New Dean of Canterbury is in a Same-Sex civil partnership
By David W. Virtue, DD, Virtueonline
It was announced on Monday, October 10, that the late Queen had approved the appointment of The Very Rev. Dr. David Monteith, Dean of Leicester, as Dean of Canterbury. Dr Monteith is in a same-sex civil partnership with David Hamilton, a counselling therapist working in palliative and bereavement care.
Will this not perplex and shock millions of faithful Anglicans across the globe? The cathedral is claimed by the Church of England Establishment to be the mother church of the Anglican Communion, an iconic landmark founded in 567 AD. It is a World Heritage Site unlike any other, having seen some of the most important events in Western Europe including the murder and subsequent martyrdom of Thomas Becket, and the English Reformation.
“I’m delighted by David’s appointment as Dean of Canterbury. He has been an exceptional Dean of Leicester — and his deep faith and spirituality, creativity, and profound sense of service will be a gift to Canterbury Cathedral and all the communities it serves,” said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
Dr Monteith entered into a legal civil partnership in 2008 and was at the time at Holy Trinity, Wimbledon in the Diocese of Southwark. When the Blair Government introduced civil-partnerships, they were specifically made for those in same-sex partnerships. An attempt by the House of Lords to extend them to siblings and others in friendship relationships for the purpose of inheritance and hospital visiting was overturned.
This appointment follows the appointment announced in February this year of Stephen Knott as the Secretary of Appointments for the Archbishops of York and Canterbury. Mr Knott married Major General Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, Governor of Edinburgh Castle, in St John’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh, with the Bishop of Edinburgh officiating…
…The appointment of an openly partnered homosexual to such a senior position in the church raises a number of questions. Was the Queen informed of his sexuality before she gave her approval? Did Archbishop Welby know about this appointment before the Lambeth Conference?
Read Virtueonline here
See also:
Appointment of Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, England: Press Statement from The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA).
The announcement, which comes on the heels of the Lambeth Conference 2022, puts in question the seriousness with which the ABC wants to pursue the unity of the Communion despite significant theological differences on the matter of marriage and sexuality between orthodox and revisionist components of the Communion… It feels as if the present ABC has shut the door of the Cathedral to orthodox bishops, clergy and members of the Communion.
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