Anglican Mainstream

Though many of us well may be tired of this issue by now, it is critically important to be up to speed in relation to the current status of events both in the UK and elsewhere. We continue to be told that all is well (essentially) and that things are ticking over nicely. Are they? Is it really business as usual?

For the record, I would like to highlight five historic moments which have happened of late, in reverse chronological order.

1. Clergy Civil Unions. 22 May 2007, the US. The civil union of the Revd Mark Lewis, NJ TEC priest, and the Revd K. Dennis Winslow, NY TEC priest, conducted by TEC priests, the Revd Tim Hall and the Revd Jacqueline Schmidt, at the couple’s New Jersey home.

2. Lay Civil Unions. 24 February 2007, the US. The ‘holy civil union’ ceremony of Cindy Meneghin and Maureen Kilian, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, New Jersey, officiated at by the Revd Phillip Dana Wilson. The two brides took each other ‘for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish’.

3. Clergy Civil Partnerships. 21 December 2006, the UK. The civil partnership of the Revd Christopher Wardale and Mr Malcolm Macourt in Newcastle. The couple then had a church service of blessing – technically, a ‘thanksgiving’ – whose leader and preacher was the former bishop of Durham and present Honorary Assistant Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, David Jenkins.

The Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, made the following response in his circular letter to his clergy. ‘I shall be very sorry if members of the clergy, by holding services of blessing or near equivalent, force me to make disciplinary enquiries. If clergy decide to enter a civil partership they are thereby putting me in a new situation in which my own integrity as a diocesan bishop, and my collegial position within the House of Bishops, strongly suggest that I should follow the process thus recommended. I fully understand that some people feel bound in conscience to disobey the clear and offical teaching of the Church on these matters.’ Quotation from Changing Attitutes – CA – ‘Newsletter’, January 2006, No 34.

4. Lay and Clergy Civil Partnerships. November 2006, the UK. According to Changing Attitude, 46 same-sex couples have registered in 15 dioceses, including 2 ordained lesbians, 36 ordained gay men, 6 lay lesbians and 31 lay gay men. CA ‘Newsletter’, November 2006.

5. Same-Sex Services of Blessing. 2006, the US. Same-sex services of blessing are presently being conducted in dioceses in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Long Island, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont and Washington. CA ‘Newsletter’, November 2006.

Either we can be honest about this, stop the essentially unsuccessful, corporate denial, dissembling and playing for time, and concede (another) defeat. The Gay Cause has won yet again! And from their point of view, it is high time as well. This means almost the world to so many. Who would not empathize with them?

Given the present state of affairs, at this rate it is simply a matter of time. Before you know it, your parish and diocese – or mine – will see the public introduction and acceptance of ‘alternative’ clergy families. Sarah and Elizabeth – or Joe and Peter – will be just like you and me, ‘boringly normal’. They work hard, raise kids, struggle with their weight, enjoy retail therapy, do the best they can with what they have. But alas, they are not just like other clergy couples. Something else has been smuggled in, the sexual relationship ‘that dares not speak its name’. However, it will be business as usual, given how things operate these days. Why? For a start, the public facade of such relationships gives little away. As we are still rather ‘Victorian’ in relation to sex, we do not feel comfortable thinking about or discussing what happens sexually in bed – or elsewhere – for anyone. Moreover, we value privacy and hate to be seen as nosy or inquisitive, negative or judgemental. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, probably both Sarah and Elizabeth, or Joe and Peter, will be very fine, decent people. Even though we may not feel comfortable even thinking about their sexual relationship, such scruples will be overwhelmed by their obvious humanity, what lovely people they are. And at the end of the day that will prove the material point for too many of us.

For the rest of us, is this what we really want?

Lisa Severine Nolland
16 June 2007

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