General Synod papers published
Papers circulated to members of the Church of England’s General Synod ahead of its July sessions in York have been published online.
They detail discussions planned on subjects ranging from the Church’s work in areas where many people follow other faiths to concerns over the cost of applying for British citizenship and the possibility of services to help transgender Christians mark their transition.
Synod is due to meet at the University of York from Friday July 7 to Monday July 10.
Papers are being published in two batches. The first circulation of papers is available here.
A second circulation of papers will be published on Friday, June 23. There will also be a pre-Synod briefing at Church House Westminster next Friday.
One briefing paper in the first circulation sets out how an existing Church of England service for reaffirming baptismal vows may form the liturgical basis for services which help transgender Christians mark their gender transition publicly.
The liturgy for Affirmation of Baptismal Faith, contained in the Common Worship service book, may be used with people who have already been baptised but who wish to “reaffirm their identity in Christ” after a significant personal transition, including gender, according to the paper.
It rules out the possibility of so-called “re-baptism” services, because Church of England teaching makes clear that baptism can only be received once.
However it makes clear that there is “no legal or doctrinal difficulty” with transgender people reaffirming their baptism vows with a new name.
Read here
Read also: Pastoral care for transgender people: does it require acceptance of LGBT ideology? and Synod debates about liturgy open up bigger questions of truth and religious freedom, by Andrew Symes, Anglican Mainstream
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
