Church of Ireland bishop David McClay condemns US female bishop Bonnie A Perry leading Pride service in Dublin Cathedral
Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore David McClay made the comments in the wake of an announcement by the United Dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough.
The Dublin diocese said on Tuesday that Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, will welcome a special guest for the annual Pride Service, taking place this Friday, Rev Dr Bonnie A Perry, Bishop of Michigan in The Episcopal Church in the United States. She will also preside at the annual service.
The diocese said she previously made history “as the first woman and openly lesbian bishop in Michigan" when she was consecrated in 2020.
Rev Dr Bonnie A Perry will preside at the annual Pride service in Dublin this weekend. She previously 'made history as the first woman and openly lesbian bishop in Michigan'.
Bishop Perry oversees a diocese of 78 worshipping communities and more than 14,000 baptized members in Michigan, and also campaigns on issues of racial equality and gun violence.
The statement said she resides in Detroit with her spouse, the Rev Dr M Susan Harlow, a pastor in the United Church of Christ.
Bishop Perry will also lead a workshop at Christ Church Cathedral this Saturday and will preach at the Cathedral’s Trinity Sunday Patronal Eucharist this Sunday.
The annual Pride Service has been celebrated in the cathedral each year since 2021, it said.
The programme is organised by Changing Attitude Ireland (CAI), a church–based organisation aiming to change attitudes to the LGBT community.
However, Bishop McClay was deeply concerned by the news, issuing a public statement to his flock a day later.
"Many of you are already aware and are both concerned and confused by the announcement that the Right Reverend Dr Bonnie Perry is to be the guest preacher at the Changing Attitude Ireland Annual Pride service to be held in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin," he said.
In his view, this is "something that very clearly signifies a departure from the historic faith" and the Church of Ireland "clearly teaches that marriage is as taught by Jesus 'a union of one man and one woman’."
The bishop added that “it is not ours to change [Christ’s] Gospel truths as the church has received them for over 2000 years" in particular, the “core truths” which include the church’s teaching on marriage.
"What we believe concerning marriage is in line with what 85% of Anglicans in our world today also believe,” he added.
The Church of Ireland itself declined to comment on the internal row.
However, Canon Ian Ellis, a former editor of The Church of Ireland Gazette, said that during his 16 years as editor, "the issue of human sexuality was a highly contested issue in the Anglican Communion".
He added: "In many ways, it still is, but the traditional teaching of the Church of Ireland has not changed.
"There has been a marked division of general attitudes to the matter as between north and south in the Church of Ireland, although in both geographical areas of the church there are people with diverging views.
"It is for the General Synod to decide on any change in doctrine, but so far that has not happened."