Bishop orders probe of 'marriage' by gay clerics
Posted: Monday, June 16, 2008, 8:14 (BST)
A leading Church of England bishop ordered an investigation on Sunday into the blessing of two gay clergymen held in a London church in May.
Already civil partners, the Reverend Peter Cowell and the Reverend David Lord, who was ordained in New Zealand, exchanged vows in a service at St Bartholomew the Great, one of London's oldest churches, on May 31.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that the priests had exchanged rings and vows.
"Services of public blessings for civil partnerships are not authorised in the Church of England or the Diocese of London," the bishop of London, Richard Chartres, said in a statement.
"I will be asking the Archdeacon of London to investigate what took place at the church of St Bartholomew the Great."
The 77 million-member Anglican Communion, a global federation of national churches, has been in upheaval over the issue over homosexuality and the blessing of gay unions in recent years.
Church of England guidelines require clergy not to bless such partnerships, but the Reverend Martin Dudley, who carried out the service at St Bartholomew the Great, maintains he did not break any rules.
"It wasn't a marriage as you can't marry two men - it was a celebration of the civil partnership of the two people that were involved," Dudley told Reuters.
"It wasn't intended to be provocative. When two men who have committed themselves to the church ask for a blessing why should we should we turn them away?"
But a Church of England spokesman said the ceremony appeared to contravene those guidelines.
"It is to be hoped that, on reflection, it will be recognised in the wider Anglican Communion that the reported events appear to contravene the terms of the Bishops' 2005 statement, and do not represent any change in Church policy," the spokesman said.
In 2003 the Episcopal Church, the US branch of the worldwide Anglican community, consecrated Gene Robinson, the first bishop known to be in an openly homosexual relationship in more than four centuries of church history.
Earlier this month Robinson entered into a civil union with his longtime partner Mark Andrew at a private ceremony in New Hampshire.
A group of Evangelicals within the Church of England, Reform, warned that the Church following the controversial path of the US Episcopal Church.
"The Church of England now faces the same sort of division as the Episcopal Church of the USA," the group said in a statement. "Our only hope of preventing this is for bishops to exercise swift and clear discipline. Unless this happens, the floodgates of indiscipline will open.
"There is no longer any room for carefully constructed statements designed to hold everyone together in an uneasy truce.
"Schism in the church is being caused not by orthodox believers but by clergy pursuing a liberal agenda."
In July the Anglicans are due to gather for their once-a-decade Lambeth Conference in Britain.
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The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Monday, June 16, 2008, 22:56 (BST)
Well, we all know that this situation is going to get worse. After all, Paul, Peter and John had the Hoy Spirit reiterate God's word on homosexuality in the Torah, in Leviticus - if you want chapter and verse, check it out - Lev 18 v 22, L. 20 v 13. But we still live in the Age of Grace, with the restrainer yet in the world - imagine if He wasn't!
But we know that Satan is also an angel of light and the father of lies, and he even blinds the elect and being an ordained clergyman is no protection. The only thing that can refute the lies and confusions of political correctness is the Word of God. And, thus, the only way to protect the TRUE church, (not the RCC, but the Bride of Christ, as described in Revelations - God's chosen, not man's - nor ANY OTHER particular denomination) is to watch and pray, and keep stating the Truth - that is, The Way, The Truth and The Life, Yeshua - to the world in our belief and our daily lives!
Therefore, such actions and ministries in the Anglican Communion, especially, need to be strictly and scriptually dealt with by the ecclesiastical authorites, to retain it's credibility to its congregants and to the world. But they won't as they try to show two faces to us. Christians need to learn to love the sinner, but hate the sin, and know the difference. The sinner, self-professed Christian or otherwise, needs to turn away from their sins and live in the Spirit of Grace, as Paul did, although he was plagued by his thorn in the flesh, as we are. We all stumble and fall, but we have an advocate in Heaven for us, and propitiation for sin - forgiven 7x70 a day, as Yeshua told Cephas. But we don't deliberately rub God's nose in it, just because we want our own way, and so publicly as these 'priests' did. The RCC dealt with its paedophiles, publicly, to it's dubious credit (though it took some work at getting them to do so!), and the C of E needs do the same. If people need to be sacked, then they need to do it! And what a time for this to occur - just before the Lambeth Conference in London! True Christianity is under attack, and we need to pray together and STAND - all denominations! But clean our own house out, before the Lord does it.
Editor, you may, of course, cut bits of this out, or even not publish, due to possible 'political uncorrectness' or something similar, but much of my comment is of public record worldwide, and can, and does hurt Christianity. I am writing only what many may be thinking or feeling, so I leave it in your hands and God's Will. Many blessings!
Chris Maguire, Ventnor, IW, UK
Added: Monday, June 16, 2008, 16:57 (BST)
This was not a wise move. They should have known something like this would just cause a media storm. Its not the kind of media storm we should be creating because that doesnt glorify Christ. It just makes people confused when they look to the church for guidance. Ithink the archbishop of canterbury needs to be much more firm with his flock abuot what is sin and whats not. the Bible is so clear about homosexuality. Its a sin. of course we love the person but it doesnt change the fact that this kind of relationship is not holy or true in the eyes of God. The US church has lost so many members since it started embracing homosexuality. I hope the necessary measures will be taken to stop blessings like this happening again before it breaks our church apart too.
Hazel, Coventry
Added: Monday, June 16, 2008, 10:23 (BST)
Legalization of gay marriage in California is a good news for GLBT. One of my friends, who found her another part on the online community BiLoves, decided to get married recently. Hope they have a great marriage life.
Bessica, New York, U.S.
