The bishops of the Church of England have proposed prayers for services of blessing on same-sex civil marriages.
The prayers will be published alongside a letter of apology to LGBTQI+ people for the “rejection, exclusion and hostility” of the Church’s historic position on same-sex relationships.
The bishops have also promised to encourage their congregations to welcome same-sex couples “unreservedly and joyfully”.
In a statement on the proposals, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, expressed the bishops’ “deep sorrow and grief at the way LGBTQI+ people and those they love have been treated by the Church”.
The new prayers do not, however, change the Church of England’s teaching on marriage, and do not permit priests to marry same-sex couples.
Following a six-year “period of listening, learning and discernment”, under the title Living in Love and Faith, the College and House of Bishops met on Tuesday to formulate the proposals, which they will present to the Church’s General Synod when it meets in London on 6-9 February.
The Church Times reported that the bishops were “some way off” a two-thirds majority in favour of changing teaching to allow same-sex marriages. Such a proposal would have required a two-thirds majority in each house of the synod – clergy, laity and bishops – to pass.
The current proposals, if called to vote at the synod, would only require a majority in each house.
The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, who chaired the bishops’ group on sexuality and marriage, offered her “heartfelt thanks” to all participants in the discernment process, which she said “touched on deeply personal matters and strongly held beliefs”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: “I am under no illusions that what we are proposing today will appear to go too far for some and not nearly far enough for others, but it is my hope that what we have agreed will be received in a spirit of generosity, seeking the common good.”
Several bishops, including the Bishop of Worcester, John Inge, and the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft, have voiced support for a change in teaching, and in recent weeks politicians including Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, and the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, have called for the Church to marry same-sex couples.
Mr Bradshaw has previously said that Parliament would consider disestablishment of the Church of England without a change to its teaching. Following today’s announcement, he warned of “a major constitutional clash” and that the Church had confirmed itself “as an institutionally homophobic sect”.
Last summer’s Lambeth Conference saw the Anglican Communion struggle to negotiate the divisions between its members on same-sex relationships and marriages.
Archbishop Welby observed at the time: “For the large majority of the Anglican Communion the traditional understanding of marriage is something that is understood, accepted without question, not only by bishops but their entire church, and the societies in which they live.”
Other churches, he continued, “have not arrived lightly at their ideas that traditional teaching needs to change”.