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nclusion of lesbian and gay people in the church some of the claims of faoc 2018 that the 5 gps are life giving faoc 2018 and that they enable mutual flourishing in seeking the good of the other are now very widely challenged holding the tension despite the insistence in the 5 gps that they should be held together in tension rather than being applied selectively i am far from being the only person to observe that like the five marks of mission it is all too easy to focus on one to the detriment of others some people will emphasise gp1 the c of e is fully and unequivocally committed to all orders of ministry being open to all without reference to gender hooray women priests and bishops others will highlight gp4 the c of e remains committed to enabling those who are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests to flourish within its life and structures hooray you don t have to accept the full and unequivocal commitment after all how can those principles be reconciled similar questions have been asked for the whole anglican communion in the eames commission which followed a resolution of the 1988 lambeth conference by trying to combine respecting other provinces decisions without accepting the principles behind these in the 1997 report of the monitoring group for this commission s work examples of bad practice mentioned included an australian case where a man who had been ordained deacon by a male bishop in a service during which a woman was also ordained priest was conditionally reordained when he moved to another diocese paragraph 24 in 5 gps language though would we call that mutual flourishing what does it do to our ecclesiology the tension or contradiction between the gps was noted even when the then bishop of rochester first introduced them at general synod faoc 2018 p 27 faoc suggested that the answer on gp4 was that it s fine to reject women s ministry because of theological conviction but not because of personal preference local custom or any kind of prejudice faoc 2018 p 28 but how do you prove whether something is misogyny or a theological conviction it doesn t make it any better if like the forward in faith group you also reject the men who support women s ordination that s just misogyny at one remove the relevance for the current debates on full inclusion of lgbtqia people is clear here too are objections based on homophobia or theological conviction how can you spot the difference the faoc document notes that such respect for the integrity of one another s theological convictions means that those opposed to the ordination of women should not characterize those in favour as caving in to the fashions of the age and nor should those in favour stigmatise those opposed as supporters of discrimination and injustice p 28 yet this is precisely what happens now with lgbtqia inclusion those describing themselves as orthodox accuse those calling themselves inclusive of caving into the fashions of the age while the latter accuse the former of discrimination and injustice interestingly in a world where binaries are being reasserted in sexuality and gender identity the 5 gps speak of the spectrum of teaching and tradition of the anglican communion gp4 it s good to see this recognition that orthodoxy isn t either or although a spectrum is much more difficult to manage than a simple binary feeling the pain where one group thinks the other group is causing harm to people faoc 2018 argues it is fair for this to be stated but their participation in the common life of our church should not be restricted in any way p 30 all are loyal anglicans p 31 easy to say but what does it mean what counts as common life taking part in synodical processes access to central funds coming together at the altar for holy communion more on that last one shortly on women s ordained ministry faoc 2018 notes that the costs of accepting the mutual flourishing on which they insist may be unevenly distributed and fall more heavily on some for reasons not of their own choosing p 37 i ve been at general synod when we ve heard speeches from those who are in pain because their stable same sex relationship of many decades is not recognised by the church and also from same sex attracted people who insist that to honour such relationships would cause pain to them why when nobody is telling them that they should abandon their chosen celibacy and get married but the first group cannot follow a sense of call to ministry if they marry their beloved partner the second can i would class this as an unequal distribution of pain as for reasons not of their own choosing surely today we realise that people don t choose to be gay frankly when you look at how gay people are treated even by the church would you ever choose this false equivalences of pain really don t help here and while straight people may also feel strongly that they are called to celibacy the conservative position is that lesbian and gay people have no choice but celibacy other than the concession from the organisation living out that lesbian and gay people can just marry a person of the opposite sex shouldn t celibacy be about making a free choice rather than having no other options available getting worse rather than better faoc 2018 asked for more theological work on the 5 gps did that happen not that i can see and the effects of this have been felt ever since in an important paper published in the winter 2025 edition of modern believing entitled mission creep the five guiding principles and the curious incident of the vanishing 2020 statement on episcopal consecrations judith maltby challenged the ongoing lack of theological thinking which has meant that the 5 gps have been used to support increasing segregation in sacramental arrangements in the consecration of bishops my italics originally archbishops who supported women s ordination to the priesthood were still involved in consecrating new bishops who did not believe that women could be priests but in the years since 2015 the consecration of such bishops was reduced to a small number under canon law the minimum is three of similarly opposed bishops in stark contrast to the usual mass of episcopal hands being laid on or extended towards the candidate at the first consecration of a traditional catholic bishop after women had begun to be consecrated in 2015 the archbishop of york stepped aside and was not involved at all in the consecration nor did he preside at the eucharist this appears to have been about establishing a pure line of succession something which a bishop opposed to women s ordination could point to as a sign of his and it is of course his credentials this situation was strengthened by a statement made by archbishop justin welby on 15 july 2020 he announced that the norm would shift from an archbishop being the chief consecrator to having another bishop in this role this bishop would be one of the three laying on hands with others present but not doing so although it was made in the context of the covid pandemic this statement was not presented as a temporary arrangement far from it the archbishop of canterbury stated these new arrangements are made in the light of the pandemic and in awareness of the sad reality that not all in the church of england agree on issues of ordination and yet all are committed to upholding the five guiding principles there was no attempt at providing a theological rationale for any of this and at some point in 2022 archbishops again returned to their roles as chief consecrators in her modern believing article judith maltby made clear that she was not recommending the abolition of the 5 gps but was encouraging more debate on how they are applied and recognition of the ecclesiological consequences nowhere in them is it stated that candidates opposed to the ordination of women should have their own services of consecration so how has this come into being and what does it mean for our understanding of what it is to be the church a new archbishop an unexpected bonus of faoc 2018 is that it devotes a page to one bishop describing her own experience of being a woman in a diocese where some find her appointment difficult and that bishop is none other than sarah mullally herself writing from her time as bishop of crediton faoc 2018 p 44 she mentions being invited to preach in churches which do not accept the ordination of women and describes working alongside colleagues from both the anglo catholic and conservative evangelical parts of the church it all sounds polite enough but of course that was 2018 before she moved to the london diocese let alone was chosen for canterbury here as elsewhere my impression is that things have become worse regardless of the 5 gps in recent years we have heard archbishop sarah being more open about the microaggressions which she has experienced as an ordained woman in leadership i was at synod in february 2025 when on the podium she was visibly upset as she recalled these and i point you to a particularly offensive piece on a website where the male of course author talks about the rule of women accuses her of ideological delusion and describes anglican apostasy of course as i ve described in a much earlier piece on this blog if women cry it s supposed to be evidence of their weakness or of emotional manipulation but if men cry then it s shocking and serious and shows they have the maturity to express their feelings unless they are gay men in which case their tears like those of women don t count but are just sentimentality three spaces faoc 2018 is also interesting when we consider bishop martyn snow s advocacy while llf lead bishop for what he called three spaces in the c of e around sexuality faoc 2018 asked what it means within a single church to hold distinct sacramental and collegial spaces in which not all who participate in one can participate in the other in the same way p 45 indeed and the separation of particular groups from the rest of the church of england that was institutionalised over women s ordained ministry has already raised questions which move us even further apart from each other as charlie bell asked in 2020 if the sacrament of ordination cannot be accepted from a non traditionalist bishop can any of the sacraments be received from them for some of those in the church of england the answer seems to be a no which extends to the eucharist this is and has been very much apparent at general synod when the eucharist is celebrated at the start of a day of meetings i discussed here what bishop martyn proposed in june 2024 a space for those who are absolutely committed to the present doctrine of marriage a space for those who want to see some development of current arrangements and a large space for those who are undecided or confused by the whole debate and see no need to make such a choice at this time three spaces in one church what that meant was never clear to me were parishes supposed to vote for their preferred space why did he assume that the middle space would be so large what would it mean in practical terms to be in one or the other space how would people move across the lines between them doing the things of the church apart from each other is a major concern which has become far more pressing now that it is common for conservatives to identify some bishops as false teachers back to faoc 2018 which contains a useful warning it may be tempting for the majority to think that were the minority to leave or disappear the problem posed by their existence would be resolved and all the energy unfortunately required to manage it be liberated for more productive endeavours it may be tempting for the minority to think that the more they can separate themselves from the majority and insulate themselves from its influence the more secure their survival will be p 41 tempting but wrong separation is not the solution and what next for the 5 gps five is one of those churchy numerals i ve already mentioned those five marks of mission but here s the punchline we don t have to leave it at five my authority for that is once again faoc the final question posed to the reader demands our attention as we think about difference if you could do so is there a sixth guiding principle you would now like to add faoc 2018 p 53 even in the early days of thinking about them they were not as set in stone as some people now seem to think we need to be honest about what doesn t work about what has become worse as the years of trying to live with them have rolled on and about how their legacy hangs over us as we think about lgbtqia inclusion and how to live with difference there we not only can but urgently should be discussing how we can add to the five something which would make a difference in the light of what has happened in the decade for which they have now reigned share this share on x opens in new window x share on facebook opens in new window facebook email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on reddit opens in new window reddit like loading posted in general synod living in love and faith tagged archbishop of canterbury archbishop of york charlie bell eucharist homophobia homosexuality judith maltby martyn snow misogyny ordination of women sarah mullally women bishops women priests 3 comments consider the lilies on changing one s mind posted on february 15 2026 by fluff35 yes i know that is a dahlia not a lily but please bear with me i m back from another 5 day synod as ever much as i enjoy seeing familiar faces and learning new things it s great to be back so far i ve been there in person for every day of every meeting and each day i go to as much of the discussion as i can mostly in the debating chamber itself but sometimes because it s hot and stuffy in there and i don t feel comfortable in such large groups watching from the quiet room where the sound and vision feature but without distraction and often fringe meetings too and since i was speaking at one and hosting another that meant two lunchtimes accounted for first a personal comment but one which also relates to people being unaware of what being on synod entails i was irritated by comments on another member s facebook feed expressing a lot of crossness at empty seats in the chamber those commenting seemed unaware that some people were watching and voting on zoom or watching from the quiet room but also failed to recognise that those attending in person are human and there are commonly no scheduled tea pee breaks from 9 12 45 or from 2 7 the exception was the break in the middle of the long debate on living in love and faith on the thursday when tea stations were set up on a long table in the tea room so that we could all drink a paper cup of it before going back in i do my best but i need to keep hydrated and doing my best included being there for the eucharist first thing on the wednesday with archbishop sarah as celebrant the empty seats there probably due to some people not respecting h...
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