Thinking Anglicans

Retired bishops voice concern over same sex relationships report

This is the text of the letter that has been published tonight. There is an accompanying press release which is copied below the fold.

OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND
February 11th 2017

Dear Fellow Bishop
The Bishops’ Report to Synod on Sexuality

Most retired bishops would be prepared to admit that participation in the synodical processes of the church are not what they most miss about their role as diocesan or suffragan bishops. They also feel some reticence about entering into the current debates occupying their successors on the basis of information that is partial and becomes more and more dated with the passing of the years. There is a dilemma, though: you don’t work for years as a bishop and then easily and suddenly lose the bond you feel for the bishops, your successors and former colleagues. Nor do you lose your concern that the church of which you continue to be a bishop should be faithful in its commendation of the Gospel to the society at large.

So when a report emerges that is the subject of major controversy within the church and society some retired bishops will wish to do what the signatories of this letter are seeking to do, namely to reflect from their particular perspective on what our successors are seeking to say and do about an issue that has been a longstanding source of concern and contention.

Your statement is the product of enormous time and effort, our memories of such situation suggesting perhaps too much time and too much effort. The ‘too much’ comes from the enormous sense of responsibility your document shows to manage a conflict that you and we know causes huge amounts of grief and argument. The result, dare we say, is that whereas it used to be said that bishops often sounded as though they spoke with a pipe in their mouths, now that pipes are rare they sound more as though they see their task as managing – rather than perhaps enabling or leading – the conflicts that are bound to occur. And we remember how exhausting that is, and how it seems to blunt the edge of bishops’ own passionate convictions, which might divide them but also invigorate the conversation.

You write after the Shared Conversations. We well remember having had lots of those, even if they did not have capital letters. But their integrity rested on the assurance that in reporting them the voices of those who participated would not be drowned out by the ‘majority view’ or ‘established position’. Our perception is that while the pain of LGBT people is spoken about in your report, we do not hear its authentic voice. Our experience would lead us to doubt whether there was an expectation around that canons and doctrinal statements would be changed within any reasonable timescale, and that focus seems to have taken far more time than it would have done if the authentic voices of lesbian and gay people had been allowed to express the major focus of their hopes. Going down the road of seeking a change in the law or doctrinal formulation would indeed not have been realistic – but you might not have had to spend as much time explaining why if those other voices had been allowed to come through more clearly.

The result of that focus on the issue of a change in the law is that your call for change of tone and culture, while absolutely right, does not carry conviction. Indeed, from the perhaps luxurious perspective of retirement the tone and culture of your document are incredibly familiar – we’ve been there and talked in that tone of voice, and it prevents calls for a change of culture, of course offered in complete sincerity by you, from ringing true.

We’ll avoid making too many detailed points just now; but hard as you have tried you have really not allowed the theological voice of some of us to be heard properly. In para 8 you draw a contrast between ‘the many who [hold] a conservative view of scripture [for whom] the underlying issue at stake is faithfulness to God’s word’ and others for whom ‘the imperative to read scripture differently stems from a parallel conviction’. If the second group are to recognise their voice in theological conversations their ‘parallel conviction’ needs to be expressed and not just alluded to.

May we end by assuring you that we continue to sympathise with the challenging nature of the task you have in this and other matters. You will receive much negative comment about your report, and we hope that these brief remarks may illuminate the reason for that: it is not that the Shared Conversations were thought to herald changes of law or doctrine; rather there will be deep disappointment that those who are not officially part of your meetings, who experience at first hand the struggles you only allude to, have once again been spoken about by their bishops instead of being enabled to speak in their own voice about their future and the future of the church they belong to and care about.

Yours sincerely in Christ

The Rt Revd Dr David Atkinson, formerly Bishop of Thetford
The Rt Revd Michael Doe, formerly Bishop of Swindon
The Rt Revd Dr Timothy Ellis, formerly Bishop of Grantham
The Rt Revd David Gillett, formerly Bishop of Bolton
The Rt Revd John Gladwin, formerly Bishop of Guildford and of Chelmsford
The Rt Revd Dr Laurie Green, formerly Bishop of Bradwell
The Rt Revd the Lord Harries of Pentregarth DD, formerly Bishop of Oxford
The Rt Revd Stephen Lowe, formerly Bishop of Hulme
The Rt Revd Dr Stephen Platten, formerly Bishop of Wakefield
The Rt Revd John Pritchard, formerly Bishop of Oxford
The Rt Revd Dr Peter Selby, formerly Bishop of Worcester
The Rt Revd Tim Stevens, formerly Bishop of Leicester
The Rt Revd Roy Williamson, formerly Bishop of Bradford and of Southwark
The Rt Revd Martin Wharton CBE, formerly Bishop of Newcastle

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RETIRED BISHOPS VOICE CONCERN OVER SAME SEX RELATIONSHIPS REPORT

Fourteen retired bishops have taken the unprecedented step of intervening in the Church of England’s controversial debate over Same Sex Marriage, warning that the bishops appear to be “managing rather than enabling and leading” the debate.
The group, led by the former Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Revd Peter Selby, has broken with convention to write an open letter to all bishops in the Church of England criticising their recent report on Same Sex Marriage ahead of a debate in General Synod on Wednesday 15th February.

Whilst as retired bishops they “feel some reticence” about entering into the debate, they explain they have done so because of their concern that a report that does not allow the authentic voice of LGBT people to be heard or the real theological argument to be advanced will not enable the church to engage credibly with wider society.

They suggest that the report has taken the shape it has because bishops today have a tendency to “see their task as managing – rather than perhaps enabling or leading” the debate. They admit this task can be “exhausting” and can “blunt the edge of bishops’ own passionate convictions”.

Reflecting on the Shared Conversations, they believe that the report would only have integrity if it honoured “the assurance that the voices of those who participated would not be drowned out by the ‘majority view’ or ‘established position’”. On the contrary, they assert that “our perception is that while the pain of LGBT people is spoken about in your report, we do not hear its authentic voice.”

The authors are concerned that their colleagues decided to focus too much on why it was not possible to change church law regarding same sex marriage, so much so that “that focus seems to have taken far more time than it would have done if the authentic voices of lesbian and gay people had been allowed to express the major focus of their hopes.” As such, they believe that the bishops’ “call for change of tone and culture, while absolutely right, does not carry conviction.”

The most stinging criticism is left till last, where the authors believe that the bishops “have really not allowed the theological voice of some of us to be heard properly.” Quoting from the report which briefly recognises that there are those who hold a different interpretation of scripture to the traditional interpretation, they argue that “this “parallel conviction” …needs to be expressed and not just alluded to”, a view shared by many other vocal critics of the report.

The letter ends by acknowledging that “there will be deep disappointment that those who are not officially part of your meetings, who experience at first hand the struggles you only allude to, have once again been spoken about by their bishops instead of being enabled to speak in their own voice about their future and the future of the church they belong to and care about.”
ENDS

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

37 Comments
Oldest
Newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Anthony Archer
Anthony Archer
7 years ago

This is a highly significant intervention and one that the House of Bishops in particular and the General Synod and wider Church in general should reflect on carefully.

Cynthia
Cynthia
7 years ago

The retired bishops really get it. The voice of the LGBTQI people was not heard or reflected in any way, regardless of the “shared conversations.” And the current bishops refuse to respect that there are alternate ways to interpret Scripture and they only seem to uphold one very loud minority view, though it is the status quo. The retired bishops also get the pain to LGBTQI people. I, for one, am deeply grateful to finally hear voices of compassion from CoE leadership, even if they are retired.

Susannah Clark
7 years ago

The letter flags up the glaring partisan and one-sidedness of the Bishops’ discussions and report. Not a single LGBT+ bishop was invited to join the working group, and in the final report the bishops do not even mention the possibility of accepting diverse views – or the ‘Unity in Diversity’ approach – instead opting to placate conservatives in other Provinces, and encouraging an imposed uniformity of doctrine. It is the Anglican Covenant re-booted. After all the vulnerable sharing, and all the conversations, LGBT people are talked “about” by the Bishops. They are offered scraps like a better ‘tone’ but in… Read more »

Michael Ardern Mason
Michael Ardern Mason
7 years ago

Impressive critique by the ex bishop of Worcester‬. When I wrote to the Bishop of Blackburn asking if he would be interested in hearing the views of a married gay Anglican, he said he would be in touch, “if the moment comes when it would be good to hear your views, in addition to those I have already heard”. He has not been in touch!

Marian
Marian
7 years ago

I find it interesting that several of these bishops would have been seen as representing the evangelical wing of the church during – and certainly prior to – their episcopate.

Daniel Lamont
Daniel Lamont
7 years ago

I entirely agree with Anthony Archer. This unprecedented intervention coming on top of the widespread criticism of the Bishops’ report should make the House of Bishops pause for thought. It would be statesmanlike if the Bishops were to listen to the discussions at Synod and elsewhere and, instead of asking Synod to take note, announce that they will review the report in the light of what they have heard and issue a revised document. However, I don’t think that they have either the courage or the nous to do this. It is clear that, before we start, the report in… Read more »

Peter Seddgwick
Peter Seddgwick
7 years ago

What is disappointing about the Bishops’ report is how weak it is as a statement of Anglican moral theology. Look back at the 1958 Lambeth statement on the family in contemporary society and you find a far better expression. Anglican moral theology is not just of interest for retired academics like myself. It should come through the statements of the Bishops. Sadly this one falls far short. It is not about being liberal or conservative but how one reasons. This report falls back on the legal position to stop argument. That is very sad.

Sister Mary
Sister Mary
7 years ago

There’s a difference between “welcome” and “accept.” In this matter Welcome is PC, Accept is Gospel.

Every reformer is charged with flouting tradition. But Tradition is the still-living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Which did Jesus opt for? What did Paul espouse?

Ask the 14 retired bishops.

Father Ron Smith
7 years ago

What an important intervention. Brave Bishops!

badman
badman
7 years ago

I hope the result is the same as the Anglican Covenant and for the same reasons.

High international church politics comes after and not before pastoral work with the flock on our own hillside. The great commandment is to love the neighbour and the Good Samaritan looks after the man actually in front of him in the road.

Let’s hope the vote is against the Report as it was against the Anglican Covenant.

Fr John E. Harris-White
Fr John E. Harris-White
7 years ago

A very salutary, and apposite statement from retired Bishops who have in their ministry faced these issues, listen to their flock, and were the force which lead to these Conversations. The present College of Bishops lack theology, history in their thought pattern. Like the ABC they are cold hearted, headed managers, and very lacking in spiritual leadership, and pastoral love. The synod must listen to the voice of our retired Bishops, and act positively. The College of Bishops would do well to go back to their report, rewrite their work again, after listening to the actual LGBTI bishops, clergy and… Read more »

Steve Thomas
Steve Thomas
7 years ago

Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female…

= the heterosexual creation ordinance – valid & non-negotiable – from creation to judgment day.

R L Dibblee
R L Dibblee
7 years ago

I belong to no interest group other than being an occasional church attendee. I am naïve to Anglican politics. It seems to me that how this issue is being dealt with is consonant with a general wider drift towards managerialism from the top, both in settling conflict and choosing appointees in the Anglican Church. If supporting the Dubs Amendment is the best that can be done in providing leadership within the Church at a time of unprecedented spiritual challenge – it disappoints.

Froghole
Froghole
7 years ago

Heard bishops Cottrell and Selby in different slots on Radio 4 at 7 AM this morning (en route to some parishes in Berkshire and Gloucestershire): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dmjzj. The bishop of Chelmsford was asked about the letter sent by the retirees, and was pretty defensive about it. Essentially he felt it problematic that some of the signatories were only very recently retired, and they could quite easily have had the courage of their convictions whilst they were in office. Dr Selby said in a later interview that he retired some time ago (2007), so could not speak for others. However, the bishop… Read more »

Edward Prebble
Edward Prebble
7 years ago

The retired bishops are indeed to be commended for this intervention.
Without in any way wanting to weaken that commendation, I note that some of them, e.g. Bishops Gladwin, Pritchard and Platten have retired quite recently, within the last couple of years. it is a pity that they did not speak out in this way while they were still in office. Presumably they felt constrained by the same considerations that seem to silence those currently serving bishops who may share their views.

Jeremy
Jeremy
7 years ago

“The determination to give priority to placating parts of the Anglican Communion over meeting the needs of the CofE will ultimately destroy the latter.”

Well said, Daniel Lamont. For that is indeed the risk.

Michael Mulhern
Michael Mulhern
7 years ago

I found Stephen Cotterell’s response to this intervention on Radio 4’s Sunday programme highly unsatisfactory. To respond to this with a ‘wry smile’ and then accuse the retired bishops of bequeathing the current shambles to the current House of Bishops is highly irresponsible. He, along with others (e.g. Manchester, Truro, Salisbury, Worcester, Lichfield, Exeter, Ely, Southwark, to name just a few) have either been content to collude with this Putinesque attempt to silence dissent; or lack the intellectual and moral rigour to argue against the majority. I don’t imagine for one moment that they are keeping quiet because the See… Read more »

Fr Andrew
Fr Andrew
7 years ago

“I note that some of them, e.g. Bishops Gladwin, Pritchard and Platten have retired quite recently, within the last couple of years”

Bp John Gladwin retired in 2009. Certainly when Bishop of Chelmsford he was active, vocal and open in his support for LBGT rights in the church and among his clergy. Same Bishop Green.

Andrew Lightbown
7 years ago

Peter Sedgwick is correct. This report contains no Anglican Moral Theology. It can’t because a highly manufactured version of supposed unity was the ‘virtue,’ that had to be arrived at at all other costs.

Lauri Roberts
Lauri Roberts
7 years ago

I agree totally with Michael Mulhern. I was rather shocked. The ‘wry smile’ constituted too much information, as it was neither appropriate nor in the least pastoral. I am not expecting anything helpful from the leaders of the C of E in my lefetime. I have given up on it, but I should have liked to see something positive and truly ethical from the bishops / General Synod for the sake of younger people, and the English parishioners (i.e. public). I no longer feel able to worship in the C of E – I could nt ‘stomach it’. But other… Read more »

Susannah Clark
7 years ago

At time of writing (Monday 17:50) 5 more former bishops have added their names to the letter, and one serving bishop – the Bishop of Buckingham – as well as 500 other people so far.

If you wish, you can add your name as a supporter here:

https://retiredbishopsletter.com/sign-support

Edward Prebble
Edward Prebble
7 years ago

“Bp John Gladwin retired in 2009” Thank you, Fr Andrew, for your correction. I was depending solely on my memory, and should have taken the trouble to look these things up. Do remove Bp Gladwin from my generalisation. There are of course two interpretations we can take from newly retired bishops becoming bold with their statements. The first is the suggestion that currently serving bishops are constrained by various factors from voicing their convictions honestly. The second is that retirement leads very quickly to a new freedom and ability to see things more clearly. Maybe we need to pray for… Read more »

Lorenzo
Lorenzo
7 years ago

Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female…= the heterosexual creation ordinance – valid & non-negotiable – from creation to judgment day.

Sure, Steven Thomas, from the emergence of single cell organisms to the consumption of all things, ‘where none marry nor are given in marriage.’ I read no such heterosexual ordinance creation ordinance.

Lauri Roberts
Lauri Roberts
7 years ago

‘If you wish, you can add your name as a supporter here:’

https://retiredbishopsletter.com/sign-support

Thanks Suzannah for this.

Unfortunately, it won’t take signatures at the moment.

Steve Thomas
Steve Thomas
7 years ago

Dear Lorenzo – the heterosexual creation ordinance, reiterated by Jesus, defining God’s parameter for marriage – between a man and his female wife:

Matthew 19:4  And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 
5  And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 
6  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 

James Byron
James Byron
7 years ago

Stephen Cottrell makes a compelling point about bishops speaking up only in retirement, instead of having the courage of their convictions while in office. Unfortunately for him, yet another so-called liberal who refuses to go to bat for LGBT people, it’s self-defeating in the extreme. I hope, when this sordid mess is finally put to rest, and equality achieved, the CoE takes a long, hard look at how it appoints its bishops, recognizes the low-caliber bench it has at present as the fruit of a structural problem, and initiates wholesale democratic reform. It points to a disturbing undercurrent. Why, out… Read more »

Lorenzo
Lorenzo
7 years ago

I can read, Steven, and thank you for the reference, I suspect most of us here had never come across it before. Jesus had a different understanding of creation than we do now. It is demonstrably untrue that ‘in the beginning G-d created us male and female.’ He did not. Furthermore, our Lord was trying to give a scriptural justification for his jettisoning of the right for husbands to give their wives an act of repudiation (a geet in Hebrew) by (binyan av min shnei ketuvim) combining two apparently unrelated passages of the Torah to ground a ruling on a… Read more »

Fr Andrew
Fr Andrew
7 years ago

“heterosexual creation ordinance,” @ Steve Thomas

Strange, but your Matthew proof text looks like Jesus’ answer to a question about divorce to me.

I wonder, if it’s so central, so important, so first order, why Jesus waited till someone asked him a question about something else till he proclaimed heterosexuality for all?

Jo
Jo
7 years ago

I’m not sure you can take a statement aimed at supporting a teaching about divorce and apply it to something not even alluded to, never mind mentioned, in the passage.

Fr John E. Harris-White
Fr John E. Harris-White
7 years ago

Lauri, so glad you both have found your spiritual welcoming home. My husband and myself find we are truly welcome at our cathedral in the Episcopal church in Scotland.

Curiosity Lauri what is RSof F. Forgive my ignorance

Mary Clara
Mary Clara
7 years ago

Religious Society of Friends? – that would be my guess.

David Emmott
David Emmott
7 years ago

‘The choice made by the bishops is, essentially (as I see it) a financial question: is the Church to lose the well-organised conservative evangelicals or is it to lose the relatively diffuse LGBT community and their ‘straight’ allies? I think we know who has the numbers and, therefore, the finance.’ (Froghole) Why doesn’t somebody call their bluff over this? I live in one of the most ‘evangelical’ dioceses of the C of E, and I don’t know of any parish that [a] has sufficient numbers and financial power, and [b] a conservative consensus. Undoubtedly there are a few such places… Read more »

Fr John E HARRIS-WHITE
Fr John E HARRIS-WHITE
7 years ago

Thank you Mary Clara, makes good sense.

Froghole
Froghole
7 years ago

@David Emmott: Many thanks for your comment. I have travelled around c. 30+ dioceses (though not, alas, yours – as I am not within range). Numbers are devastatingly bad almost everywhere. Practically the only successful churches I have encountered are in the evangelical bracket, which I appreciate covers a range of opinion. Most of these are, I suspect, theologically conservative to some degree. However, I would attribute about 20% of their success to their doctrinal ‘robustness’ and much of the rest to their being in demographically favourable (i.e., white British, middle class and suburban) locations and because they are much… Read more »

Laurie Roberts
Laurie Roberts
7 years ago

Fr.John thanks so much, and it’s great you both have a welcome and settled there. It always sounds like a good place to me.

RSoF is the Religious Society of Friends, known as Quakers.

Steve Thomas
Steve Thomas
7 years ago

Yes – Jesus is talking about marriage – defining it as male-female. The main point being to repudiate divorce of such that God joins together – and in so doing, reiterated the God-ordained parameters from creation. There is no getting away from it. (and why ever would anyone want to?) Peace to all – nothing patronising intended.

James Byron
James Byron
7 years ago

“This suggests to me that the premium placed on ritual and order by many clergy is misplaced, and that what people value more is a sense of collaboration and fellowship within a ‘vibrant’ yet informal situation.” Thank you, Froghole, exactly what I’ve been saying for a good while now! In sticking to traditional worship, liberal churches are stylistically inaccessible to the majority of people. Whatever the reasons liberal churches have for cleaving to rigid liturgy and historical music — whether as compensation for radical theology, or mere stylistic preference — it’s killing a rich theological tradition. There’s a place for… Read more »

37
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x