LONDON, February 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conflict within the Anglican Communion over homosexuality, doctrinal liberalism and female clergy is being made manifest at the current meeting of the Church of England’s governing bodies. News reports issued on the same day reveal the Church of England’s General Synod proposing to extend pension benefits to the homosexual ‘partners’ of deceased gay clergy and allow female bishops. At the same time, a meeting of laity was reported as voting for the revival of tribunals for cases of doctrinal heresy.
While the lay members of the Synod ask for a re-commitment to traditional Christianity, the General Synod has continued down the path of liberalism with its decision to allow the partners of homosexual clergy to collect pension benefits. This decision, says the Telegraph, could cause some embarrassment to the bishops since it is still officially forbidden to ordain active homosexuals to the clergy.
The Church of England’s General Synod is made up of three bodies: the House of Laity, the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy. The Laity have called for the introduction of heresy tribunals to re-emphasize traditional Christian doctrines and ensure that these are taught faithfully by overwhelmingly liberal Anglican clergy.
Margaret Brown, a lay member from the Chichester diocese, said “It is far, far worse if we have a clergyman or clergywoman in the pulpit and they are preaching heresy and do not believe in the tenets of the faith, the Virgin Birth, the bodily resurrection of Christ and all the other tenets of the faith.”
A survey carried out in 2002 found that just 76 % of Anglican clergy believed Jesus Christ died to take away the sins of the world, 68 % believed Jesus rose physically from the dead and 53 % believed faith in Jesus was the only way they could be saved. Among women clergy, the figures were about 10 per cent lower in each category.
Today, the General Synod continues with a discussion on another divisive issue, that of female bishops. The Church of England has had female clergy since 1994 and women bishops are a feature of the Anglican communion in many countries. Warnings of another split like the one over female clergy in 1994 are coming from the traditional camp.
“There’s a real danger that the Church will break apart over this,” said the Reverend David Houlding, leader of the Anglo-Catholic group on the synod.
Each Anglican community around the world is independent so that decisions made in one country do not legislate for the Anglican churches in others. However, the Church of England is regarded as the mother church of Anglicanism around the world and its decisions are carefully watched by other communions.
With files from the Telegraph.