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[AI] Same-sex ceremony conducted with Oxford bishop's permission

Posted on May 24, 2016 by The_Elves

The acting Bishop of Oxford authorized one of his clergy to perform a same-sex blessing. On 3 May 2016 the Rev. Charlotte Bannister-Parker, (pictured) an associate priest at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford presided over the blessing of the marriage of the Rev. Mpho Tutu and Dr. Marceline van Furth at Sir Richard Branson’s Mont Rochelle Hotel in the Western Cape.
……
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Oxford said: “The Revd Charlotte Bannister-Parker accepted the invitation of Mpho Tutu to lead a celebration of her marriage to Marceline van Furth in her capacity as a friend of the family. She did so with the permission of both the Bishop of Saldanha Bay, the Rt Revd Raphael Hess, and the Acting Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Colin Fletcher.”

Read it all and an update with some wriggling from the Diocese of Oxford here

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

3 comments on “[AI] Same-sex ceremony conducted with Oxford bishop's permission”

  1. Pageantmaster Ù† says:
    May 25, 2016 at 6:20 am

    “No, you really don’t understand,” said Ms Phibalott, Communications Officer for the Diocese of Oxford, “The unsubstantiated public allegations of conducting a marriage or blessing made against a member of the clergy of the diocese are scurrilous and untrue and are made in a manner against all biblical principles of appropriate behaviour.”

    “The Reverend Charmaine Newell-Post has not conducted a service of marriage or blessing – that has already taken place. This was just a friendly celebration of that marriage, with just a few friendly prayers and friendly hopes that God will look favorably on this couple invoked in a friendly and informal manner. Not a marriage or a blessing but more a consequence – a Service of Consequence if you like, all according to the rites of the church for services of consequences”

    “As for the joining of hands, that is not what happened at all, the Reverend Charmaine [103] was about to topple over and the couple reached out to steady her in a friendly manner – did I mention that she is a friend of the couple?”

    “The diocese hopes that the Chuckle Brothers will withdraw their allegations that Bishop Donker gave permission to conduct a marriage or blessing. Any further clarification can be obtained from Messrs Sue, Grabbit and Runne.”

  2. Milton says:
    May 25, 2016 at 9:53 pm

    Yes, Pageantmaster, it all does seem rather Lewis Carrollish and Wonderlandish, does it not? The Anglican Church seems able to believe six impossible and contradictory things before breakfast.

  3. Pageantmaster Ù† says:
    May 27, 2016 at 2:24 am

    #3 That it does, Milton.

    It is the Humpty-Dumpty school of wordmanship that they have all been to: Ms Phibalott, Bishop Idowu Fearon, Justin Welby, David Porter: Consequences, Celebrations not blessings, Indaba, Listening, Continuing Indaba, Conversations, Facilited Conversations, Bishops in Dialogue – to the rest of us it is all just word-abuse, and deeply dishonest. Just sickening.

    ‘I don’t know what you mean by “glory”,’ Alice said.

    Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. ‘Of course you don’t — till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘

    ‘But “glory” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument”,’ Alice objected.

    ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’

    ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’

    ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’

    Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. ‘They’ve a temper, some of them — particularly verbs: they’re the proudest — adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs — however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!’

    ‘Would you tell me please,’ said Alice, ‘what that means?’

    ‘Now you talk like a reasonable child,’ said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. ‘I meant by “impenetrability” that we’ve had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you’d mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don’t mean to stop here all the rest of your life.’

    ‘That’s a great deal to make one word mean,’ Alice said in a thoughtful tone.