tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post6075145137768451670..comments2023-12-17T16:13:06.670-05:00Comments on In a Godward direction: More on the C o E H o B P GTobias Stanislas Haller BSGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08047429477181560685noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-2635318488801003482014-02-18T09:45:13.251-05:002014-02-18T09:45:13.251-05:00Thank you, Chris. That sounds about right on all c...Thank you, Chris. That sounds about right on all counts. The one possible wrinkle being the CDM restriction from action on doctrinal matters... but it is so fuzzy on the issue of marriage (as I tried to point out) that the catch-all "unbecoming" is likely to be the way.<br /><br />But I also agree this is a way unlikely to be taken. It may well be the whole thing is a bit of brinksmanship: the bishops can claim they've held the line by issuing the statement, but they need not actually enforce it. <br /><br />The problem may be some principled (likely evangelical) bishop taking it all seriously and trying to enforce it.Tobias Stanislas Haller BSGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08047429477181560685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6786565.post-12872812579719816072014-02-18T05:08:44.170-05:002014-02-18T05:08:44.170-05:00I believe that the catchall phrase "conduct u...I believe that the catchall phrase "conduct unbecoming a Clerk in Holy Orders" is assumed to cover this. It was often used in the past to cover such acts as getting divorced or being caught using drugs or being an alcoholic. Enforcement of this was selective, at best. My own incumbent was, in his early ministry, asked to leave ministry because he and his wife divorced. He returned to ministry after a few years, came to us, and in his early time here divorced a second time. He's still here, 18 years later.<br /><br />There will be no trials over this, as trials, except in the most heinous cases, make the Church look sad and out of touch. The Bishop of a diocese has the power to suspend an incumbent for "conduct unbecoming" but cannot deprive a priest who possesses the freehold of his or her living except after some legal action, either civil (conviction of a felony, or disqualification as a trustee) or canonical. The last canonical trial (I believe) in this diocese was in the 1950's, when Mervyn Stockwood sent a cleric for a canonical trial over some indiscretion or other. In his autobiography he says that the cleric's acquittal really shook him (Stockwood) to the core.<br /><br />What I think will happen is that after March 29th a not-inconsequential number of clerics and licensed lay ministers will enter into same-sex marriages and dare the bishops to respond. The bishops will not wish to reap the bad publicity that a large number of suspensions and deprivations of livings would present to them. The bishops are betting that this will not happen. I think they may very well lose that bet.<br /><br />The current Bench of Bishops is probably the least outstanding group of men to sit on it in many centuries. There is no Bell, no Temple, no John Robinson. Rowan Williams, one of the most brilliant Christian theologians on this side of the sod, has withdrawn from the public fray and nobly refrains from commenting on his successor. They won't have the intestinal fortitude to carry through with their threats.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06534842755063770798noreply@blogger.com