The motion quotes Peter Hancock, who was the C of E’s lead bishop on safeguarding until last year, who told the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) that “issues of clericalism and deference have allowed abuse to be covered up and the voices of the vulnerable to be silenced”.
“I’m reading Howard Thurman this week, that blazingly brilliant preacher and purported to be guide to MLK, jr. (Supposedly Dr. King carried, “Jesus and the Disinherited” written by Dr. Howard in 1949) In it he talks about the religion of Jesus, a phrase I have come to love.”
I want to see a gender-neutral marriage canon, such as they have in the Episcopal Church or in the Scottish Episcopal Church. And as a necessary but not sufficient first step I want to see conscientious freedom for the Church’s ministers and local leaders to honour, recognise and, yes indeed, to bless same-sex unions whether civil partnerships or civil marriages. – Paul Bayes