Free Republic

More than 1100 licensed priests in the Church of England have indicated that they are willing to conduct same-sex marriages if they become legal. The survey was conducted by the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England over the course of the last month. In a statement announcing the results, the chairman of the organisation, the Revd Nigel Pietroni, said: “It is clear from the feedback after Living in Love and Faith that the majority want the current situation to change.” The list of signatories is being kept private, but the names were cross-checked against clergy databases, and...

LGBT leaders and supporters in the Church of England are threatening a mass walkout from a recently-launched discussion process about sexual issues unless bishops give an urgent guarantee to support the marriage of same-sex partners in church. The warning was issued in a joint letter sent to 34 bishops "known to be supporters of LGBTIQ+ people", among them the Archbishop of York and the Bishops of Oxford, Manchester, Leeds, Dover and Liverpool. The letter was sent by Jeremy Timm, former chair of Changing Attitude England, and co-signed by a number of LGBT clergy and supporters, including Rev Colin Coward, founder...

... “It’s not just gender, it’s also your background that’s equally important. Some of these things are changing. Leadership in the church needs to reflect the communities we serve. There is work to do about how we encourage vocations from people who may be working-class, people who’ve not had a traditional straightforward academic pathway, people from BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] groups. The system may need to be different.” The appointment of Mullally, 56, to the No 3 position in the church after the archbishops of Canterbury and York surprised many who believed the capital’s strong conservative traditions ruled...

* Church of England suggests offering transgender Christians re-christenings * Move is believed to provoke a furious backlash among some traditionalists* Last year committee said rules that might stop people changing sex should be abolishedThe Church of England yesterday suggested it will offer transgender Christians ‘re-christenings’ with their new names. Vicars cannot re-baptise those who have changed sex but could use existing ‘services of welcome’ to announce a new name before God, the most senior official said. The advice is likely to be endorsed next month by the Church’s parliament, the General Synod. It will ease pressure on Archbishop of...

A practicing homosexual priest has defied the Church of England's ban on homosexual and lesbian clergy marrying by wedding his longtime male homosexual companion. The 58-year-old Canon Jeremy Pemberton, a divorced hospital chaplain, wed his long-term homosexual paramour, 51-year-old Laurence Cunnington, this past weekend. A leading member of the church's faithful wing has called for discipline of any clergy seen to be veering from Christian orthodoxy concerning marriage and warned of a "crisis" if the leadership failed to take action.LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The couple predict that they will be the first of many homosexual clergy to marry....

The archbishop of Canterbury has announced a campaign to stamp out anti-gay bullying in Church of England schools, acknowledging that attitudes toward sexuality have changed. Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s Anglican Communion, stressed that the Church of England wasn’t changing its teaching on gay relationships, but that it would be “absurd and impossible” to ignore shifting cultural attitudes. …

- Organist told police 'I know I like boys and it has cost me everything' - Priest climbed into a bath with one of the boys while aroused - He got into bed and pressed himself against a 13-year-old boy - One victim reported the abuse to another vicar but nothing was done - He told police last year when he realised priest still had contact with children Guilty: Father Keith Wilkie Denford groomed two teenage boys over 18 months A former Church of England priest and a retired organist were found guilty today of a string of child sex...

There is a story at CNA/EWTN that made me chuckle a little.What for what is wrong with this (including the terminology). London, England, Jan 4, 2013 / 06:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Church of England has decided to permit gay male clergy in civil partnerships to become bishops, provided that they promise to be celibate. [First, let's work to get Catholic news services to stop playing into the hands of the homosexualists by using the word "gay". Next, do they mean "celibate" (unmarried) or "continent" (not sexually active)?]“The House (of Bishops) believed it would be unjust to exclude from consideration...

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the Church of England on Tuesday said a vote last month that struck down proposals to allow women to become bishops had been "deeply painful", but that Christianity was still relevant in Britain despite falling numbers of believers. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who leads the global 80-million-strong Anglican Communion, said in his Christmas day sermon that the answer to the question of whether Christianity had "had its day" was a "resounding no". The Church of England narrowly voted against allowing women bishops last month - to the dismay of Williams and Prime Minister...

At least 20 clergy and several hundred of their parishioners are already lined up to join the Ordinariate, the new structure set up by the Pope a year ago that allows them to remain some of their Anglican heritage while entering into full communion with the Holy See. But many more members of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England are likely to defect following a critical meeting of its governing body, the General Synod, if traditionalists who cannot accept the ordination of women are denied special provision. The head of the Ordinariate, Mgr Keith Newton, told The Daily...

Male bishops could become Anglican nuns, under Synod proposalsI thought this was a spoof at first, but it seems not: a General Synod working party is exploring whether the Church of England’s male bishops can join religious orders previously reserved for women. In other words, become Anglican nuns.As usual, the Synod’s topsy-turvy ecclesiology is a mystery to me, but I gather that the idea is that bishops would be entitled to take vows in orders of nuns so that they can provide special episcopal oversight to the sisters. It’s a typically ingenious Anglican response to the forthcoming ordination of women...

ROME, June 30, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When a European Christian pro-family group applied to join the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) of the EU’s Human Rights Agency, they did not expect to be denounced as promoters of “hate.” The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) objected to a statement by the Alliance of Romania’s Families (ARF) calling same-sex “marriage” an example of “human degeneration,” and denied their request for membership. The ARF, a group lobbying to retain Romania’s traditional Christian social and legal underpinnings, had written on their website that, “So-called alternatives such as ‘families’ consisting of same-sex, are nothing but expressions...

The Methodist Church is prepared to be absorbed by the Church of England if that is the price of unity, Britain’s most senior Methodist said yesterday. The Rev David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, told the General Synod of the Church of England, meeting at Church House, Westminster: “We are prepared to go out of existence, not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission.” Methodists were “prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church” if that served the needs of the Kingdom of God. The...

The Church of England is to go ahead with the plan to create women bishops without giving in to demands from traditionalists for a separate structure of bishops and archbishops untainted by the hands of a woman. Traditionalists oppose women bishops because they argue that Jesus had no women disciples and that the apostolic succession of bishops, passed down by the laying of hands at ordination, should therefore be male. Traditionalists warned last night that the decision, to be announced at the General Synod today, will trigger an exodus from the Church of England of many thousands of priests and...

When Pope Benedict visits this country next year, he is expected to stay at Buckingham Palace as a guest of the Queen. The warmth of her welcome will come as no surprise to the Pontiff, if senior sources at the Vatican are to be believed. According to informants quoted in The Catholic Herald, the Queen has "grown increasingly sympathetic" to the Catholic Church over the years while being "appalled", along with the Prince of Wales, at developments in the Church of England. The usually well-informed newspaper adds that the Queen, who is the Supreme Governor of the C of E,...

Melanie Phillips says there is a dangerous new alliance between anti-Israel Christians and radical Muslim groups, often plotting in secret against their common enemy Last weekend the Revd Stephen Sizer, vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water appeared at an anti-Israel meeting with an Islamist called Ismail Patel. Patel has not only accused Israel of ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes’ but considers Disney to be a Jewish plot and supports Hamas, Iran and Syria. Sizer is a virulent opponent of Christian Zionism and of Israel, which he has said he hopes will disappear just as did the apartheid regime in South Africa....

Bishop warns of no-go zones for non-Muslims By Jonathan Wynne-Jones  Last Updated: 7:53pm GMT 05/01/2008     Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today. The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.   Bishop Nazir-Ali warns that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic...

Child abuse has gone unchecked in the Church of England for decades amid a cover up by bishops, secret papers have revealed. Information that could have prevented abuse has been "lost or damaged", concerns about individuals have been ignored and allegations have not been recorded. It means that the Church has no idea how many paedophiles are in its midst. Lawyers warned last night that the Church faces a crisis as catastrophic as the one that engulfed the Roman Catholic Church and cost it millions of pounds in damages. Richard Scorer, a solicitor who has specialised in child abuse cases,...

Dr Wright, in his car on his way to address a conference at Swanwick, was furious with the Government. “There is no way that the Catholic Church is going to change its mind on this one given 18 months or so.” he said. “This completely fails to take into account the views and beliefs of all those involved. The idea that New Labour - which has got every second thing wrong and is backtracking on extended drinking hours, is in a mess over this cash-for-peerages business, cannot keep all its prisons under control - the idea that New Labour can...

Seasonal Highlights from The South Vineland Times, "Whomever you might be and wherever you might find yourself on the journey of The Faith, You are welcome to share with us in the richness of God's Grace" From Our Vicar Father Albert has been homilising on the Lord’s blessings and our Christian responsibilities throughout this Season. He has concentrated on Welsh spirituality and holy sites, ancient British philosophy and some of the lesser discussed Saints of Britain, following his return from an the region. Our Vicar will be worshipping with us the 2nd Sunday in each month throughout the coming seasons...