‘Gilbert and Sullivan, P.G. Wodehouse and Alan Ayckbourn in concert couldn’t have written a better farce’, was how one incumbent expressed his concern over the recent Pastoral Guidance on trans issues from the Church of England’s House of Bishops.
The saga began in 2017, when General Synod asked the bishops, ‘to consider whether some nationally commended liturgical materials might be prepared to mark a person’s gender transition’. Simultaneously, Synod rejected the suggestion of considering ‘the substantial theological and pastoral issues raised’.
Having non-theologically considered the matter, the bishops decided that no new liturgy was necessary because the existing rite of ‘Affirmation of Baptismal Faith’ could be used to mark a point of ‘personal renewal’ such as gender transition. ‘Evangelical bishops’ welcomed this as representing ‘no change’.
‘Power is a powerful drug and the detox process is hard’
One of the most insightful speeches at the Church of England's General Synod in July came from The Revd Lindsay …