Government ministers are considering proposals to change a historic Parliamentary chapel into a multi-faith room, so that it can be used to conduct same-sex ‘marriages’.
Exempt
Under the Government’s Marriage (Same Sex Couple) Bill, St Mary Undercroft will be unable to perform same-sex ‘marriages’ since the Church of England will be exempt from the legislation.
But as a way around the exemption, homosexual MP Chris Bryant proposed that the Anglican chapel be opened to multi-faith groups as the Public Bill Committee considered the details of the Bill in the House of Commons.
Assist
Equalities Minister, Helen Grant, has promised to “assist” the Labour MP, and has asked the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to look into the proposals.
St Mary Undercroft is a “royal peculiar”, which means that permission for the plans to go ahead will be needed from the Queen due to her role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
Mr Bryant also wrote to John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, asking for the restrictions to be lifted to enable same-sex 'marriages' to be performed in the chapel.
In response, Mr Bercow allegedly expressed support for the plans, and has asked Lt Gen David Leakey, the parliamentary official responsible for the chapel, to examine the proposals further.
Removed
The controversial plans, which would see all Christian symbols removed from the chapel, have been criticised by the Commons chaplain Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin who said:
“The query that Mr Bryant has put through is complex and we can’t just send out a response to say this is what it is going to be. Although it is a royal peculiar it still comes under the banner of the Church of England, so there are a number of issues to be considered.”
She added: “There is a space on the Parliamentary estate where people of other faiths have access. The chapel is the chapel.
Respect
“When I go to a country of another religion I don’t say to them 'you have got to fit that to my requests because I am in your country’. I simply would not expect them to say, 'well this is a mosque but let’s make it into something else.’ We respect other faiths and we make provisions and that is what we have done.”
St Mary Undercroft has been a Christian place of worship for over700 years and has been used for worship by the Court and the Royal household.
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