FALLING AWAY: The Church in Wales, composed of six Anglican dioceses in the United Kingdom, will allow clergy to hold services designed to bless same-sex civil partnerships or marriages.
According to the Christian Post, However, the church will not allow clergy to conduct legally binding same-sex marriage ceremonies. On Monday, the governing body of the Church in Wales passed a bill by more than the necessary two-thirds majority, following a debate at a three-day conference at the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport.
The bishops approved the bill by a unanimous vote, while the clergy voted 28 to 12 in favor with two abstentions. The laity voted 49 to 10 with one abstention. The bill’s passage will remain in effect for five years for a trial period. However, if any church staff prefer not to participate in the blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions, they can choose not to participate.
The Guardian stated that Before the vote, Welsh bishops had said the move would be a “step on the way towards repentance of a history in the church which has demonized and persecuted gay and lesbian people”.
The church had forced lesbian and gay people “into fear, dishonesty and sometimes even hypocrisy, and which has precluded them from living publicly and honestly lives of committed partnership”, they said. The blessing of same-sex register-office marriages would be “experimental” for a five-year period under the bill passed by a two-thirds majority at a meeting of the Church in Wales’s governing body in Newport.
The experimental period was normal practice with new liturgy, Cameron said. “I think it’s the hope of the bishops that within those five years, we’ll be able to come to a consensus on [same-sex] marriage.
And when it comes to deciding whether to continue with the blessing service, perhaps the church will be in a position to be bold enough to take a further step on gay and lesbian inclusion.” He added: “I’m aware that this is a decision that many in the church will find hard. I believe it’s the right decision, and it will give joy and hope to many LGBT+ people.”
