There was a live interview this morning (29th June) by the BBC of the Bishop of Liverpool on the controversy surrounding the recent appointment of Dr John to the suffragan bishopric of Reading in the diocese of Oxford. (Today also there is an interview in the London Sunday Times with the Bishop of Oxford, where he defends his appointment of Dr John.)
The Bp of Liverpool is an attractive evangelical spokesman who does not support the ordination of active homosexual persons because he accepts a traditional sexual ethic. However, his way to solve this controversy will open the door for the acceptance as a norm of such persons into the ordained Ministry.
First of all, he wants the Church to go back as it were to a point before the appointment of Dr John (i.e., he wants a way to be found to cancel this appointment) and then he wants there to be a full debate in the C of E leading to a vote in the General Synod about this matter.
The model he offers is significantly that of the process the C of E went through over the ordination of women. There was debate; there was a vote in favour; and importantly there was provision for people who in good conscience could not accept the innovation. In the latter case the provision was of "flying Bishops".
The fact that he insists that the informed consciences of church members should be respected and honoured means that, as in the debate over women and ordination, there will be the majority and the minority (and people caught in the middle not knowing what to think). If the majority is in favour of accepting the rights of those who wish to be active homosexual persons, then suitable provisions will have to be made for the evangelicals, anglo-catholics and traditionalists whose consciences tell them that all forms of active homosexuality are wrong before God. If the majority is in the other direction then likewise there will need to be provisions for the rights of those who wish to be active homosexual persons in the church.
By using the model of the process to resolution of the question of women's ordination, the Bishop has ensured that the Lesbigay lobby has already achieved one of its major goals in the Church of England - and done so in the thinking of evangelical bishops - that of the acceptance of the claims of active homosexual persons to be doing what is within the sexual morality of the Church. In fact, while he holds to the authority of Scripture, he has conceded that for practical purposes the morality approved by the Church of England has to be based on modern theories of human rights!
In contrast, the Roman Catholic Church through the Vatican is in the process of putting in place rules which will make it extremely difficult for a person who says he is homosexually inclined to be ordained in the future.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)
No comments:
Post a Comment