked’ in such cases.” She described the Church of England as “rowing” to North America’s shores to join the “hopelessly liberal” Episcopal Church.

The Revd Mary Gilbert’s motion calling for lesbian and gay Christians to be accepted at every level of the Church “for the patterns of holy living to which they aspire” was equally heavily amended by the Bishops. She expressed some disappointment, but felt that the Synod was now in a different place.

“We knew we would have difficulty getting [the original motion] through. One thing I regret losing was the line: “That this Synod acknowledge the diversity of opinion about homosexuality within the C of E, and that these divergent opinions come from honest and legitimate attempts to read the scriptures with integrity,” she said on Tuesday.

“The tenor of the debate and the support before and afterwards spoke volumes about how much people wanted the debate moved on. We have more of a mandate now to keep asking about what is happening in the dioceses.”

Affirming Catholicism said it was pleased with an outcome that was “helping the body move in a more progressive direction, without alienating conservative sensitivities” — something to which one of its members, John Ward, had contributed with an emotional account of his experience as a gay Christian. Mr Ward received sustained applause for his courage in speaking.

He said afterwards: “Being an Anglican means learning to live respectfully with difference. I feel encouraged by the affirmation many have given to me as a gay man this week, and I am hopeful that the continued gracious dialogue will allow church members ultimately to reconcile their differences.”

Inclusive Church described it as “a good day for the Church of England”. Members of Synod were to be congratulated on the quality of the debates — characterised by honesty, charity, and generosity, said its president, the Revd Giles Goddard. “We hope that a review of the Pastoral Statement will begin soon. We hope, too, that it will take into account the urgent pastoral need for an authorised rite for asking God’s blessing on same-sex relationships.”

[Read here->http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=35885]

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