The Church of England has abandoned plans to deliver blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples following years of debate. The General Synod voted in favour of offering blessings to same-sex couples in civil partnerships and marriages in 2023, as an alternative to gay marriage ceremonies, with a process set up for how the stand-alone blessing services would work. The process, carried out by the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) group, has stalled in the years since, however, and racked up costs of £1.66 million, including on consultancy, staffing and conferences – leading to its formal abandonment by the Church’s national assembly this week.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell acknowledged the “pain and disappointment” of church members and attributed the result to “failures of process that have caused real pain to many on all sides of this chamber”. “This is not where I want us to be, nor where I hoped we would be three years ago,” he said. “And I want to acknowledge that wherever you stand on the debate, I know that many of you are feeling angry and disappointed.”
The archbishop said a working group had been proposed to continue discussion of how identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage fit with Church teaching.
He also apologised for the hurt caused to “both sides”, with the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) previously suggesting that the approval of blessings had “alienated many of us who hold to the historic and biblical Anglican doctrine”.
But Reverend Charlie Bączyk-Bell, a gay priest and Synod member based in London, accused the archbishop of making a “false equivalence” between the two groups.
“It is not the same to have your entire self debated, ripped apart, dissected, insulted, trampled on in this chamber and more widely as though it were a mere abstract question,” he said.
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He also suggested the process had amounted to a “facestious charade” and apologised to LGBTQ+ church members “for what we continue to put you through” and “that we cannot celebrate you in the way we should”.
The motion to conclude the process by July also confirmed that the Synod would “recognise and lament the distress and pain many have suffered” during it.
New Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally touched on the debate in her address on Thursday, suggesting that it had “left us wounded as individuals and also as a Church” and “touched some of our deepest theological views but also the core part of our identity”.
A letter published in January by the House of Bishops said that while a dialogue around the issues “will and must continue, we also recognise that the Synodical process which began in February 2023 now needs to draw to a conclusion, albeit in a way which is imperfect, untidy and which leaves some important questions unresolved.”