Church in Wales approves blessing service for same-sex partnerships
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SAME-SEX COUPLES will be able to have their civil partnership or marriage blessed in Church in Wales churches for the first time after new legislation was passed this week.
A Bill to authorise a service of blessing was approved by members of the Church’s Governing Body at its meeting in Newport on Monday 6th September. It was passed by the required two-thirds majority by each of the three voting groups: bishops, clergy and laity (church members who are not ordained as church leaders).
The service is for a blessing only, as same-sex couples remain unable to marry in the Church in Wales due to restrictions set out in the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 in England and Wales.
The new blessing service will be piloted for five years then reviewed, and it will be up to individual clergy to decide whether or not they wish to lead it.
The Bishops passed the Bill unanimously, the clergy by 28 to 12 with two abstentions and the laity by 49 to 10 with one abstention.
The Bishop of St Asaph, Right Revd Gregory Cameron, introduced the Bill on behalf of the Bishops, following an indication from Governing Body members that it was ‘pastorally unsustainable’ for the Church to make no formal provision for those in committed same-sex relationships. He explained why he was proposing this change:
I believe that this step has to be taken because I am seeking to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to love as he loved, and to meet the aspirations of those in committed relationships, just as strong, if not stronger, than many heterosexual marriages.
Read Bishop Gregory’s Proposal here.
The Bishop of Monmouth, Right Revd Cherry Vann, who is in a civil partnership and is also a Patron of the Open Table Network, spoke in the debate against an amendment which asked the Governing Body to wait until the Church in Wales had ‘a properly worked out theology of marriage’. She said:
The Church has already lost people in same-sex relationships because we, as a Church, are deemed to have tuned our backs on them. There are already some - lay and ordained - hanging on by their fingertips because there is no formal way of coming alongside couples in same-sex relationships, never mind celebrating and affirming their relationships with them in prayer and blessing. If this amendment is passed, the cry will go up, ‘how long, O Lord, how long?’ and there will be a huge pastoral and missional opportunity lost for at least another generation. Is that really what we want?
The amendment was not passed.
Responding to the vote, Bishop Gregory said:
I come out of this debate with no sense of triumph but believing that the Church in Wales has done the right thing under God for the LGBTQIA+ community. The Church has spoken decisively today in favour of blessings. There is a journey still to be taken but I hope that we can do it together with all the wings of the Church.
Read Bishop Gregory’s Right of Reply here.
In an interview with BBC Wales on Monday, Revd Sarah Hildreth-Osborn, who leads the chaplaincy service for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Diocese of St Asaph, which hosts an Open Table community, said:
I am in favour of the Bill as it is a step in the right direction towards equality in the church, and better reflects the actions of a God who is love. This is a small battle that we have won but the war still rages! Until we reach equal marriage in the Church and until homophobia, transphobia, biphobia are all eradicated from every pew across the land, we still have a job to do. So we rejoice in this step, more fully embrace our LGBTQIA+ siblings, and journey towards that place where our labels don’t matter and we are accepted for who we are.
In a personal blog post, Canon Nathan Jarvis, who is in a civil partnership, and has worked with the LGBTI+ Chaplaincy in the Diocese of Bangor, wrote:
Today, we are still not equal. We are still unable to marry in a church. But, the church will bless us… like minibuses, rosary beads and even well-beloved pets. We’ve moved up a rung. But we have a long way to go. Well done Church in Wales, but please don’t stop there.
Responding to the vote, the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Paul Bayes, also a Patron of the Open Table Network, said it is a ‘creative and gospel-inspired lead’ for the Church of England. He told the Church Times:
I am heartened and encouraged by this vote and by the conversations that led up to it. The Church in Wales has looked seriously at its missional context and has chosen to affirm love, in the spirit of the unchanging God of love whom we know in Jesus. I trust that my own Church will follow this creative and Gospel-inspired lead, and I hope that this will happen soon.
The discussion and vote was held on the first day of the Governing Body meeting at the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport. The full day’s business and debate was live-streamed and is available to watch on the Church in Wales YouTube channel.