‘Coalface’ clerics welcome defeat of bishops’ LGBT report

Clergy in the Church of England have welcomed the defeat of a bishops’ report on sexuality at last week’s General Synod.

The report, a product of three years of “shared conversations” about the treatment of LGBT people in the Church, said it would uphold traditional teaching on marriage while striving to allow pastors “maximum freedom”.

It called for a fresh culture of support and welcome for gay Christians but was rejected when, in a surprise move, the House of Clergy voted against the motion by 100 to 93.

The House – comprised of priests and vicars – was the only one of three Houses to vote down the report. Fr Andrew Foreshew-Cain, the first openly gay married vicar and a member of General Synod, told The Tablet that he voted against the report because of his experiences as a pastor to LGBT people.

The priest from St Mary with All Souls, Kilburn, and St James, West Hampstead, explained: “Our experience on the ground makes us acutely aware of the absurdity of not being able to bless loving relationships, yet every October blessing pets like gerbils.” He said that the bishops’ report only served to illustrate the bishops’ “inability to agree among themselves”.

He welcomed Synod’s decision as “a change of atmosphere within the Church” that could allow it to become a “mixed economy” where some churches bless LGBT life openly and without fear and others do not.

Revd Nicholas Bundock, of St James and Emmanuel in Didsbury, Manchester, said that he changed from being a “passively homophobic priest” to an advocate for inclusivity after a member of his parish – 14-year-old Lizzie Lowe – took her own life because she felt that she could not reconcile her faith and her sexuality. He said that clergy are “on the coalface, meeting LGBT members of the community” which has resulted in this “tipping point” of opinion.
He called for a “bolder and more radical Church”, adding “we should, dare I say it, be prepared to break the law to rescue someone in need”.

Vicky Beeching (pictured), LGBT equality campaigner, said: “Some­times the topic of being gay, bi, or transgender can feel like a theoretical exercise in theology for the Church.”

She hoped that future documents on sexuality “will be written in closer consultation with people for whom it is their lived, daily experience”.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have stated: “All of us, without exception, are loved and called in Christ” and they promised to find “a radical new Christian inclusion in the Church” for the future.