Church Times has three letters to the editor concerning a letter to the marriage task force of The Episcopal Church. As explained in an article at the Episcopal Café, Who answers for the Church of England when the Episcopal Church asks about marriage?,
The publication of a response to the Task Force on the Study of Marriage from William Nye, Secretary General of the Archbishops’ Council in the Church of England has been stirring up responses of its own since it was highlighted by the Church Times late last week.
The Ecclesial Working Group of the Task Force sent a request for comments to each province of the Anglican Communion, all five of The Episcopal Church’s full communion ecumenical partners, and to the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission for Unity, Faith, and Order.
The task force posed this question in its request for comment:
From your perspective and specific setting, what has been the impact of The Episcopal Church’s authorization and use of liturgical rites for same-sex marriage and the blessing of same-sex unions on “the Church”?
From the three letters to the editor of Church Times:
From the Bishop of Buckingham, the Dean of Guildford, the Rt Revd David Gillett, the Revd Andrew Lightbown, 76 others of the clergy, and 36 members of the laity
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Mr Nye writes about pressure from the Church of England to dissociate from the Episcopal Church. We think this is a misleading statement. Pressure may well come from various conservative groups in the Church of England, but (unless the content of the letter is tested synodically), he surely cannot claim to speak for the Church of England as a whole.
Mr Nye’s letter, written on Archbishops’ Council stationery, gives the impression that he was acting as an agent of the Council and its trustees and writing with its authority. But, as he acknowledges, his response is simply the fruit of conversations held among a small cadre of professional staff. As a governance matter, this will not, we think, do.
The letter refers to a majority belief in the Church of England that the only legitimate locus for sexual relationships is within heterosexual marriage. This sweeping assertion cannot, in fact, be substantiated, as the Church of England, to our knowledge, has never asked her regular worshipping community what it thinks and believes about this….
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From Canon Giles Goddard, Christina Baron, Jayne Ozanne, and ten others
… The letter was not reported to the General Synod in February, nor published by the Church of England. Thanks to the Episcopal Church’s culture of openness, we now know of the letter’s existence and contents.
Mr Nye asserts that for a majority in the Church of England “Holy Scripture is held to rule that sexual activity outside marriage between a man and a woman is contrary to God’s will.” It is not clear what steps he took to ascertain whether this is indeed the majority belief, and recent research surveys suggest that it is not. …
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From Mr Anthony Archer
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It was courteous of the Episcopal Church to consult other Provinces, few of which seem to have replied.
It was to be expected that the letter would affirm current Church of England doctrine, but in it we see some thinking aloud about the future. For example, it expresses the view that to ameliorate fracture it is preferable for same-sex marriage rites to be provided as an alternative to the traditional rite, better on a trial basis, rather than for the definition of marriage to be redefined for all. But, above all, the Episcopal Church’s consultation is a clear reminder of the autonomy of each Province of the Anglican Communion in shaping its own doctrine and affairs, autonomy that will become starker if the Episcopal Church has to face further “stringent consequences” for its prophetic lead….
And there is this open letter available for signature. It suggests Mr. Nye placed the wrong letter in the post. An extract:
Letter to TEC
Dear Sir
Mr Nye has mistakenly sent the wrong letter to you regarding your invitation to comment on how your provision of same-sex marriage rites has affected the Church of England.
The one which the majority of us (according to research surveys on attitudes to same-sex marriage amongst English Anglicans) expected him to send simply says:
“Thank you for leading the way on this important issue. We are grateful that you have recognised that not all married couples can have children and that a gender-neutral approach will enable us to become a loving and inclusive Church for all. We still have a few problems to sort out over here with those who keep threatening to leave because they are not getting their own way, but we know that your actions have given great hope to thousands and shown that the Church is not as homophobic as it can sometimes appear.”
The membership of the Archbishops’ Council can be found on page 34 of this document (PDF).
Photo: Mr. Nye, source