Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden Church of England Newspaper June 25
The Shared Conversation process will close with a General Synod wide conversation at York in July. It is then expected that in the autumn the House of Bishops will consider what, if any, motion on the subject of sexuality should be brought to General Synod in February.
“Pastoral Accommodation” has been floated as a term to embrace the action, short of same-sex marriage, that the Bishops might propose. Accommodation might point to a deliberate stretching of theology to tolerate what the Bible forbids.
Pastoral Care for all is an imperative for the church. What could count as “Pastoral Care” which would leave intact a firm commitment by the Church of England to man-woman marriage and recognize that same-sex activity is contrary to the teaching of the Bible and of the entire Christian church since the time of Jesus, as evidenced by Fortson and Grams in Unchanging Witness (BH Academic 2016)?
