See earlier article about yesterday’s House of Bishops meeting.
The House reviewed detailed updates from the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) working groups presented by Bishop Martyn Snow. After considered reflection on the complexity and depth of the proposed changes, it became clear that Bishops with views across the range of different perspectives agreed that it was unlikely all elements of the proposals would be sufficiently developed in time for Synod to make a decision in July.
They agreed to extend the timetable to ensure that all elements of the proposals are sufficiently developed for a decision to be taken on them as a whole. The intention is still to update General Synod in February, and bring further proposals to General Synod in July, but it is likely these will not be able to be formally put to a vote until a subsequent Synod. This will also give further time for consultations with Diocesan Synods and other networks.
Two reactions to this have been published:
Trusting in Love and Faith? A January 2025 Update by Helen King
Before a decision is made about same-sex marriage, perhaps the CofE should decide what God is, who Jesus is, who wrote the Bible and if the moon is made of green cheese. This should hopefully delay the LLF process until the present generation of LGBTQ people have died and gone to heaven – if there is such a place – which is debatable.
Thanks, that’s funny. But in all seriousness, the procedural and practical chaos and discontent of the LLF and PLF process is an obvious concomitant to the theological incoherence, poverty and confusion of the contemporary C of E. I don’t have a solution this, of course. If there is one, it may be Darwinian. Extinction of ideologies that fail to replicate, and survival of those which are fit enough to reproduce generationally. What that means and where it takes us, we will have to see.
I find the contrast between this process and Trump intriguing. Be careful what you wish for. Of course, under Trump, LGBTQIA people do not even exist, there are only males and females.
Trump certainly gets things done, even if they are not workable or misguiided. I can see why so many people admire him.
Please don’t get gender and sexuality mixed up. You can be happily and definitely male (gender) and at the same time gay (sexuality). Take it from me.
What’s stopping a diocesan bishop, with the support of their bishop’s council and diocesan synod, getting on with all the things that the House of Bishops and General Synod are delaying?
The fact that they’d alienate even more of their diocese than already? Parish share slumps, relationships deteriorate, clergy resign, disciplinary action initiates? Who knows.
Based on Charlie’s account above, the bishops who are in favour of clergy in same-sex marriages are delaying because they want to offer conservatives a deal: Delegated Episcopal Ministry in exchange for both PLF and allowing clergy to be in same sex marriages. They fear that if they let conservatives have DEM now (in exchange for PLF) then they will never get acceptance of clergy in same-sex marriages. In March 2023 Bishop Bailey-Wells tweeted a photo of Eeva John being given flowers at a meeting of the House of Bishops. In the background was a whiteboard which showed the list… Read more »
I used to put together multi-disciplinary teams. If I added a solicitor, I would expect them to handle the legal questions. At worst, they might need a few days to check case law. If I included a forensic accountant, I expected them to be an expert in their field. And so on. (And we always met our deadlines.) So when bishops have to get theological input from others, and it takes weeks and months, I find myself perplexed. It’s not the standard of expertise I used to expect – and receive – from a wide variety of other professions. Surely… Read more »
Kate all that is being released is one great big sham . You met your deadlines because you and your team were signed up to the process and your area of work required it.
The only logical conclusion from what is taking place here is that the House of Bishops wants to remain rooted to the spot, preserved in aspic, for ever and ever, Amen. And they have it down to an extremely fine art.
I suspect that you accepted the legal advice you were given even if it wasn’t the answer you wanted. Allegedly, many in the HoB don’t like the advice they have been given. Allegedly, many of them think they know better than their advisors and that better advice can be found if they ask again in a different way or ask different people.
A committee of experts who disagree with each other and don’t trust their advisors is not a team that will deliver quick results.
They’re so hopeless if you handed them your bus fare in the morning and asked them to look after it, they’d have lost it by home time. Hopeless but brazen with it, they’d blame you in some way for your walk home.
Hopeless and also obtuse. They think that gay people don’t have straight family members, friends and work colleagues who are as appalled with their endless equivocation as we are. It’s not just my queer friends who think I’m mad to bother with such an homophobic institution, my straight friends are if anything even more uncomprehending.