FROM BRITAIN AND IRELAND NEWS
Bishops at odds over civil partnerships
Christopher Lamb and Elena Curti
DISAGREEMENT WITHIN the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has emerged over the question of civil partnerships after the Archbishop of Birmingham appeared to contradict the Archbishop of Westminster and the Bishop of Nottingham on the matter. In an interview with The Tablet, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham said he is firmly opposed to civil partnerships and that he would be concerned if a head teacher in a Catholic school were to enter into one. However, in a BBC programme on the last day of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said the bishops “did not oppose” them while Bishop Malcolm McMahon, chairman of the Catholic Education Service, has said that he would not object if head teachers of Catholic schools were in civil partnerships and that he was not opposed to them because “it’s not a conjugal relationship”. But Archbishop Longley said: “I think that particular develop-
ment within our own society of the civil partnership, I am not in favour of it because it establishes a legally and publicly recognised relationship which is too easily confused with the Sacrament of Marriage. Obviously it’s not mar- riage because a marriage is between a man and a woman but I do think it is very easy for people to be confused about civil part- nerships and marriage as if they were the same thing in reality.” However, during the BBC pro-
gramme, Archbishop Nichols responded to an accusation from Professor Diarmaid McCulloch of Oxford University that the Catholic hierarchy “hated” the idea of civil partnerships. “That’s not true. In this country we were very nuanced, we did not oppose gay civil partnerships,” the archbishop said. “What we persistently said is that these are not the same as marriage.” On the question of Catholic teachers, Archbishop Longley said he would be concerned if a head teacher, deputy head teacher or teacher of religious education entered into a civil partnership. “In those circumstances, a prac- tising Catholic would not enter
into a civil partnership [and remain] in good standing with the Church. It would be a matter of concern, I think, in a school if a teacher were to enter into a civil partnership, but that would be something that would be the con- cern of the governing body of the school and clearly of the trustees.” In January, Bishop McMahon said a person should “live accord- ing to church teaching whether they are in a civil partnership or not”. However, in 2003, the bishops told the Government that civil partnerships would “not promote the common good and we there- fore strongly oppose them”. A spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said: “In UK law there is no equivalence between civil part- nerships and marriage and that is something the bishops have consistently backed.” Martin Pendergast of the Roman Catholic Caucus of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement said: “Civil partnerships are not marriages and the law is very clear on that. That is also the understanding of practising Catholics who are in civil partnerships.”
Another bishop and 24 clergy to join ordinariate
A SIXTH Anglican bishop and two dozen clergy are planning to join the Catholic Church’s ordin - ariate in Britain when it is established next year, writes Christopher Lamb.
All are members of the
Traditional Anglican Church in Britain, part of the breakaway Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). Archbishop John Hepworth, the Primate of TAC, issued a pastoral letter last week stating that 24 TAC clergy will join the ordinariate along with Bishop Robert Mercer, a retired prelate in the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.
Currently, five Church of England bishops have resigned with the intention of joining the new structure created by Pope Benedict and it is believed that 50 clergy from 30 groups are planning to become Catholics. The Revd Ian Gray, vicar general of the TAC in Britain, said that he believed the success of the ordin ariate depended on whether married men could be ordained to the priesthood in perpetuity. “If three, four, five years down the line married men are no longer eligible to be ordained, then there are going to be very serious problems,” he explained.
However, earlier this year, Bishop Malcolm McMahon, a member of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales commission set up to establish an ordinariate, said married lay- men would not be eligible for ordination. Bishop Mercer, 75, is a member of the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, and is a former bishop of the Anglican Communion. Meanwhile, the Anglican Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, has ruled out the idea that Anglican churches could be shared with the ordinariate.
Poll reveals that the poor are dreading Christmas
MORE THANa fifth of Britain’s poorest people are dreading Christmas, according to a poll commissioned by the Theos think tank, writes Sam Adams. The high cost of buying gifts and food appears to be a key factor, with 15 per cent of the poorest respondents saying they were prepared to borrow money if necessary to cover costs this year. The study, conducted for
Theos by ComRes, found that 22 per cent of respondents from the lowest socio-economic group said they dreaded Christmas, with 61 per cent saying the celebration is “overrated”. This was significantly higher than the national average response to each question – of 18 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. The poll, which questioned more than 1,000 people, also found that only 36 per cent of people plan to attend church services this Christmas compared to 44 per cent in 2008. While the percentage had fallen, Paul Woolley, director of Theos, said the figure was still high.
Roughly half disagreed with
the statement, “The birth of Jesus is irrelevant to my Christmas”, with another half agreeing. Interestingly, those aged 18 to 24 were more likely than any other age group to disagree (55 per cent). Meanwhile, the Archbishop
of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has criticised politically correct public officials who remove the Christian aspects of Christmas celebrations such as Nativity plays and carol singing so as not to offend people of other religions. He said the Nativity story was “loved” and respected by most people of other faiths.
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