The questions to be asked at General Synod tomorrow evening have been published.
The notice paper contains the answers as well as the questions. The questions and answers will not be read out, but Synod members have the opportunity to ask supplementary questions.
The questions notice paper is often one of the more interesting papers to come out of a synod. In Q5 we learn that the teaching document now has a new name, it is called “Living in Love and Faith, Christian Teaching and Learning about Human Identity, Sexuality and Marriage”. Did I miss an announcement somewhere about that? Or is this the first official statement of the new name? In Q 76 it is finally acknowledged that the full text of Issues in Human Sexuality is not on the website, or anywhere else online. The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich… Read more »
Those of us on the various working groups for this document were told of the name change on 14 June and were also told that it was being announced then. I didn’t see a public announcement anywhere but that doesn’t surprise me as it is not exactly headline news! The terminology of ‘Teaching Document’ was clearly just a placeholder. However, the new name is begging for someone to unpack the various words chosen! And yes, the full text of ‘Issues’ (analysis of name needed there too?) would be useful, not least because words like ‘homophile’ are so bizarre now, I… Read more »
How often was “homophile” in use, even when “Issues” was written?
Sounds rather Victorian.
It certainly takes the cake, in the tournament of talking about something without being clear what it is that’s being talked about.
Is this why “Issues” was not on the website? (See Q76.) Because its language is bizarre and ridiculous?
The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to 1945 and reckons it became ‘dated’ in the 1960s, except in Christian contexts, because it emphasises feelings not activities… So its use was definitely deliberate.
By contrast, the Telegraph had a story about a month ago reporting that the Vatican had used the term “LGBT” for the first time. It noted, “The shift marks a departure from previous language used by the Vatican, which has in the past included ‘persons with homosexual tendencies’, while more recent documents have used the term ‘homosexuals’.” It then noted: “At a press conference Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the secretary general of the Vatican’s synod office, told reporters that the term was included because it had been used by young people and the church was following suit. “‘We are open. We… Read more »
They are very good at not answering the question!
Hmm, I wouldn’t say ‘very good’ – it’s usually just too obvious that they aren’t!