A group of ten clerics in the the City deanery of the diocese of London have announced their decision to establish an alternative “deanery chapter”, in protest at the decision to allow church blessings for same-sex couples.
In a video released on YouTube on Thursday, the Senior Minister of St Nicholas’s Cole Abbey, the Revd Chris Fishlock, and the Guild Vicar of St Botolph’s without Aldersgate, the Revd Phil Martin, outline plans for a new “City Deanery Chapter”.
“We hope that what we’re doing is, among other things, a helpful demonstration of the kind of structural differentiation which will be needed for many of us within the Church of England,” Mr Martin says on the video.
A statement from the diocese on Thursday afternoon described the initiative as a “unilateral move” with “no legal substance”.
Read it all (registration or subscription).
(Church Times) Ten London clergy launch differentiated deanery chapter over the recent controversial+schismatic decision to bless same-sex unions https://t.co/FIKm6TlKFP #anglican #parishministry #marriage #religion #ethics #scripture #uk
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 31, 2023