Can the Church change its practice on marriage without changing its doctrine?

Mar 20, 2018 by

By Andrew Goddard, Psephizo.

[…] For those people who follow these things it came as no surprise last week to see a new PMM on sexuality (added to two others already topping the lists, one from Anthony Archer and one from Ed Shaw) proposed by Ms Christina Baron (Bath & Wells) who is Vice-Chair of the General Synod HumanSexuality Group.  It proposes:

That this Synod:

Request the House of Bishops to commend an Order of Prayer and Dedication after the registration of a civil partnership or a same sex marriage for use by ministers in exercise of their discretion under Canon B5, being a form of service neither contrary to, nor indicative of any departure from, the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter, together with guidance that no parish should be obliged to host, nor minister conduct, such a service.

The appearance of this is unsurprising because a motion of almost exactly the same wording (the change is to identify correctly the relevant Canon) appeared first in Hereford Diocese back in 2016 when a number of Deanery Synods supported it and it rose for consideration at the Hereford Diocesan Synod.  It was approved by the Diocesan Synod in October last year (leading to a Church of England statement to clarify the situation after misleading press reports) and is reported to be following a similar path in a number of other diocesan synods.

What is to be made of the PMM proposal and this methodology of securing, in the words of its title, “Liturgies for same-sex couples”?

What is being asked for in the motion?

A request to the House of Bishops

In contrast to the earlier motions on sexuality this one seeks to introduce liturgical change within the Church of England.  This can only happen legally at the initiative of the House of Bishops and so cannot be introduced by a PMM within Synod.  The motion therefore takes the form of a request to the House of Bishops to introduce a new liturgy, as did the Blackburn Motion last July in relation to welcoming transgender people.  As the outcome of that example illustrates, passing such a motion does not lead to liturgical change because the bishops may well decline any request.  However, for them to do so repeatedly when requested by Synod would lead to increased tensions between them and the wider General Synod.

Read here

[Editor’s note: while many readers will be grateful for Goddard’s careful analysis of the technical and legal difficulties of the proposed change, the question posed in the title needs a clearer doctrinal and spiritual answer…]

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