CofE “overseers” opposed to same sex blessings will be appointed today
from Religion Media Centre:
A group of evangelicals in the Church of England are taking unilateral action today, in their continuing opposition to same sex blessings, by creating “overseers”, people who will take over duties of a local bishop in offering spiritual and pastoral oversight to people who agree with them.
The service, at 1200 at All Soul’s Church, Langham Place, was heralded by a letter from “The Alliance”, the Church of England Evangelical Council and others, to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York at the end of June.
The move was discussed in a Religion Media Centre briefing on how the CofE survives its deep divisions. The Rev Dr Charlie Bell suggested this act broke the CofE canons, church law, by defying obedience to the bishops. The Rev Dr Ian Paul, a member of the CEEC and the Archbishops’ Council, said the oath was obedience “in all things lawful and honest”, but he claimed the bishops had not been honest in their dealings with the church, and in any event this was not a parallel legal jurisdiction, but “stepping into the breach to provide spiritual oversight”.
The briefing considered, with an ecclesiastical lawyer, whether allowing same sex blessings amounted to a change of doctrine. It also included a reflection from a conservative church member so distressed that she might leave the church, a gay priest who said homophobia had never been addressed, and parish priest the Rev Jody Stowell, who said her congregation had people with different views but they wanted to stay together, a model she wanted to take “up into the into the structures”. View the briefing again or listen to the podcast – links will soon be on our website here.
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