The Guardian’s question of the week is How should gay bishops be chosen? Lesley Fellows is first up. She writes:
Jeffrey John is a man in a faithful relationship with his life partner. Normally the church would commend this sort of long-term and committed relationship – but the rules change when the two people in question are the same gender.
Meanwhile, I’ve got an article looking at the way we are choosing our bishop in the Diocese of Washington behind the paywall at The Times of London. Ruth Gledhill gives a taste of it on her blog, and I will be posting the entire article later this week on Daily Episcopalian. Here’s a brief excerpt:
The process that I witnessed was so different than the one described by the late Dean Colin Slee in his now-famous memo, that it seems almost unfair to draw comparisons. In filling the vacancy in Southwark, the English method of appointing bishops was clearly at its worst. Or so one hopes. A story of subterfuge leavened with a dash of Python-like absurdity, it featured a media leak meant to scuttle two candidacies, clumsy attempts to blame the leak on an innocent party, an investigation into the leak whose findings have been kept secret, and a delicious moment in which the Archbishop of York lobbied for votes while leading a group outing to the toilet. Little wonder that members of the Crown Nominating Committee were reduced to tears during the proceedings
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