Flying home from his February Africa pilgrimage, Pope Francis held an unprecedented three-man press conference alongside Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the Church of England and some 85 million members in the global Anglican Communion, and the Right Rev. Iain Greenshields, this year’s titular head of the Church of Scotland (equivalent of the mainline U.S. Presbyterians).
These men personify three emerging approaches to same-sex revisionism that reporters will be observing. A fourth option,of course, is strict limitation of sex to heterosexual marriage, a doctrine articulated in the Catholic Catechism and shared by all churches until recently. For example, see this summary issued last week by the Rev. J.D. Greear, a former Southern Baptist Convention president.
In the West, many “mainline” Protestant groups have shifted to option one — full-on approval of same-sex relationships, exemplified by liturgies to celebrate church weddings. The Church of Scotland joined them last May as assembly delegates gave this change 67% support. (Dissenting clergy will not be forced to perform weddings they oppose in conscience.) This followed an earlier go-ahead in America’s largest Presbyterian denomination.
With option two, Pope Francis has not proposed any alteration in the Catholic teaching that same-sex acts are sinful, but is ambiguous about how Catholic churches should welcome and potentially bless gay people (see this earlier GetReligion post on a test case in Chicago). That and his other “dialogue” initiatives rile doctrinal traditionalists. Backed by Welby and Greenshields, Francis asserted that secular law should not criminalize people for gay acts -- a striking plea in Africa, where many nations outlaw gay activity and some impose the death penalty.
Then Archbishop Welby’s church made an historic decision for option three — half-way liberalization. This approach would continue to bar same-sex weddings, while approving church “blessing” ceremonies for such couples after their civil marriages (legal in England since 2013). After six years of formal nationwide church discussion, and more than eight hours of floor debate, the General Synod voted February 9 to “welcome” that policy, which the bishops approved in January.
The motion expressed repentance over past and present “harm that LGBTQI+ people have experienced” in church. Welby and the Archbishop of York jointly stated that their church “will publicly, unreservedly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples.” This includes sexually active same-sex couples? Debate continues on that point.
This decision by no means settles matters.
A leading liberal denounced mere blessings as an “insult,” and heavy pressure for weddings from inside and outside the Anglican church will continue unabated. On the right flank, the Evangelical Council warned that the blessings will produce “broken fellowship.” It’s unclear what that means, but journalists should note that Synod action needed approval from three groups tabulated separately. Only four bishops voted no, but blessings won only 57% support from clergy and a nail-biting 53% from the lay delegates.
Will the wider Anglican Communion now face an implicit or explicit split? Stay tuned.
That decision will focus on two young, growing organizations led by African, Asian and Latin American archbishops, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA). Journalists should note that their national-church branches collectively claim a heavy majority of the world’s Anglicans.
This brings us back to option number four, which could become quite newsworthy. GAFCON is asking Anglicans to consider what they should do “now that the mother Church has departed from biblical faith and morality.” GSFA says unspecified “decisive steps” are now needed and questions Welby’s “fitness” to continue leading world Anglicanism. GSFA leaders began immediate discussions and GAFCON holds a potentially crucial world confab in Rwanda April 17-21.
A second major international event occurs when Catholic bishops gather in Rome October 4–29 for Francis’s Synod on Synodality, with a second session scheduled in 2024. It’s uncertain whether the meeting will address rumblings against LGBTQ teaching (or other actions being pressed by Catholic liberals in the Pope Francis era).
The Vatican’s summary of pre-Synod discussions (.pdf here) noted the “tension” that “LGBTQ people” feel regarding “their own loving relationships” and said the demand for “a more welcoming space” in church “challenges” Catholics in many countries.
An important January America article by U.S. Cardinal Robert McElroy — given a red hat by Pope Francis — advocated “radical inclusion” and said the Catholic Catechism’s description of gay activity as “intrinsically disordered” is a “disservice” to the church. Also, Luxembourg’s Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, an important Synod leader with close ties to Pope Francis, has openly stated that “it is time for a fundamental revision” in doctrines linked to LGBTQ issues.