Our friend, Ann, posted at the Episcopal Café, the story of the wedding of two Church of England priests, both men, with the liturgy for the ceremony taken from the Book of Common Prayer, with only slight adaptations. Ann links to the actual bulletin of the litrurgy itself. A nice precedent out of the CofE. I wonder what will come of this.
The ceremony for The Rev. Peter Cowell, Priest Vicar at Westminster Abbey, and the Rev. Dr. David Lord was held at The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great in London..
Check it out.
UPDATE: Here's a link to the article in the Telegraph on the ceremony from Thinking Anglicans.
Archbishop Orombi of Uganda calls it "blasphemous" and demands that the Archbishop of Canterbury act quickly to prevent the "disintegration" of the "Anglican Church". To which Anglican Church does Abp. Orombi refer? Surely not the Anglican Communion, because the Anglican Communion is most definitely not a church, although some have taken to calling it that.
Thanks to Susan S. in the comments for the tip.
UPDATE 2: More from the Daily Mail.
No good will come of it, sadly. Someone's going to be in a whole heap of trouble.
ReplyDeleteHow sad!
DP, good will come of it, just as in the civil rights struggle in the US, lots of folks were in trouble, but they kept on pushing. In the end, it's going to be put right, but in the meantime, people are going to get hurt.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about this, but also know it will cause great upheavals. A big leap forward, and maybe a few steps backward in the future. Still good though. I'm glad to read about it here.
ReplyDeleteThis will get the CoE closet queens in a HUGE tizzy!
ReplyDeleteThere's a link to brit news articles at this Thinking Anglicans
ReplyDeleteentry.
DP, I agree with Grandmère on this. Good will come. In MLK's Letter from a Birmingham Jail he said, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was 'well timed' in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation." Even though he was talking about racial segregation, the principle works just the same with any other segregated group, based on any other criterion, such as sexual orientation. The ones being oppressed and those who love and care for them must ultimately demand what is right from the oppressor or nothing will ever change.
ReplyDeleteSome individuals will be hurt in the short haul, but the long-term results will be the positive change that everyone is seeking.
I have no idea about proper church protocol and policy, but Libby Holman speaks for me.
ReplyDeleteCounterlight, excellent. Libby speaks for me, too.
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly going to set the cat among the pigeons on the eve of Lambeth. Developments should be interesting. As to Henry Orombi, some of us found his celebrated, uninhibited hymn of praise to right-wing American baksheesh pretty blasphemous as well.
ReplyDelete"... they support us, they give us money. Oh they give us money. Since we began to relate with our orthodox brethren they have given us much more money, much more money, oh yeah, much more money. They have given us more money."
Look to the beam in your own eye, Orombi.
I am ecstatically happy for the couple and the change they represent. Change only comes through courageous people taking a stand against injustice.
ReplyDeleteThis should certainly make Lambeth more interesting!
I hope all goes well for the couple. They are going to be in the middle of a storm, and that's no way to start a marriage.
ReplyDeleteLapin, you're right. Money is changing hands in mysterious and not so mysterious ways.
ReplyDeleteArchbishop Williams will have to spend time tending to his own back yard, and perhaps a little less time chastising the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada for not keeping their yards in shape.
I'm sure that the Reverends, Dudley, Cowell, and Lord had an inkling of what they would be facing as a result of their actions. I offer prayers for all concerned.
In all of this the media/press are being quite michievous, and are displaying a high degree of ignorance with regard to what actually happened in St. Barts that day.
ReplyDeleteThis was no revolutionary step of liturgy. It was also not a Wedding. It was simply the formal blessing of a civil marriage, and thus in total accord with the Prayer Book, and the bishop's guidelines regarding pastoral need and sensitivity.
For the record: According to English Canons (the book, not the clergy ;-} ) a "marriage" may only be conducted either after the publishing of Banns of Marriage or else by Special Archbishop's Licence. In this case neither apply.
In all this uneccessary fuss my prayers are for the dear couple. May they be happy and blessed!
RR, thanks for shedding light here. I didn't think it was a marriage either. They'd already had a civil ceremony. Why then are Archbishop Orombi, Bishop of Winchester Scott-Joynt, Tory MP Cormack, and Alison Ruoff of the General Synod in an uproar?
ReplyDeleteI might also be mischievous and suggest that these self-important people are against any recognition that a same sex relationship has any value in their model of society and the Church.
ReplyDeleteBut of course I wouldn't dream of saying such a thing!
But of course I wouldn't dream of saying such a thing!
ReplyDeleteCertainly not!
Geez I realize Catholics have had their problems but most of the so called "Christian" churches in the world have gone to hell, literally!
ReplyDeletethank God for the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Church.
Anonymous, please sign a name when commenting here, so we can distinguish you from other anonymous commenters.
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful that you don't get to judge who goes to hell. When the sheep are separated from the goats, we may all be surprised when we see who goes where.
I humbly agree, Grandmere, and I hope that your anonymous poster isn't sitting in judgment in eternum.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to sheep and goats, as a breeder of Labradors, I have finally "gone to the dogs!" I need no other animals!
RR, if you need no other animals, then I suppose we won't meet in the sweet bye-and-bye. Baa, baa.
ReplyDeleteYup, anonymous, two men swearing undying love and honor to each other....what a vision of hell, to be sure.
ReplyDeletethank you for yet again reminding me why I am no longer part of that misogynistic, homophobic, patriarchal, authoritarian and cruelly inhuman organization, the Roman Catholic Church.
IT
I personally (the previous anonymous poster addressed his remarks to me) have a problem with same sex relationships.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem with a Christian church recognizing that union with the sanctity of MARRIAGE.
As a Catholic, I have no problem with civil unions, or governmental marriages. In fact I 100% support them. I want Homosexuals to worship in the holy church even if they have active sexuality with members of the same sex.
I am just relieved that there will NEVER be a same sex union celebration in the Church.
I personally **DO NOT*** have a problem.............
ReplyDeleteSorry mistyped!!!
A Freudian slip?
ReplyDeleteI was formerly a Roman Catholic, but now I'm Episcopalian and catholic.
I am just relieved that there will NEVER be a same sex union celebration in the Church.
Why would a same-sex union in the church disturb you so? What harm would come to you if that happened?
Please, make up a name, and sign with it. You don't have to register.
Sure my name is Mark and I know plenty of homosexuals (my uncle is one, as is my cousin.).
ReplyDeleteI believe the dogma of the Catholic church is 100% right and proper, therefor I believe in a Male priesthood, the validity of marriage, and so on and so forth.
I do not see this as an issue, as long as the government and society at large gives the same rights and responsibility's to all people, that is great.
An organization that is 2,000 years old and (if you believe) was started by God itself, that is an entirely different matter.
Mark, thanks for the name. I'm glad that you agree that lesbians and gays should have the same civil rights at the rest of us. There we agree.
ReplyDeleteIf you mean to say that the Roman Catholic Church is the one true manifestation of the Body of Christ, then we disagree. If I believed that, I would hardly have left, would I?
"Why then are Archbishop Orombi, Bishop of Winchester Scott-Joynt, Tory MP Cormack, and Alison Ruoff of the General Synod in an uproar?"
ReplyDeleteBecause that's their raison d'etre. The lovely Alison was in a tizzy on BBC TV news last night demanding that they all be unfrocked.
What a silly woman!
What is she for?
Do not read the Daily Mail ever. It is wicked and evil.
ReplyDeleteDP, I get your message about the Daily Mail.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I believe that some folks take joy in living in a more or less constant state of umbrage.
It's not just that. The Daily Mail tries to whip up "Middle England" into a frenzy of fear against "the other", gays, foreigners - especially assylum seekers and refugees, Muslims and particularly the E.U.
ReplyDelete"Its all a plot and only we will print the truth." Except they don't: they stereotype, exaggerate, spread rumour and innuendo and always put the worst interpretation on any story. Why let factual innacuracy get in the way of a good story?