The Rector of St Bartholomew the Great in London, Dr Martin Dudley, has admitted he should not have gone ahead with the blessing of a civil union between two gay priests last summer, but revealed the Diocese is full of fellow rebels.In a letter to the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, Dr Dudley wrote: “I now recognise that I should not have responded positively to the request for this service, even though it was made by another incumbent of your Diocese, who is a colleague, neighbour and friend of us both nor should I have adopted uncritically the Order of Service prepared by him and his partner.
“I had not appreciated that the event would have been attended by so many nor that it would have attracted the publicity and notoriety which it did.”
In June, a media frenzy erupted after Dr Dudley conducted a blessing of the union which bore a very close resemblance to the Book of Common Prayer marriage service on May 31. Dr David Lord, the New Zealander who tied the knot with English clergyman the Rev Peter Cowell, then resigned from the clergy.
The Archdeacon of London, the Ven Peter Delaney has since been carrying out an investigation into the matter, with the Chancellor of the Diocese, Nigel Seed QC. Although their report is unavailable, it has now been completed and Dr Dudley’s letter is a response to it.
Extracts from his letter were distributed by the Bishop of Willesden, the Rt Rev Peter Broadbent. Although Dr Chartres is away on holiday, Bishop Broadbent reported the Bishop of London’s opinion: “Following the Rector’s full and frank apology, the Bishop considers the matter now closed.”
Although termed a full apology by Dr Chartres, there was clearly some reluctance from Dr Dudley as to how clearly he had violated the Pastoral Statement from the House of Bishops issued in 2005.
He said: “Whilst the precise status of this pastoral document within the Church of England generally and the Diocese of London in particular may be a matter of differing interpretations, I ought to have afforded it far greater weight. I regret the embarrassment caused to you by this event and by its subsequent portrayal in the media.”
Dr Dudley then made clear his discomfort with the Pastoral Statement, and while he agreed now to abide by it, he suggested it would not be long before it was amended. He said: “I share your abhorrence of homophobia in all its forms. I am profoundly uneasy with much of the content of the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Statement which anecdotal evidence suggests is being widely, though discretely, disregarded in this Diocese and elsewhere.”
The chief executive of Stonewall, Ben Summerskill, termed Dr Dudley’s words “more of a courtesy than an apology,” and said: “[Dr Dudley] seemed to be behaving in a perfectly Christian way by agreeing to celebrate a life-long relationship between two Christians with solemnity and the reaction to it has been highly temperate and un-Christian.”
Although Mr Summerskill believes that the incident has been a “storm in a teacup”, he welcomed this latest development to an extent. He said: “It’s reminding us that you can have a debate about these issues without it being vituperative.”
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(Source: RI)