Newspapers broke the story this weekend, 14th to 15th June, that Martin Dudley, rector of St. Bartholomew the Great in London, has performed a ‘wedding’ on 31st May between two Anglican ministers. The service was named a ‘blessing’ of the ministers’ civil partnership, but used liturgy based on the wedding service in the Book of Common Prayer. The two men exchanged vows and rings. They then took communion. The service included hymns and readings and was in defiance of the Church of England’s strict guidance on same-sex ceremonies.
Martin Dudley stated that he was ‘not bothered about the “rules” because they are only guidelines.’ He said that the service was not a marriage ceremony and that he did not ‘offer’ blessing services, but was responding to a personal request from friends.
The Bishop of London, Rev Richard Chartres, said that ‘Services of public blessings for civil partnerships are not authorised in the Church of England or the Diocese of London.…I will be asking the Archdeacon of London to investigate what took place at the church of St Bartholomew the Great.’
News of the ceremony came just days before a summit of the Anglican Church’s conservative bishops and archbishops.
The courageous Bishop of Winchester, Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, said that the service was a wedding ‘in all but name’. ‘Strictly speaking it is not a marriage, but the language is clearly modelled on the marriage service and the occasion is modelled on the marriage service. This clearly flouts Church guidelines and will exacerbate divisions within the Anglican Communion.’ Henry Orombi, the Archbishop of Uganda, said that it was blasphemous.
Andrea Minichiello Williams said that it was extremely disappointing that a church within the Church of England should be leading the way on blurring the distinction between marriage and civil partnerships. ‘It's the role of the church to show that marriage is a lifelong commitment between a man and a woman. The church should set the standard that God has given for marriage and not reflect the direction in which society is going. When the Civil Partnership Act was passed the Government stated quite clearly that this was not marriage but a civil partnership. In this we see two men trying to stretch what the law was intended to mean.’
It is a sad day for the Church when ministers are the ones to initiate the blurring of the distinction between marriage and homosexual partnerships, especially when it is the role of that institution to stand for marriage as the commitment between one man and one woman for life. We should encourage and support our church leaders to be bold and to speak up on this issue.
For press reports on the story, click on the links below:
The Guardian, 15th June: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/15/religion.gayrights.
The Times, 15th June: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4139433.ece.
The Telegraph, 14th June: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2130724/First-gay-%27wedding%27-Only-the-bride-was-missing.html.