Bishop Graham’s sexuality apology: a translation from liberalese

Feb 5, 2020 by

Bishop Graham’s sexuality apology: a translation from liberalese

by Will Jones, Faith and Politics: Christian Today reported on Monday on an apology from the Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher, following the release of a pastoral statement on civil partnerships by the Church of England’s House of Bishops last month. However, if you have heard or read the apology – given in both a letter and radio interview – you will be aware it is in liberalese, making it difficult to understand for those not familiar with this strange dialect. I offer here a loose...

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C of E sex guidance row: synod member calls out ‘deep’ hypocrisy

Feb 4, 2020 by

C of E sex guidance row: synod member calls out ‘deep’ hypocrisy

by Harriet Sherwood, Guardian: Jayne Ozanne, an LGBT+ campaigner, condemns ‘leaders who preach one thing and practise something different’. The Church of England has “leaders who preach one thing and practise something completely different” when it comes to sex, according to a prominent member of the church’s ruling body. In an explosive speech on Monday, Jayne Ozanne, a member of the General Synod and a leading campaigner for LGBT+ equality, called out “the deep levels of hypocrisy that exist...

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US archbishop: Pope told us gay civil unions can be ‘acceptable’

Feb 4, 2020 by

US archbishop: Pope told us gay civil unions can be ‘acceptable’

by Lianne Laurence, LifeSite: A U.S. archbishop says Pope Francis told a group of American bishops in Rome that civil unions for homosexual couples that give them access to public benefits are “acceptable,” as long as it’s clear such arrangements can never be considered marriage. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco told LifeSiteNews that during their January 27 ad limina visit, the pope said, in the words of the archbishop, that “civil unions between two people of the same sex can...

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Bishops’ pastoral statement fiasco – they tried to play politics and made a re-hash of it

Feb 3, 2020 by

Bishops’ pastoral statement fiasco – they tried to play politics and made a re-hash of it

by Julian Mann: What a game of Orwellian double-speak the Church of England’s bishops have been playing. Their ‘pastoral statement’ on heterosexual civil partnerships was surely not ‘pastoral’ at all? Surely it was thoroughly political and has now backfired? After some of their number publicly distanced themselves from the statement their House had issued on January 22nd upholding the Book of Common Prayer’s teaching on marriage, the CofE’s senior pastors last week...

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St Paul to the English Bishops: “Shun Worldly Babble”

Jan 30, 2020 by

St Paul to the English Bishops: “Shun Worldly Babble”

by Stephen Noll, Contending Anglican: In the previous post, I described the recent Pastoral Statement on Marriage of the Church of England House of Bishops of the Church of England as the sound of one hand clapping. What then, I thought, would two hands clapping sound like? This in turn led me back to the Apostle Paul. Most people would agree that Paul’s encomium to marriage in Ephesians, chapter 5, is one of the most exalted statements of the Bible: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to...

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The Church of England isn’t ‘obsessed’ with sex

Jan 29, 2020 by

The Church of England isn’t ‘obsessed’ with sex

by Melanie McDonagh, Spectator: There’s been a shocked, wounded response on the part of pundits to the Church of England’s statement last week in response to the introduction of heterosexual civil partnerships. The Church observed that: ‘for Christians, marriage – that is, the lifelong union between a man and a woman, contracted with the making of vows – remains the proper context for sexual activity’. Just to clarify, the statement went on: ‘Sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage...

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