• Church and Civil Partnerships

    As I awoke in a bleary haze this morning, (today is a post-Ceilidh morning) I heard someone one the radio talking about how the Church of Scotland might be the first church to allow people in Civil Partnerships to serve as ordained clergy.

    It won’t of course. The Scottish Episcopal Church already has plenty of people in Civil Partnerships who serve as ordained clergy. Unlike in England, they don’t have to pretend that they are living lives of celibate friendship either.

    There’s going to be lots of news about LGBT relationships this week, with the bill coming to parliament in Westminster (does not affect Scotland) and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland trying to get its knickers out of a twist about gay ministers in Edinburgh.

    Not all the news is going to be accurate either.

3 responses to “Another day, another new ministry now begins”

  1. Eamonn Avatar

    Thanks be to God. I have family in New Westminster, and have been visiting there for the last 13 years. So I am acutely aware of how difficult and painful things have been in some parishes.

  2. Eamonn Avatar

    Interestingly, though +Michael Ingham has taken a great deal of flak over the blessing of civil partnerships, the pressure to provide a service of blessing came initially from the laity, about 20 years ago.

  3. Father Ron Smith Avatar

    Thanks for this, Kelvin,

    I’m taking the liberty of putting this on my ‘kiwianglo’ web-site in New Zealand.
    We are always interested in your comments on the Anglican Communion around the world, and appreciate this titbit from your visit to New Westminster. Enjoy your sabbatical. God bless you and renew you for your return to Bonny Scotia.

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