Synod Takes Middle Ground on Civil Partnerships

A motion passed yesterday by the Church of England's General Synod has revealed deep divisions over the Church's response to the 2005 Civil Partnership Act, which legally recognised same-sex relationships, and the subsequent guidance issued by the House of Bishops in 2005.

The House of Bishops triggered controversy in 2005 when it issued its Pastoral Statement on civil partnerships which stated that gay clergy could enter into civil partnerships as long as they first assured their bishops that they would abstain from sex - guidance which conservatives feared would be ignored by gay clergy entering such partnerships.

Synod debated a motion Wednesday afternoon put forward by the Rev Paul Perkin of Southwark, also a member of the evangelical group Reform, which said the Civil Partnership Act undermined the "distinctiveness and fundamental importance to society of the relationship of marriage".

Perkin's motion also said the House of Bishops' Pastoral Statement had "produced a recipe for confusion by not stating clearly that civil partnerships entered into under the CP Act would be inconsistent with Christian teaching".

Significantly, liberals and conservatives voted down an amendment recognising the controversial Pastoral Statement as a "balanced and sensitive attempt" to apply Church teaching to civil partnerships. Synod asked yesterday that the House of Bishops now review the Pastoral Statement.