Governing Body of the Church in Wales

Extract

In his April Presidential Address the Archbishop focused on two issues: the Report of the Review Group chaired by Lord Harries and same-sex marriage. His concern with the Review is that ‘it is possible to get so bogged down or hung up on some of the details of the Provincial Review that there is a danger in dismissing all of it because one disagrees with some of the points it makes’. He regretted that churches with ordained clergy ‘have been tempted to assume that all ministry is vested in an omnicompetent professional minister’ and reminded his listeners that the basic sacrament of the Church was not ordination but baptism. His concern with the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill was that clergy who would not conduct same-sex marriages needed protection, yet the Church itself needed to be allowed to conduct such marriages if it decided to do so in future. He felt that the Church ‘needed to have a discussion as to whether we want to continue having this special status in law as far as marriage is concerned’.