The Church of England has published the papers for next month’s meeting of its General Synod, which meets in York from 7-11 July. I have linked to them all below the fold, but these three, in different ways, give an outline of the business.
Outline of Synod Business [This is not totally up-to-date.]
Agenda July 2023 (GS 2296)
Report from the Business Committee (GS 2297)
Papers for Friday
Papers for Saturday
Papers for Sunday
Papers for Monday
Papers for Tuesday
Deemed and Contingency Business
GS Misc papers
Notice Papers
Under Sunday’s business, the first item is “ISB Recent Developments”. It is sad that I do not believe the veracity of William Nye’s linked paper. It seems like a desperate attempt to manage the media, and makes the two members of the ISB out to be the villains of the piece. It’s classical psychopathy, making the perpetrator appear to be the victim in all of this.
Para 15 of William Nye’s June 23 report states: ‘The Council is engaging [NB present tense] with victims and survivors’. This statement is a deliberate untruth, unless AC is trying to hide behind verbal sophistry to justify the statement by claiming that by engaging with plural two people they have fulfilled that statement, or even worse by claiming that by issuing a press release the AC has ‘engaged’ with 100s of survivors. Any such interpretations would surely be a deliberate attempt to deceive? The overwhelming majority of the more than 100 survivors with a personal relationship with either Jasvinder or… Read more »
The prayers of love and faith, as of 26th May, are interesting. Dear friends in Christ, we gather with N and N to celebrate with them their love, faithfulness, and commitment. We come to hear God’s holy word, and to surround N and N with our love and prayer as they seek the blessings of God’s kingdom in their life together… God of grace, whose beauty, ever ancient, ever new, sings through all creation: enfold your servants N and N with your encouragement, hope, and love. Fill them with the grace to rejoice always in their love for one another,… Read more »
The prayers of love and faith, as of 26th May: (contd) God of love and faithfulness, look mercifully upon N and N in their life together. Unite them evermore in your love. Keep them faithful to the commitment they have made to one another; strengthen them with every good gift; and let your peace reign in their hearts, now and always; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal God, without your grace nothing is strong, nothing is sure. Strengthen N and N with patience, kindness, gentleness and all other gifts of the Holy Spirit, so that they may fulfil… Read more »
The revised prayers of love and faith are above. I have very mixed views. Above all, it is still outrageous that the Church of England tells gay and lesbian couples that their marriages can’t be recognised as Christian marriages in church. It is almost certain that at least half of church members want priests to be allowed to marry gay couples. This could be done in an arrangement that respects the right to do it, and the right of a priest not to do it. Just what Scotland does. Instead, many gay and lesbian people (and their family, friends, colleagues)… Read more »
Where’s your evidence that “at least half of church members want priests to be allowed to marry gay couples”? If you’re referring to Jane Ozanne ‘survey’, that asked the question to people who self-identified as Anglican (which is about 50% of the population), not actual, regular church members/communicants. Amongst the latter the %age who want gay sex sanctioned by the church is way below 50%.
Hi Francis, To be fair I expressed a view and said “almost certainly”. You don’t have to be a ‘regular’ member to be a member of the Church of England. It’s the national church and any parish inhabitant, however infrequently they attend, has a right to membership. No I wasn’t referring to Jayne’s survey. But people who at some stage in the church year attend church are likely to reflect general public views on gay sexuality, which is now overwhelmingly accepted, as is gay marriage. I’d suggest that for most people who attend a parish church, there are many more… Read more »
You want evidence in favour of people wanting priests to be allowed to marry gay couples? OK then, how about: 1) The 2022 Ozanne Foundation found 72% of those under 50 who self-identify as Anglicans believe same sex marriage to be right. In case you haven’t noticed, hardly any under 50s self-identify as Anglican unless they have had a decent level of church involvement at some point. Are you suggesting that there are lots of cultural Anglicans among the under 50s deliberately avoiding church but somehow skewing the figures because they heavily outnumber the anti-LGBT marriage churchgoing under 50s? And… Read more »
Point 4:
Over 1,100 CoE priests with licence or PTO have indicated that they are prepared to conduct same-sex marriages as soon as it is legal for them to do so. (Equal : The Campaign for Equal Marriage in the CoE).