Media Centre Presentations from the Bishop of Norwich and the Bishop of Willesden

Feb 15, 2017 by Jill

In a presentation to the General Synod ahead of small group work on the House of Bishops Report, Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich has charted the recent history of the Church of England on issues of sexuality.

Beginning with the Church’s support of the Wolfenden Report and the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality – led by the then Archbishop of Canterbury – in 1957 through to the criticism of General Synod in November 1987 by popular media for being “too liberal” after passing a motion which restated the Church’s traditional teaching.

Bishop Graham James brought the recent history up to date noting “the tension which can exist between our determination to uphold firmly the teaching on marriage and sexual relationships as currently expressed in our Canons, and the commitment to affirm the place of LGBTI people within the Church, and, as paragraph 34 of the report says, to enable their voices to be heard.”

In his presentation the Bishop of Norwich also noted he had been involved in discussing same sex relationships for over forty years of ordained ministry: “As a curate in the late 1970s I recall leading a deanery synod discussion on the Gloucester Report on homosexual relationships. No one else was willing to do it. Little did I think that almost forty years later I’d be standing before the General Synod presenting another report on the same subject. It is a very provisional report, as it says of itself. Like others which have gone before it, it has not received a rapturous reception in all quarters, and I regret any pain or anger it may have caused.”

Referring to the House of Bishop’s report itself, Bishop Graham said:

“I would be misleading you if I did not confess to being conflicted in presenting this report but in that I think I am far from alone among the bishops and in the wider Church of England……..Our own history in dealing with these matters also explains why people on all sides of the debate rarely find themselves satisfied.”

In his speech ahead of the group work the Bishop of Willesden, Pete Broadbent, also commented on the Report and its reception on social and wider media:

Read here