Traditionalists in the Anglican Church have been angered after two gay clergymen exchanged vows in a version of a marriage ceremony.
The service, at St Bartholomew the Great Church in the City of London last month, used formal rites.
The Reverend Peter Cowell and the Reverend Dr David Lord were already civil partners.
Critics say the ceremony flouted guidelines, but the vicar who conducted it said church rules were not broken.
The couple are said to have exchanged vows and rings in front of hundreds of guests in the event thought to be the first of its kind in the Anglican Church.
Onward Homosexualist soldiers
Marching as to war!
With the culture lockstepped,
The ABC ignore!
Like a mighty army
Move the Church of God,
Changing all her teaching
To serve the blessed rod!
Amen (9-fold, preferably in polyphony, as prophetic of the waiting polyamory blessings)
The second most troubling aspect of this article is the assumption that the sole (or most important) factor in the commotion is “anger”.
Anger has very little to do with it.
I think that the propagandist uses the term “anger” in hopes to convince people of the unrighteousness of their position and the fact that “anger” is a temporary emotion and will soon subside.
Don
I think he’s in for a long wait.
I have read that the article has been updated. Does anyone have a link to the updated article?
Hmm – once again one finds an [url=http://www.greatstbarts.com/american.html]American link[/url]. I remember it cropping up previously in a story about Great St Bart’s. Much as it turned out that the church where the Gay Eucharist was held was the one where Jim Rosenthal was I think a deacon.
Are we seeing the dead hand of TEC reaching out to the Church of England? Do we wish to take on the same failed church status as they have?
It’s an infection, Pageantmaster, that is spreading through the inability or unwillingness of the ABC to apply even the mildest of salves when it was but a scratch in 2003. Now entire limbs of the AC are gangrenous and will require amputation if the Communion is to survive.
History will remember ++Rowan as the inert fool that fiddled as his church burned.
I just listened to the priest who performed the ceremony wriggling round the BBC interviewer’s questions about the rite used and whether permission had been given by the Bishop of London. The priest’s explanations were specious and his use of language imprecise. He admitted that the Bishop had forbidden him to “offer” same sex blessings and construed that to mean that he was free to bless such unions if persons desiring them asked him rather than his asking them!!
The campaign for blessings of such relationships rather than for their marriage has been an attempt to obfuscate intent. Matrimony is clearly defined in the Prayer Book rite and the Catechism, at least in the US church. Blessings of persons or objects are to my knowledge nowhere officially defined, nor a theology offered. Obviously it has seemed easier to campaign for something not defined rather than for a sacramental rite clearly defined and limited by our formularies. If this be the case then we have a clear demonstration of “political” expediency.
I eagerly await the pontifical pronouncement of Dr. Radner and his colleagues at ACI. Perhaps they will show us that Williams’ non-reaction is a further demonstration of his deep ecclesiology. Maybe they can continue to urge us to remain in this decadent and dying institution.
#8 Be careful what you wish for. I have had a pop at Fulcrum which elicited a response and you at ACI. Now, who’s next?
Rowan?
Sentanu?
Is there ANYbody there?
Well. Looks like the homosexual activists have won. No one with a spine has taken to the field in this most recent slap.
The polity of the Church of England would suggest that the vicar in question should be disciplined by his bishop. In the Diocese of London that would probably initially be the Area Bishop for that part of the diocese or perhaps the Archdeacon.
I don’t think we will have to worry about stuff like this happening when England is a Caliphate. The same specious arguments were used to many nineteenth century clergymen in the C of E to justify their acts of defiance towards the Public Worship Regulation Act. Pity that we no longer have a Church Association to fight this kind of thing. How un-English and un-manly the C of E has become.
10, That’s not true. I hear that they are going to conduct an investigation. At the end of which the investigated parties will have been throurghly investigated and the investigated results reported to the investigative authorities who ordered the investigation. And they will, of course, take swift action to order a consultation with the authorities who need to be consulted with in order to conclude the investigation to everyone’s satisfaction or not.
Well, #13, I guess that’s one way of keeping otherwise-unemployable cronies and relatives off the streets. Just think, a million investigators pounding away at a million typewriters might just, in a million years, produce the deposition of a heretical priest!
Or not Jeffersonian, as the case may be. I think we should ask for another investigation, report and covenant. And probably a couple of meetings thrown in too.
Naturally, Br. Michael, followed by the ritual undercutting and obfuscation honed to a science by this ABC. More importantly, will the expense accounts be unlimited?
I’m a priest in the CoE who is – by and large – a fan of Rowan; who has gay friends and colleagues; who is more sympathetic than most on this blog to the ‘revisionist’ case.
I’m appalled by what this priest has done. If he doesn’t apologise – in the most straightforward way – he should be out.
None of us can apologise for the actions of others, of course – but I am truly sorry for the damage this has done. ‘Conservatives’, please know that some ‘liberals’ are fuming just as you are tonight.
The Pharisees were mere amateurs (see Mk 7:9-13) compared to the ability of the GLBTs to weasel-word their way around the laws of God and the regulations of the Church.
Blessings are meant to ask God to be at work in the blessed object/person in a way that fulfills what God has said the purpose that thing or person has in his design. Thus, we can bless hounds, asking God will fulfill his design for hunting in them, or boats that they would do what boats are supposed to do, float. We can bless bread and wine, that they may be a means of spiritual nourishment, feeding us with the broken body and shed blood of our Savior. We can bless a marriage that is a marriage as God intended — one man, one woman, one lifetime.
In theory, I suppose we could bless friendships, because God has given us relationships with others as part of our life together. My wife is my greatest earthly blessing, but I have other friends, both male and female, who have enriched my life greatly. My relationships with these other people do not include (and from my vows at marriage, could not legitimately include) sexual activity. Suppose I wanted to have my friendship with the guys in our congregation’s men’s group blessed? Or if I wanted to have friendship with one of the women I am close to blessed? In theory, one could ask for such blessings. What would they look like? They certainly would not be a marriage rite with a few slight changes made. The promises made in a marriage rite include and assume a sexually intimate relationship. Any rite of blessing for a friendship could not properly contain any presumption or even a hint of physical intimacy, because sexual relationships are not part of ordinary friendship.
Because the relationship in this news story clearly assumes a sexually intimate relationship, it is not just a friendship. It is an imitation marriage. It assumes that God will bless a relationship that includes acts that God has declared to be a grievous sin. God is not an idiot; he will not bless what he has condemned.
By their subterfuges, the clergy involved in this travesty may avoid Church discipline — but they cannot avoid God’s judgment. Nobody has a lawyer that good! (Unless of course, one repents and asks Jesus to be one’s Advocate.)
July 16, 1054. Cardinal Humbert places a bull of excommunication on the altar at Hagia Sophia. I’m so naive that if I’d been around back then I might have smiled and observed that the whole misunderstanding would blow over in time.
Like that, this whole affair is so far “above my pay grade” that I’m not angry. Dazed, yes, but not angry. Saddened, disillusioned. Not quite able to see God in the event – just the devil. The best I can come up with is a pithy, “God is testing us,” and “patience and perseverance.” The devil has done his work of deception, and he has done it well.
I feel sorry for those who participated in the ceremony, of course. And I lament that one of the great churches of Christendom has been defiled by this unholy ceremony. I worry that General Convention will soon take actions that would make it impossible for Christian people to say ordination vows with a straight face. Will people in the ordination process, who still know a call from God to ordained ministry, have to start over in a new denomination? Perhaps. Is it time to head down to the Baptist church? Maybe. There won’t be any gay weddings there, and they have nice boxes in front where we can check our brains on the way in. Sigh…and long, long sermons.
It’s not just an American or Canadian matter anymore. The infection has reached the heart. Amputation is no longer an option. Is the infection resistant to all antibiotics? Only one will cure it – a high dose of Godicillin. A radical and thorough cleansing of the Temple. And it would seem that the Doctors of the Church are looking everywhere else for some other solution.
I’ve been offering myself some comic relief by singing rude rugby songs about bishops, priests, and vicars. (All rugger songs are rude, some are about CofE clergy, and not a few are about same-sex relationships. Any would make the little ditty in #1 seem quite proper.) Even made up some new verses. [Note to Elves: no, not even THINKING about posting them. Well, not seriously.]
At some point, I’ll be able to pray, to chat with God about this. Not there yet, though. All I hear is the voice of the devil.
It makes me recall something which Dr. Ian Paisley once said, “…There’ll be a wailing and gnashing of teeth and for them that haven’t teeth’ll be provided”! Well, how does everyone like their new teeth?
I don’t know about the rest of you but I shall be reading the Commination along with my Morning Prayers.
Peter w this furthers your agenda. Don’t be upset, enjoy. It’s what you and other have been working for.
Br. Michael (#22),
Such a response is hardly courteous, unless you know the person in question to be insincere. Absent that knowledge, it would be better to say nothing if there is nothing good to be said.
For that matter, this incident can only assist the cause of the convenors of GAFCON. It may not prove to be such a great liberal achievement.
Jeremy, of course you are right and I apologize to peter w.
19. Ralph ,
I understand your dismay. My wife and I were Chrismated in the Orthodox Church on Holy Saturday and attended and communed at our first Pascha. My suggestion to you and yours would be to look at the theology of the Orthodox church. It’s pretty much church 33A.D. I’ve included a link for those so inclined. You are correct that RC and TEC ( USA and Canada..now appears CoE) have strayed not jsut off the path but off the precipice. Good luck in your search…just a reminder, protestant’s have little liturgy and most celebrate with “crackers and juice”.
Peace,
Barry
Sorry …here’s the link!
http://oca.org/
Thanks, #25. I actually feel much better after mocking the devil with several rude choruses of “Ring the Bell, Verger”!
It’s pithy, but the fact is that God is testing us, and we do need to be patient and persevere in the chaos that surrounds us, as our bishops wrestle with the demons. I actually AM angry, at God, for letting this happen. But, God works through people, so it is we who have let this happen. So, God once again gets blamed. Yes, he’s present in all of this – that still, small, patient voice asking that we trust Him as the devil painfully sifts us like wheat. We all have a lot of work to do. Jesus at the temple, Hercules and the stables…
In any case, no orthodox church in the environs. But again, thanks for the advice. Isn’t the real “cut-off” date for new theology circa 451? 🙂
Ralph,
I think 589AD the King Reccared incident in Toledo, Spain was where the unravelling began. Of course the edict and excommunication of the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1054 by the Pope sealed the deal. Then Calvin and Luther have moved the church even farther from her roots. Oh well! I still suggest looking at the Orthodox theology. As an anglican (TEC before the hooplah) I was pretty orthodox anyway. I really like the idea of “ancestral sin” as opposed to “original sin”. You might want to investigate that concept!
Peace,
Barry