Global South urges Church of England to pull back on gay bishops

Left: Rt Rev Robert Patterson

Nine primates urge the House of Bishops to rethink gay partnered bishops

George Conger? in Anglican Ink
January 12, 2013

The Global South Coalition of Anglican Primates ? representing a majority of members of the Anglican Communion ? has urged the House of Bishops of the Church of England to rescind its decision to permit clergy in gay civil partnerships to be appointed to the Episcopate.

By allowing partnered gay clergy to become bishops, the Church of England was jeopardizing the lives of Anglicans in majority Muslim countries, who would become targets of rage from extremists who would not appreciate the distinction being drawn by the House of Bishops between sexually active gay bishops and bishops who had entered a legal relationship defined by sexual activity, but who would nonetheless refrain from sexual activity.

Signed by nine archbishops, the statement follows responses from the Archbishops of Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria last week decrying the initiative.

The explosion over gay civil partnerships appears to have been an ?own goal? on the part of the House of Bishops of the Church of England.? The Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Rt. Rev. Robert Paterson ? who had been charged with leading a committee investigating the question ? has stated the matter was taken out of his committee?s hands by the House of Bishops executive committee.

The final statement released on 20 Dec 2012 was not in exact accordance with the recommendations of his committee.? He noted the bulk of the business of the meeting had been devoted to the women bishops question and the civil partnership issue was not given a thorough hearing.? What was adopted was a holding statement -- non-answer driven by legal advice that would satisfy parties until the final decision was made later this year.

In their letter, the Global South said their problem with the statement arose from the bishops abdication of responsibility on this issue with their clergy.

would ?widen the gap? with its sister churches in the Anglican Communion

??There is already an ambiguity regarding civil partnerships per se. We learnt that most civil partnerships, according to the Office for National Statistics in the UK, take place among the most sexually active age group. In addition dissolutions of civil partnerships are now increasing especially in the last few years. This puts into question the motives behind this civil partnership and adds to our confusion in the Global South.?

They noted that when the Church of England allowed civil partnerships in 2005, they said that ?The House of Bishops does not regard entering into a civil partnership as intrinsically incompatible with holy orders, provided the person concerned is willing to give assurances to his or her bishop that the relationship is consistent with the standards for the clergy set out in Issues in Human Sexuality.?

The Global South archbishops asked, ?Now, with allowing candidates for episcopacy to do the same, to whom should they give assurances? Clarification on this point is needed.?

?Sadly, both the decision to permit clergy to enter civil partnerships and this latest decision which some call it a ?local option,? are wrong and were taken without prior consultation or consensus with the rest of the Anglican Communion at a time when the Communion is still facing major challenges of disunity.?

Church doctrine and discipline should not be crafted by lawyers or bureaucrats, they argued. ?The Church, more than any time before, needs to stand firm for the faith once received from Jesus Christ through the Apostles and not yield to the pressures of the society.?

Source: http://contact-online.blogspot.com/2013/01/global-south-urges-church-of-england-to.html

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