The group chaired by Sir Joseph Pilling to advise the House of Bishops on the Church of England's approach to human sexuality has invited submissions. Written submissions can be sent, to arrive by 31 May, to: Sexuality Working Group, c/o Central Secretariat, Church House, Gt Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ orsexualityworkinggroup@churchofengland.org. The group will also invite oral evidence at a later stage.
The House of Bishops announced on 1 July, 2011, that it intended to draw together material from the listening process undertaken within the Church of England over recent years in the light of the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution. It also committed itself to offering proposals on how the continuing discussion within the Church of England about these matters might best be shaped in the light of the listening process. The task of Sir Joseph's group, announced last month, is to help the House discharge its commitment to produce a consultation document.
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CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS AND HUMAN SEXUALITY:
STATEMENT FROM THE HOUSE OF BISHOPS
I attach for information a copy of a statement that the House of Bishops has issued
today on civil partnerships and human sexuality. I also attach a copy of a short
accompanying statement from the Bishop of Norwich which has been published with it.
William Fittall
Church House, Westminster
1 July 2011
Civil Partnerships and Human Sexuality:
A Statement from the House of Bishops of the Church of England
It is now nearly six years since the House issued its Pastoral
Statement prior to the introduction of civil partnerships in December
2005. The preparation of that document
was the last occasion when the House devoted substantial time to the issue of
same sex relationships. We undertook to
keep that Pastoral Statement under review.
We have decided that the time has come for a review to take place.
Over the past five and half years there have been several
developments. Consistent with the
guidelines in the Pastoral Statement a number of clergy are now in civil partnerships.
The General Synod decided to amend the clergy pension scheme to improve the
provision for the surviving civil partners of clergy who have died. More recently
Parliament has decided that civil partnerships may be registered on religious premises
where the relevant religious authority has consented (the necessary regulations
are expected this autumn).
The review will need to take account of this changing scene. The
Pastoral Statement was not concerned with clergy alone but with the whole
people of God. We recognise that bishops
and clergy have found ways of engaging pastorally with those in civil partnerships,
both at the time of registration and subsequently. Within the Anglican tradition our theological
thinking is formed by a reasoned interpretation of Scripture, within the living
tradition of the Church informed by pastoral experience. The House believes
there is a theological task to be done to clarify further our understanding of the
nature and status of these partnerships.
These are the background issues for a review of the 2005
Statement. It will be undertaken in the
context of the Church of England’s teaching on same sex relations as set out in
the General Synod motion of November 1987 and Issues in Human Sexuality (a
teaching statement from the House of Bishops in 1991). It will also be consistent
with the approach taken by the Anglican Communion in Resolution 1.10 of the
Lambeth Conference 1998 and subsequently.
Among the matters to be considered in the review of the 2005 Statement
there is one of some importance which the House did not address in advance of
any experience of civil partnerships.
This is whether clergy who have registered civil partnerships should be
eligible for nomination to the episcopate. The House has concluded that it would
be wrong to pre-empt the outcome of the review and that clergy in civil partnerships
should not at present, therefore, be nominated for episcopal appointment. The House’s intention is to complete the
review, which will need to take account of the legal analysis set out in GS
MISC 992, during 2012.
The House has also decided that more work is now needed on the Church
of England’s approach to human sexuality more generally. In February 2007, the General Synod passed a
motion commending “continuing efforts to prevent the diversity of opinion about
human sexuality creating further division and impaired fellowship within the
Church of England and the Anglican Communion.”
Alongside the review of the 2005 Pastoral Statement, the House intends,
therefore, to draw together material from the listening process which has been
undertaken within 3the Church of England over the recent years in the light of
the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution.
The House wishes to offer proposals on how the continuing discussion
within the Church of England about these matters might best be shaped in the
light of the listening process. Our
intention is to produce a further consultation document in 2013.
Church House Westminster 1 July 2011 4House of Bishops’ statement on Civil
Partnerships and Human Sexuality – accompanying statement by the Bishop of
Norwich The House of Bishops today issued a statement about the continuing
debate within the Church of England about same–sex relationships. Speaking on
behalf of the House the Bishop of Norwich said: “Contrary to popular perception
the House of Bishops has spent very little time over recent years discussing
homosexuality. The last substantive engagement with the issue was in 2005 when
the House agreed to issue a pastoral statement prepared by a group under my
chairmanship on the implications of the introduction of civil partnerships. The
House has now agreed that the time has come to commission two new pieces of
work. First it has asked for a review of the 2005 statement in the light of
subsequent developments. The review will include examination of whether priests
in civil partnerships should be eligible for appointment as bishops. The 2005
statement was silent on this issue and, while the relevant legal background was
analysed in a recently published Legal Office note, the House acknowledges its
responsibility to address the policy issue. To avoid pre-empting the outcome of
the review the House has concluded that clergy in civil partnerships should
not, at present, be nominated for episcopal appointment. The review will be completed in 2012. Secondly,
the House has committed itself to a wider look at the Church of England’s approach
to same-sex relationships more generally in the light of the listening process launched
by the Lambeth Conference in 1998. The Bishops will produce a consultation document
in 2013. The House’s decision is motivated by a desire to help shape the continuing
debate constructively and not by any view about what the outcome should be.” 1
July 2011
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