When Mother Loses Her Mind
by Canon Phil Ashey, AAC:
Over the last two weeks, several bishops in the Church of England have publicly endorsed the Bishop of Oxford’s booklet, Together in Love and Faith, which he sets out his thinking about same-sex relationships. He proposes that the Church of England should provide public services for the blessing of same-sex civil partnerships and marriages but allow a conscience clause for those who dissent. Barbara Gauthier has done a superb job chronicling all of the statements and rebuttals by Vaughan Roberts [https://www.oxforddef.co.uk/Groups/268395/Latest_News.aspx], Ian Paul [https://www.psephizo.com/sexuality-2/what-is-the-bishop-of-oxford-thinking/], Bishop Andy Lines (GAFCON ANiE) [https://www.anglicannetwork.org/resources/safe-harbour], and others.
As one of the senior Bishops in the Church of England, Steven Croft (the Bishop of Oxford) has proposed nothing less than a sea-change in the teaching of the Church of England. It will divide the Church of England and further harden the divisions within the Anglican Communion. That it comes on the heels of Archbishop Justin Welby’s embrace of “pluriform truth” at Lambeth Conference 2022 does not bode well for biblically-faithful Anglicans in the Church of England who adhere to the traditional teaching of the Bible and the Church on human sexuality and marriage. Martin Davie also signals the trajectory of the Church of England in his careful observation of an article in The Church Times, reporting on meetings among the bishops themselves [https://mbarrattdavie.wordpress.com/2022/11/06/why-the-bishops-have-an-option/#_ftn5]:
“Although no decision has been made about what formal proposals will be presented to the General Synod in February 2023 — these will be finalised at the next College of Bishops meeting, 12-14 December — it is understood that the bishops acknowledge that simply to restate the existing ban on same-sex blessings or marriage in church is not an option.”
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