What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • A simple question about Civil Partnerships

    Next week at General Synod we have the following motion being presented.
    Motion 24:
    That this Synod instruct the Faith and Order Board to instruct the Committee on Canons to prepare canonical material to enable the registration of Civil Partnerships to be undertaken in the Scottish Episcopal Church, so that a first reading of such canonical material can be considered by General Synod 2016.

    Now, the Scottish Government has indicated very clearly that it is going to consult on whether to open Civil Partnerships to straight couples.
    Can anyone tell me whether or not, if we agree to this motion at General Synod we will also be agreeing to the preparation of Canonical material which could potentially open the way to straight couples being able to register Civil Partnerships in church?

    I may have more questions and comments about this in due course. First of all though, I want to know more about this. Is the intention that this could lead to religious Civil Partnership for straight couples becoming a possibility in Scottish Episcopal Churches or not? More generally speaking, what would be the implications of passing this motion?
    Comments please.

    ,

33 responses to “Companions?”

  1. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    No, Kimberley – he ISN’T a Primate. He is merely first among equals and has no powers as a primate or metropolitan.

    Reply
  2. Kimberly Avatar
    Kimberly

    So what would you use as the collective noun for Archbishops, Presiding Bishops, Primi (Primuses??), etc?

    I have always heard ‘primates’ as a simple short hand and have not assumed that it tells us anything about the form of governance in any particular province.

    Reply
  3. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    Ah! But it does! +Idris is Primus (inter pares), but he’s no more a Primate than you or I. This is a delightful distinguishing feature of our Scottish Church. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there were various suggestions and attempts to restore some kind of Metropolitan Bishop, but they came to nothing.

    As for a collective noun, I don’t know. I prefer not to think about such meetings!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • inspires and inspires online

    The latest edition of inspires online was published this morning. If you are not signed up for these monthly emails, you can do so by going to: www.inspires.org.uk/subscribe This month’s news included stuff on the upcoming election from church leaders in Scotland, notice of some important diocesan boundary changes, the usual subjective whizz around the…

  • Maximising Participation

    Off I went yesterday to an excellent training day organised by the Kinharvie Institute. It was all about how to engage people in large groups and to find ways of helping groups to include as many voices as possible in consultation. Being Kinharvie it was very well organised indeed and there were lots of good…

  • We drink from our own wells

    Here’s what I had to say in the pulpit this morning: In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Lifegiver. Amen. A long time ago now, I took myself off to study theology. I was not a priest or clergy person. I did not even belong to any church. I just had religious questions and…