Stand-alone (or bespoke) services for the blessing of same-sex unions and permission for clergy to enter civil same-sex marriages will require action by General Synod, a process that will likely take years, the Church of England’s bishops announced on October 15.
“While final decisions will be made by the House in December, the bishops agreed in principle that both bespoke service and clergy same-sex marriage would need formal synodical and legislative processes to be completed before they could be permitted,” they said.
The bishops also determined that a code of practice for delegated episcopal oversight for conservative parishes would not be necessary in the short term, given the extended timetables for any additional changes.
The decisions come after a review of legal and theological guidance at the House of Bishops meeting October 6-8, and the announcement said they reflect “strong consensus on the need for unity, transparency, and proper process” among the bishops.
This marks a sharp turn from the hard-driving approach taken to the multi-year Living in Love and Faith process under Archbishop Justin Welby’s leadership, analogized in 2024 by conservative synod member Helen Lamb to a bus moving in one direction and “some of us are being run over.”
“As we continue prayerfully to navigate this important work on behalf of the Church, we believe these are the right decisions following further legal and theological advice,” said Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, chair of the Living in Love and Faith Program Board.
“However, we recognize that for some, they will be difficult and disappointing.
“I continue to pray for God’s grace and gentleness for all as we continue to discern a way through these questions,” he added.
‘Synodical and Legislative Processes’
The bishops agreed that the stand-alone (or bespoke) services would require approval under the process outlined in Canon B2, the normal way in which the Church of England authorizes liturgical texts. It requires approval by all three houses of General Synod by a two-thirds majority.
Earlier synod votes commending Prayers of Love and Faith, which allow the blessing of same-sex unions within regular services of public worship, barely secured a majority in the synod’s houses of clergy and laity. This makes any progress toward stand-alone services very unlikely during the tenure of the current synod members, whose terms last until 2026.
The latest development returns the bishops to their original 2023 commitment to a full canonical approval process for stand-alone services. A narrowly approved amendment to the November 2023 General Synod resolution about Prayers of Love and Faith proposed by Bishop Stephen Croft had dropped this requirement. Croft’s amendment also allowed trials of bespoke liturgies, but these have never been conducted, and are now presumably delayed indefinitely.
The bishops also said that they would “reflect further on the legal and theological advice and explore what formal legislative process—such as an amending canon and measure—would be required before clergy could be permitted to be in a same-sex civil marriage.”
Ordinary changes to the Canons of the Church of England only require a majority in General Synod, followed by approval by Parliament, and in theory, a canonical change enabling clergy to enter same sex-marriage could be proposed for the February or July 2026 sessions of synod.
But the statement’s commitment to “further reflect” seems to envisage a longer-term process, and the bishops’ initial plans to issue a timeline for allowing clergy to enter same-sex civil marriage at this meeting have clearly been scrapped.
The statement also does not suggest what kind of canonical change might be used to achieve this change in clergy discipline, especially if the yet-to-be released legal and theological guidance considers such a change at variance with the church’s existing doctrine of marriage.
The doctrine of marriage, articulated in Canon B30, could be changed by a majority vote, but this seems unlikely since the bishops have repeatedly stated their intention to maintain the existing doctrine even as practices on same-sex blessings and civil marriage may change.
Another option could be the establishment of a system for authorizing exceptions to the existing canons. Since 1991, such a process has existed in the church’s canons to allow divorced people to be ordained. While the bar on ordination of those who have been divorced and remarried or divorced with a surviving spouse remains in the canons, Canon C4 lays out a process for people to obtain a “faculty,” special permission from the Archbishop of Canterbury or York removing this impediment.
The existing C4 faculty system, which the Church of England says is used by about one-sixth of candidates for ordination, is difficult to manage, and General Synod voted by wide margins to explore amending or abolishing it at the body’s February 2025 meetings. A similar system, which would be used not just by ordinands but by any of the 20,000 Church of England clergy in active ministry, would surely be even more cumbersome to administer.
The Church Times also claimed that the bishops had discussed and rejected a proposal from the Faith and Order Commission for a “relaxation of discipline,” which could be easier to administer, but would create other difficulties.
Quoting from an unpublished paper, The Church Times said, “In this scenario, diocesan bishops, as a group or by individual discretion, would ordain and (re)license people in same-sex civil marriages despite the tension this would create between doctrine and discipline.”
The bishops also said that because further synodical process would be needed before either of the two progressive changes could advance, “they also concluded there is currently no need for a new code of practice setting out special arrangements such as Delegated Episcopal Ministry.”
None of the various proposals for alternative episcopal oversight for conservative parishes discussed by working groups associated with the Living in Love and Faith process have reportedly secured widespread support among the bishops.
As the process has developed over the last several years, such provisions (called “pastoral reassurance”) have been closely linked to authorization of stand-alone liturgies for same-sex blessings. Now that the liturgies have been effectively tabled until after the next synod election, bishops seem to have assumed that a similar pause on alternative oversight arrangements is appropriate.
Praise and Lament
“The bishops have clearly recognized the value of following due process and legal and theological guidance, and seem poised to be even more cautious in how they proceed. They are recognizing that the way they handle these matters can be reckless and dangerous for the unity of the church,” said the Rev. Andrew Goddard, tutor in Christian Ethics at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.
The prominent evangelical commentator on Church of England affairs told The Living Church he was “not surprised” by the development and suggested that factors shaping the decision included “weariness, a new archbishop (Archbishop of Canterbury-designate Sarah Mullally), and recognizing how hard it will be to push this forward.”
He said he was “even more pleased and proud” of the statement made in October 2023 by 12 Anglo-Catholic and evangelical bishops, which publicly dissented from the bishops’ proposals on Living in Love and Faith. The 12 wrote that the proposed changes “fail[ed] to safeguard the pastoral stability, mission, and unity of the Church” because they jettisoned the Canon B2 process and ignored legal and theological advice about these changes. “Their concerns have borne fruit in more recent developments,” Goddard said.
Together for the Church of England, a new coalition of several groups committed to change on human sexuality and gender issues, said on Facebook, “The church has paused any further action. They’ve chosen process over progress, saying they need more time and more votes before anything changes. This means LGBT+ Christians are still waiting—again—for inclusion in mission and ministry.”
“We’re deeply saddened by this news, but are determined to keep working faithfully for full inclusion and equality in the C of E. … Now is the time for us all to step up for a truly inclusive church,” they added.
Details of the agreements reached at the House of Bishops’ meetings will be shared with members of the “Leicester Groups,” working groups focused on different areas of the LLF process, over the weekend.
The Church of England also promised that advice received by the bishops during the meetings from the Church of England’s Legal Office and the Faith and Order Commission will be published in full “in due course.”
The Rev. Mark Michael is editor-in-chief of The Living Church. An Episcopal priest, he has reported widely on global Anglicanism, and also writes about church history, liturgy, and pastoral ministry.
