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UK News

Church to begin 'conversations' on sexuality

Discussions will include both liberal and evangelical Anglicans amid ongoing controversy sparked by the legalising of same sex marriage.

In 2013 a report recommended the Church be more welcoming to gay people but the House of Bishops refused to back it and banned gay clergy from entering same sex marriages.

Documents released by the Church outline plans for 13 'cluster' meetings from this April which will include representatives from every diocese.

The Church document said questions will be asked at every meeting: "What is the church's missionary task today in relation to LGBTI people, and to the culture within which we are called to witness and minister?

"Should the church offer prayers to mark the formation of a faithful, permanent, same sex relationship? If so, what is the right level of formal provision that should be made?"

It added: "More specifically, given that same sex marriages are now taking place, what should our pastoral and missional response be to married same sex couples who seek to be part of the life of our church locally?"

The document said the passing of same sex marriage by an overwhelming majority in Westminster left "an acute divergence between the church's teaching on marriage and the civil law of the land".

"It is likely that the ease with which same sex marriage was accepted in Parliament reflects a more general social move away from the church's traditional understanding of marriage and perhaps of social relationships more generally.

"And, as often happens, legislation both reflects social attitudes and contributes to the deeper embedding of those attitudes over time."

It also raised the issue of Anglican communities in other parts of the world which would not accept gay people.

"Balancing the Church of England's responsibilities to the people of the parishes and local communities it serves, and its historical position within the global Anglican Communion, introduces complex and morally challenging tensions and the issue of sexuality has become a focal point on which future relationships across the whole Communion may turn," it said.

Speaking last year the Archbishop of Canterbury Most Revd Justin Welby said the Church accepting gay marriage would have a worldwide affect.

"The impact of that on Christians far from here, in South Sudan, Pakistan, Nigeria and other places would be absolutely catastrophic. Everything we say here goes round the world," he said.

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