A gay bishop for the Church of England?

** FILE ** This is a July 2, 2004 file photo of the Very Rev. Jeffrey John at St. Albans Abbey in St. Albans, England. The Church of England may be on the verge of promoting a gay priest to bishop, a step that would widen the split over sexuality in the global Anglican Communion. (AP Photo/Michael Stephens/PA File)

Story Topics

• Social Issues
• Religion_Belief
• Anglican Communion
• Canterbury Rowan Williams
• Jeffrey John

Follow Us On

Facebook

Follow @washtimes

Question of the Day

Who do you think has a better chance at the Republican nomination?

• Mitt Romney
• Rick Santorum
• Undecided
• Other

Login to Vote

View results

LONDON (AP) — The Church of England may be on the verge of promoting a gay priest to bishop, a step that would widen the split over sexuality in the global Anglican Communion.

If that happens, it would appear to be a significant turnaround for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church of England and the world’s Anglicans, who recently imposed sanctions on the U.S. Episcopal Church for electing a lesbian bishop.

According to newspaper reports, Mr. Williams is prepared to back the elevation of the Very Rev. Jeffrey John, who withdrew seven years ago from an appointment as a suffragan (assistant) bishop in the face of a heated controversy about his homosexuality. Mr. Williams‘ office will not comment.

“I think the strength of the opposition is much weaker this time,” Rev. Canon Giles Goddard, the chairman of Inclusive Church, said Tuesday. His group was founded by people disappointed by John’s failure to become a bishop in 2003.

Mr. John, who is now dean of St. Albans Cathedral, might be seen as a more acceptable candidate than the U.S. bishop because he has declared he is celibate — and therefore not in violation of church teaching.

A Crown Nominations Commission, composed of 14 Church of England representatives, including Williams, met in secret Monday and Tuesday to choose two nominees to become bishop of Southwark diocese, the half of London that lies south of the River Thames.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who has spoken strongly in favor of equal rights for gays, will have the final decision about whom to recommend to Queen Elizabeth II, who will make the formal appointment. Southwark diocese says a decision may not be announced before October.

Mr. Williams has said nothing publicly about the issue.

After the Episcopal Church elected Mary Douglas Glasspool as an assistant bishop in Los Angeles, Mr. Williams moved to bar Episcopalians from representing the Anglican Communion on international ecumenical bodies. “This is simply to confirm what the Communion as a whole has come to regard as the acceptable limits of diversity in its practice,” Mr. Williams said in a letter to the global church.

Mr. John, who is 57, has claimed celibacy despite being in a civil partnership. Neither Glasspool nor V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, has claimed to be celibate.

Rev. Paul Dawson, media officer for Reform, an evangelical grouping, objects that Mr. John has defended sexual gay relationships that are “Permanent, Faithful, Stable,” as the title of one of Mr. John’s books puts it.

“If you have a bishop who is effectively teaching what is against the Bible’s clear teaching and what the Church of England says is its doctrinal position, if you have someone at the highest level saying this is a ‘blessing,’ this is a ‘gift,’ that raises all sorts of questions for the average churchgoer,” Mr. Dawson said.

Appointments to bishoprics are the battleground in the Anglican debate about the role of women and homosexuals in the church.

The Church of England’s governing General Synod will resume its debate about permitting female bishops this weekend as it continues trying to mollify conservatives who fought against making women priests and now resist what appears to be general support for women as bishops.

Story Continues →

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.