Clergy conduct and the doctrine of marriage
by Andrew Goddard, Psephizo:
The question as to whether it would be right for the Pastoral Guidance to change the current teaching and discipline of the Church of England in relation to clergy (and in some places licensed lay ministers) is one of the challenging questions still left unresolved. The latest paper for General Synod (GS 2346) considers this in some detail in Annex B in relation to allowing clergy to enter same-sex civil marriage and makes clear how limited the options are for the bishops, particularly given their commitment not to change the doctrine of marriage.
Despite this, the draft proposed commitments include “we commit to exploring the process for clergy and lay ministers to enter same-sex civil marriages” (Commitment 8). What follows sets out the various options to show how difficult it is to proceed without a change in doctrine, either the doctrine of marriage or the doctrine concerning what is expected of those who are ordained. Appendix A below this article collects together key elements of the 2014 House of Bishops pastoral statement; Appendix B summarises key statements from the past; Appendix C contains the key paragraphs from the judgement in the 2018 Pemberton case.
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