Senior Church of England bishop calls for gay union blessing services; Archbishop Welby faces boycott by Anglican leaders over plans to allow gay clergy to become bishop; Finnish Academic and English Bishop to lead Anglican-Lutheran Society; Wells & Wells Will Haunt Archbishop
Senior Church of England bishop calls for gay union blessing services
John Bingham in The Daily Telegraph – One of the most senior bishops in the Church of England has called for it to offer blessing services for gay couples in civil partnerships.
The Rt Rev James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool, broke ranks with the official Church line to call for it to consider offering weddings in all but name for same-sex couples.
Bishop Jones, like the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, comes from the evangelical wing of the church, which has been at the forefront of maintaining a traditional line on issues such as gay marriage.
But he said future historians would find it “extraordinary” that taking a strong line homosexuality is considered by many to be the “litmus test” of loyalty to true Christian teaching.
He questioned whether the current prohibition was a Christian approach, asking whether it was tenable for the Church to “deny the blessing of God to that which is just” any longer.
Liberals have long argued for the Established Church to offer religious blessings to couples forming civil partnerships but conservatives believe it would go against the teaching of the Bible Bishop Jones is by far the most senior figure to call for a radical rethink on the issue.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has signalled support for a softening of the Church’s line saying he would “prayerfully examine” his own position but has avoided being drawn into specifics.
Bishop Jones, who was widely praised for his landmark review of evidence on the Hillsborough disaster, is by far the most senior Anglican cleric to call for such a radical revision of policy on sexuality.
His intervention is all the more significant as he was once one of the staunchest opponents of condoning homosexuality in the Church.
He was one of a handful of senior figures who publicly urged the openly gay cleric the Very Rev Jeffrey John to stand aside from becoming Bishop of Reading in one of the most bitter episodes of Rowan Williams’s tenure as Archbishop.
But he later revised his opinion and personally apologised to the cleric, who is now Dean of St Albans.
The bishop, who will retire later this year, made his comments in his presidential address to the Diocese of Liverpool Synod.
Preaching from a text in Philippians which speaks of Jews and gentiles being equal members of the Church, he said: “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is embracing and inclusive.
“How has the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in spite of its Global reach become so alienating and exclusive?”
He went on: “Over the years I have shared with you my thinking about how the Gospel of embrace may be felt by those who are gay.” He continued: “If the Church now recognises Civil Partnerships to be a just response to the needs of gay people then surely the Church now has to ask the question whether or not it can deny the blessing of God to that which is just.”
But he stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, explaining: “I believe that there is a difference between heterosexual union and same gender intimacy and that it is appropriate to maintain that difference in the language we use.” Yet he added that historians in the 22nd Century would think it was extraordinary that “the litmus test of orthodoxy centred on whether or not one had a generous attitude to those who are gay.”
Archbishop Welby faces boycott by Anglican leaders over plans to allow gay clergy to become bishops
By Jonathan Petre, Mail on Sunday
• Furious archbishops from Africa and Asia planning to snub meeting
• New Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby calls for reconciliation
• Welby to be formally installed on Thursday
Traditionalist Anglican leaders are threatening to snub the new Archbishop of Canterbury in a furious row over gay clergy.
Conservative archbishops from Africa and Asia, who are among Anglicanism’s most senior clerics, are planning to boycott a meeting called by Archbishop Justin Welby that is scheduled to take place after his enthronement this week.
The leaders are flying in for Archbishop Welby’s formal installation service in Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday.
Archbishop Welby, the nominal head of the 70 million members of the worldwide Anglican Church, called the behind-the-scenes meeting in an effort to patch up divisions.
He is so concerned he has appointed the Church’s first ‘director of reconciliation’, Canon David Porter of Coventry Cathedral, to broker a peace.
But the conservative primates are so furious with Church of England plans to allow gay clergy in civil partnerships to become bishops that they are expected to boycott the gathering.
They are also unlikely to sit at the same table as their liberal counterpart from the United States, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who has already consecrated openly gay bishops.
According to leaked documents seen by The Mail on Sunday, at least three senior African archbishops have privately urged conservative colleagues to shun the gathering.
In the documents, the Primate of Kenya, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala, said he recommended that ‘we show our commitment to the Anglican Communion by being present for the service at Canterbury Cathedral . . . but do not participate in the “collegial time” being proposed by Archbishop Welby’.
He said the new Archbishop of Canterbury had ‘given us no clear indication of the matters for discussion’ and that primates ‘who have led the way in promoting false teaching’ will be welcomed by Dr Welby.
He said his views were shared by the Primate of Nigeria, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh, and the Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali, but sources said the African and Asian archbishops would not make a final decision about attending the meeting until this week.
Nine primates issued a statement last month condemning the Church of England’s bishops for declaring that gay clergy in civil partnerships could now become bishops – as long as they remained celibate.
Several African Anglican churches have said they would break off relations with the Archbishop of Canterbury if the Church of England appoints a gay bishop.
Last night, the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, became the most senior Church of England cleric to urge the Church to bless gay couples in civil partnerships.
Lambeth Palace declined to comment.
• Archbishop Welby will miss the inauguration mass of Pope Francis I on Tuesday because he is completing a ‘journey in prayer’ prior to his enthronment on Thursday.
Finnish Academic and English Bishop to lead Anglican-Lutheran Society
The Rev Dr Jaakko Rusama, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland and a previous General Secretary of the Finnish Ecumnenical Council, has been elected Lutheran Co-Moderator of the Anglican-Lutheran Society, and his Anglican Co-Moderator is to be the Rt Rev Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Woolwich.
They were both elected at the Society’s Annual General Meeting held in London, England, last Saturday, 9th March to succeed Bishop Jana Jeruma-Grinberga (Lutheran) and Bishop Rupert Hoare (Anglican).
The Society has members in 32 countries across the world, though the majority are found in Scandinavia and the Baltic region, Germany, the United Kingdom and North America. It was founded in 1984 to provide a forum in which members of Anglican and Lutheran churches could learn more about each other’s traditions and become better aware of the developing relationships between them in the wider ecumenical scene. It encourages its members to create opportunities for individuals and congregations to worship and study together, to make friendships, to support the witness and mission of local church communities, and to pray for the unity of the Church, especially between Lutherans and Anglicans worldwide.
Among other things, the Society organises international conferences. The most recent was last September when more than 60 theological students and people new to authorised ministry, both lay and ordained, from 16 countries from many parts of Europe and Africa, met with members of the Anglo-Nordic-Baltic Theological Conference to consider Christian Ministry in Tomorrow’s World. Next year’s conference in Hungary will be entitled ‘Fear not, little Flock’ : the Vocation of Minority Churches Today.
The membership is delighted that Dr Rusama and Bishop Ipgrave are willing help to shape and develop the Society’s activities during the coming years. The retiring Co-Moderators were thanked for their leadership and service over the past years by the Anglican President of the Society, the Very Rev Dr John Arnold. Bishops Jeruma-Grinberga and Hoare responded, ‘We thank God for the privilege of serving this remarkable Society which is, in its own way, a society of friends. We believe that it will continue, within the constraints of limited funds, to encourage prayer and practical work towards church unity. May God our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, continue to bless the Anglican-Lutheran Society and its members in the years to come.’
Wells & Wells Will Haunt Archbishop
David Virtue, writes on Virtue on Line – The Archbishop of Canterbury has appointed the Rev. Dr. Jo Bailey Wells, currently director of the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Duke Divinity School in North Carolina, as chaplain of Lambeth Palace.
Her primary focus will be for spiritual life at Lambeth Palace and for supporting the Archbishop’s pastoral and liturgical ministry. She was ordained in the first wave of female priests in England.
Speaking about her new position, Dr. Wells said, “I am honoured and delighted to be joining Archbishop Justin’s team at Lambeth as he takes on a heavy but exciting mantle. I look forward to supporting him personally and pastorally – above all by praying for his flourishing in that role – and so to facilitating the wider flourishing of God’s people in God’s church.” On the surface, it would appear that Dr. Wells is the perfect candidate for the job. She demonstrated that she supports the archbishop’s opposition to non-celibate gay and lesbian priests and gay marriage.
In a March 2010 story about the election of Mary Glasspool, a lesbian, as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles, Wells offered the following to Daniel Burke of Religion News Service, “The Episcopal Church, by its actions, is demonstrating that it no longer values its place under the historic headship of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and therefore the Anglican Communion.”
The confirmation of a second openly gay bishop is even more significant than the first, Wells added, since the consequences-widespread dissent in the communion and persecution of Anglicans in countries where homosexuality is reviled-are clear.
A number of American liberal Episcopalians, gay and pro-gay, believe her appointment is inconsistent with his appointment of a Director of Reconciliation. “So much for reconciliation – another TEC hater,” said one blogger.
Maybe. Their fears might be allayed if they knew she is married to the Rev. Dr. Sam Wells, vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. He served as a parish priest for 15 years in the US and spent 7 years in North Carolina where he was Dean of Duke University Chapel. He is also Visiting Professor of Christian Ethics at King’s College, London, and a non-residential theological canon at Chichester Cathedral. He has published 17 books, including works on Christian ethics and collections of sermons.