Q 46 Joanna Monckton to ask the Chairman of the House of Bishops
As the Church of England is “episcopally led and synodically governed”, why did the House of Bishops not consult with the House of Laity and the House of Clergy before declaring that priests in civil partnerships who live in accordance with the Church’s teaching on human sexuality could henceforth be considered for episcopal appointment, as reported in the statement issued on 4 January 2013?
Answer from the Bishop of Gloucester on behalf of the House of Bishops’ Working Group on Sexuality
The House of Bishops issued its 2005 pastoral statement without prior consultation of the other two Houses and adopted a similar approach when clarifying one implication of it last December.
Q 47 Simon Butler
In the recent debates on same-sex marriage in the House of Lords, Lords Spiritual have spoken of the bishops’ historic and present support for the legislation enacting Civil Partnerships. In preparation for the forthcoming debate in Synod on Mr John Ward’s Private Member’s Motion on the registration of Civil Partnerships will the House of Bishops:
(a) take time to consider how best that support can be shown in the life of the church; and
(b) during the course of that forthcoming debate report to this Synod its conclusions?
Answer from the Bishop of Gloucester
In principle, yes, though that assumes that the Business Committee will be willing to give the House time to think through the implications of the same sex marriage legislation and consider the recommendations of the Pilling report before that private member’s motion is scheduled for debate.
Q 48 Judith Maltby
The House of Bishops’ Advice to the Clergy (GS 1449B, 2002) on the re-marriage of divorced persons states “While it would be unreasonable to expect that the couple should not even have known each other during the former marriage(s), was the relationship between the applicants – so far as you can tell from the information made available to you – a direct cause of the breakdown of the former marriage?” What is the position of the House of Bishops on the conduct of marriages in church in cases in which one or both of the couple has a former civil partner still living?
Answer from the Bishop of Gloucester
The House has given no specific consideration to this issue.
Wow. The answer to question 48 is pure dynamite.
Permit me to paraphrase the Bishop of Gloucester’s answer to Joanna Monckton’s Q 46: “We didn’t care about the opinions of the clergy and laity in 2005, so why should we give a fig about them in 2012?”
And Pope Francis wants to stand with the Church of England defending traditional marriage. What a hoot. You couldn’t make this up if you wanted to.
A waste of space. I’ve been trying to get the bishops and others understand about lgbt from my own life perspective since before I was ordained 35 years ago. Then found us a bit of dilemma before I was ordained – not to mention after – they realized we are’nt quite invisible. Nor was my partner’s elderly bed-ridden mother who came to live with us, occasioning comment and consternation, as if this was a sin ! The sin is in being seen to be together and to matter greatly (significantly) to each other. But the cruelty of treating two young… Read more »
How can the Bishops say anything about the Church’s teaching on human sexuality when it has none?
“defending traditional marriage” — but it could be argued that gay marriage is the best shot in the arm that traditional marriage has got for a long time.