Archbishop will not use new prayer blessing for gay couples
The Archbishop of Canterbury will not use proposed new prayers to bless same-sex couples.
The Church of England earlier said it will offer blessings to gay couples but will not allow priests to marry them.
Justin Welby said he celebrates the change, but has a "responsibility for the whole communion".
Also on Friday, the Church issued a formal apology for the "shameful" times it had "rejected or excluded" LGBTQI+ people.
In contrast to Archbishop Welby's stance, the Archbishop of York has said he will offer the prayers which he believes puts the church in a "better place".
Earlier this week, bishops told the BBC the church will not change a teaching to allow priests to marry same-sex couples, but that it will offer "prayers of dedication, thanksgiving or God's blessing" to gay couples following a civil marriage or partnership.
Their proposal will be debated at the Church's equivalent of a parliament - the General Synod - next month.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in England and Wales since 2013, but when the law changed the Church did not alter its teaching.
Mr Welby told a press conference on Friday that he would "continue to pray for all those who come seeking prayer and to pray with love", including those who were gay, straight, or who had worries about their relationships.
"But because of my pastoral care and responsibility of being a focus of unity for the whole communion I will - while being extremely joyfully celebratory of these new resources - I will not personally use them in order to compromise that pastoral care," he said.
However, the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said he would conduct the prayers.
Mr Cottrell, who grew emotional while speaking at the press conference, said: "I'm really pleased it's changing for my gay friends," acknowledging that the change is not enough for some people.
"I wasn't expecting to get emotional but I am, because I think it puts the Church of England in a better place," he said, calling on those within the church who rejected the move to "hold together our unity".
Asked if he will offer blessings, unlike Mr Welby, he said: "Yes, I will. I mean, I completely support and understand Archbishop Justin's position, but his position is different to mine."
Further to go
On Friday, the Church of England also issued a formal apology for the times it had "rejected or excluded" LGBTQI+ people.
"For the times we have rejected or excluded you, and those you love, we are deeply sorry. The occasions on which you have received a hostile and homophobic response in our churches are shameful and for this we repent," it said in a letter.
"As we have listened, we have been told time and time again how we have failed LGBTQI+ people. We have not loved you as God loves you, and that is profoundly wrong. We affirm, publicly and unequivocally, that LGBTQI+ people are welcome and valued: we are all children of God."
Dr Steven Croft, the Bishop of Oxford, said the church has "further to go" on the issue and called for a change in its doctrine to allow gay marriage, becoming the most senior bishop in the Church of England to do so.
"As I've listened to the stories and experiences of LGBTQ+ people, all of my pastoral instincts pointed to finding a way of interpreting the Bible to allow for greater love and support, tolerance and the blessing of their partnerships", he said, adding that he looked forward to new pastoral guidance that will "enable our clergy to order their relationships according to their own conscience and allow them the freedom to enter into same-sex civil marriage."
More stolen prose from the Prince of Plagiarists. Not that anyone cares what Gene Vincent thinks about the issue. Anyone as terrified of his feminine side as Gene can’t afford to look too closely at sexual ambiguity in case he sees his own epicene and raddled features leering back at him…remember Prepuce O’Donnelly and the bike sheds at Cardinal Vaughan, Gene? Good job the caretaker turned a blind eye…
ReplyDeleteAnd course we all knew why he went blind…
Delete"Prepuce O’Donnelly" My God! If you are going to make up Irish names do so with something convincing.
DeleteSays the man who invented a character called Clint Tebbit…
DeleteHad a very productive evening trawling through old files on my last laptop but one - and have I got news for you, Gene? Boy oh boy - all sorts of stuff from the past: that ludicrous Close up on a Phenomenon, with the bogus interviews with Libby Purves and Christopher Ricks; Detterling's definitive torpedoing of Heartbreak at Hillingdon High, the second and last chapter of which sprang the damp squib that you had fathered Detterling's son, whereupon Detterling took up the story and wrote you out of the park...and dozens of malicious posts from the old TES, including you as BigS, various kinds of existentialdyke, and some comprehensive trouncings from other posters, a great deal of grovelling from you when Detterling pinned your balls to the wall, and lots and lots more.
ReplyDeleteWill it stink out your blog for the foreseeable future? Is Gene Vincent a hypocritical, dirty minded, malicious little creep? or is Gene Vincent a hypocritical, dirty minded, malicious little creep?
You have forgotten to mention that time when Detterling disappeared quaking in his boots when Gene led him to believe that Oxford University were taking legal action against him for libel.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute nonsense. Like all Gene’s lies it was inept and unconvincing and based on pure fantasy. And I repeat: Gene admitted to plagiarising the published work of others in order to compile essays for his degree at St John’s College. Oxford. He therefore obtained his degree in part fraudulently BY HIS OWN ADMISSION. The academic crime was his. That the university failed to detect his plagiarism was inefficient, an intellectual crime of omission but not one which broke the law of the land. Thus, Gene’s threat of Oxford University suing Detterling was, as usual, fatuous bluster. In any case I am happy to republish Gene’s admission of his cheating in his degree - of which I have a dated and timed screenshot. Go ahead and try to sue him and see how far you get, you bombastic windbag.
ReplyDelete"He therefore obtained his degree in part fraudulent..."
DeleteDetterling don't push your luck with Oxford University. The university will come down on you with a ton of legal bricks. You are like a lemming scramblig toward the cliff-edge.
Oh! Dear! Oh! Dear! Oh! Dear! You are playing with fire Detters. Out of consideration of your age and frail health I shall not report these allegations to Oxford University.
ReplyDeleteGENE
Of course, that's it: you think that everyone else is as gullible, impressionable and solipsistic as you are. Your problem now is that the real world is beginning to intrude.
ReplyDeleteOh, by the way, I found an online review of Granny Barkes Fell in Woolworths - it leaves you, as a writer, legless, castrated and without a syllable of credibility to your name. Stand by for some extracts soon!!
ReplyDelete"He therefore obtained his degree in part fraudulent..."
ReplyDeleteDetterling don't push your luck with Oxford University. The university will come down on you with a ton of legal bricks. You are like a lemming scrambling toward the cliff-edge.
Bollocks, Gene. You are like a drunk pissing into the wind. Let me try it with hy-phens be-tween the syl-lab-les.
ReplyDeleteGene ad-mit-ted to plag-i-aris-ing the pub-lished work of oth-ers in or-der to com-pile es-says for his deg-ree at St John’s Col-lege. Ox-ford. He there-fore ob-tained his deg-ree in part frau-dul-ent-ly BY HIS OWN AD-MISS-ION. The ac-ad-em-ic crime was his.
I have made no legally actionable allegations of any kind against Oxford University. I have merely repeated your admission that you plagiarised published material in essays submitted for your degree. The fraudulence was yours: Oxford University's only shortcoming was its naivety in trusting you to be academically honest.
So tell me what they could possibly sue anyone for even if they knew who they actually were?
Pissed and incoherent at lunchtime, Gene? you are falling apart.
Methinks I hear someone whistling past the graveyard.
DeleteNo. Gene, this is empty bluster and you know it. I repeat: you obtained your degree from Oxford University using fraudulent means, viz, stealing the work of professional academics and passing it off as your own in essays handed in to your tutors. I have your dated and authenticated testimony to this from your blog. In a screenshot. If anyone were to require evidence for my assertion above then I will supply it using this. If any legal complications ensued they would centre on the question of whether or not the award of your degree would be revoked. Your talk of Oxford university taking action against me - their informant - is nonsense and you know it. Either stop talking bollocks or shut up.
Delete