Letter to the Church Times

From The Revd Dr Peter Toon
Sir,

In your editorial of 13 June on the nomination of Jeffrey John to the bishopric of Reading, you write: “People might have questions about his earlier life, but sexual history is not usually something with which the Church concerns itself. Most couples now cohabit before marriage, and yet the Church does not consider marrying them confers some approval of this…”

You are suggesting that it is not necessary or appropriate to consider the (publicly known) sexual history of one who is either to be ordained/consecrated or married in church. Perhaps in most cases with respect to marriage it is “not necessary”; but, in the former case of consecration to the episcopate it is “necessary”. How a priest has behaved publicly and what he has taught in the Church certainly ought to be “something with which the Church concerns itself” in choosing a bishop.

Your argument may well fit into a modern church morality based on human rights and be the norm in some dioceses for the choosing of ordinands. However, the Church of yesterday had a different approach. One has only to look at canon law to see this. Not only was repentance of heart and mind looked for but also public penance was imposed for sins, offences & irregularities against God’s law and Church law. Such penance included non-admission to Holy Communion and/or suspension or removal from an office of ordained ministry.

Fornication and adultery of any kind are still sins as far as God, the Bible and the Formularies of the Church are concerned. And they are still sins when committed by affable, attractive and gifted persons.

What is not considered in your editorial is this possibility - that for the eternal salvation & spiritual health of the person himself, as well as for the holiness, edification and good name of Church of God, he who has been a fornicator or an adulterer [or involved in a sexual partnership] while ordained, be not considered for any preferment, even if he has turned from that sin, sought forgiveness and has been through a period of penance.

Ordination or consecration is not a human right but a gift of the exalted Lord Christ to his Church for the edification and holiness of that Church, and it has always been the case that certain irregularities constitute the possibility of exclusion or expulsion from the sacred Ministry. In this day and age, it can surely be argued that for the true good of the Church of God and for the man’s own spiritual and moral progress, a priest who has been in a homosexual partnership or an adulterous relationship or is divorced [and remarried] ought to be excluded from preferment to the office of bishop. He may be an excellent person in terms of gifts, abilities and energy but he has no right to preferment because of them. Let him in penitence excel in the presbyterate and therein reveal the mercy of God.

Peter Toon,
The Rectory,
Biddulph Moor, ST8 7HP