Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Sunday, April 13, 2014

(Telegraph) Gay CoE Cleric Marries Boyfriend, 1st of Many to Come

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100267439/gay-anglican-priest-marries-his-boyfriend-hell-be-the-first-of-many/


Gay Anglican priest marries his boyfriend. He'll be the first of many
Hitched: Canon Pemberton (left) and Mr Cunnington (Photo: PA)

Well, that didn't take long. As my colleague Edward Malnick reports, a gay Church of England priest – a canon, no less – today married his boyfriend. Canon Jeremy Pemberton, 58, a divorced hospital chaplain and father of five, wed his long-term partner Laurence Cunnington, 51. We're not told where, but obviously it wasn't in a C of E church. That's against the law. But they may well be able to have their marriage blessed in church because that's only "against the rules" as opposed to illegal.
Campaigners predicted that Canon Pemberton would be the first of many. I think they're right. After all, it's not as if Mr Pemberton's boss, the Bishop of Lincoln, Christopher Lowson, is handing him over to the Inquisition. Over at the Mail, my old friend Jonathan Petre reports that "Bishop Lowson confirmed he had told Canon Pemberton of the House of Bishops’ statement [telling gay priests not to marry] but would not say if he was planning disciplinary action".


I'm no expert on Anglican canon law, but I'd guess that the punishment facing Mr Pemberton is the withdrawal of his licence to officiate at services (he doesn't have a parish). Technically he could be defrocked, but that would involve a messy legal process… by which time other priests will have tied the knot. The Rev Andrew Cain, for example, who was the first clergyman to declare his intention to marry, and who explained why in our Telegram podcast (click here).


That will be an interesting case. Mr Cain is the Vicar of St Mary with All Souls in Kilburn and St James in West Hampstead and known to parishioners as "Father Andrew" – ie, he's an Anglo-Catholic. North London is full of High Church priests with same-sex partners. If only a few of them defy their bishop and get married, then the Diocese of London faces a public relations as well as a legal nightmare.


Likewise, Chichester. I once went to a party in Brighton where a bishop turned up with his much younger Italian boyfriend. None of the other clergy present were bishops but they were all gay. Those were the days of the "gin, lace and backbiting" subculture, which wasn't a great advertisement for gay men or the C of E. The culture now is more open, but many homosexual clergy are still uncomfortable about their relationships – they feel that the General Synod forces them to be hypocritical or secretive. This is a Church, after all, that enjoins celibacy on gay priests but not gay laity, a compromise that I can't see surviving for much longer.


To be clear: it is now perfectly legal for Church of England clergy to marry their gay partners. It's only illegal for the established Church to stage any same-sex wedding services itself. But if your bishop turns a blind eye you can have the next best thing. A lesbian priest can marry her partner at the register office, then find an accommodating vicar who'll bless the couple in church.


How big a crisis will this cause? The Anglican Communion is dead already, so that's one thing the Archbishop of Canterbury shouldn't worry about. In the long run, I suspect that the law will be changed so parishes can opt out of having anything to do with gay weddings. Clergy and worshippers who are unhappy with (or not certain about) same-sex marriage, and therefore married gay priests, will adjust to the idea over time. Traditionalists will (a) die out (b) leave or (c) invoke the aforementioned opt-out clause.


Meanwhile, liberal Roman Catholics such as Stephen Hough will derive encouragement from these developments and anticipate the day when all Catholics are free to marry their gay partners. That won't happen, so – at the risk of sounding presumptuous – they may as well become Anglicans now.

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