Anglican Synod refuses blessing of gay couples
Bishops divided over queer issues as legal reforms in SA come into force
The Synod of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa (ACSA) last week rejected a motion by high-ranking church leaders to allow prayers of blessing to queer couples. The Synod also voted against providing pastoral care to church members in same-sex civil unions.
The two motions tabled for a vote at the 37th Provincial Synod by Bishop Raphael Hess of Saldanha Bay and seconded by the provincial Dean, Bishop of Matlosane Stephen Diseko, reflects support among leading clergymen for the integration and acceptance of same-sex churchgoers, but the motion was voted down — an outcome that reflects a deep and longstanding rift within the Church over the issue.
The proponents argued that “Pope Francis set the debate on the blessing of same-sex couples alight with new insight and illumination” and that his “insight can be of great assistance to propel the Provincial Synod to assist the Synod of Bishops in its quest to provide pastoral guidelines for same-sex couples in civil unions, and to address the reality of sexual diversity in humanity in general.”
‘Irregular couples’
Referring to people in same-sex relationships as “irregular couples,” they argued that “not all bishops are required to agree” as it would be a matter of conscience for them whether they grant such prayers in their parishes, and moreover that the doctrine of marriage would not be compromised:
“Marriage is still upheld as the ‘union between one man and one woman for life.”
The bishops in support reasoned that everyone should enjoy protection before the law and that such unions would “provide legal status to those who desire it” and proposed that all dioceses in ACSA should be asked to give blessings to people in such civil unions, on condition that individual bishops should retain “the right to withhold giving blessings to those in civil unions in their dioceses.”
Recognising diversity
The motion further proposed that the church should change its policy in recognition of “the diversity of sexual orientation in the human family,” noting that church leaders have long grappled with the issue but have “moved very slowly on drafting the guidelines,” and that in light of new legislation in South Africa to recognize civil unions, the need “to craft these pastoral guidelines has intensified.”
Archbishop Dr Thabo Makgoba was asked “to write special prayers that may be used upon request by those in civil unions” and that bishops should allow the use of such prayers in their dioceses. In his address on 25 September, Makgoba noted that,
“Since… 1989 we have been trying to reconcile our understanding of the nature of God with how we minister to LGBTQI+ members in our pews. Have we listened to and adequately sought reconciliation with one another on providing appropriate pastoral care to loving faithful couples in same-sex civil unions?
What is this Provincial Synod, 35 years later, going to resolve beyond flowery words?” he asked.
The question was answered by the rejection by the majority of assembled bishops of the motion to grant prayers of blessings to same-sex couples, a stance that runs against that of late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a reformist and liberation theologian who advocated for the acceptance of LGBTQI+ parishioners into the church.
Archbishop Tutu famously said:
“I could not myself keep quiet whilst people were being penalised for something about which they could do nothing, their sexuality. For it is so improbable that any sane, normal person would deliberately choose a lifestyle exposing him or her to so much vilification, opprobrium and physical abuse, even death. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.
‘Outdated doctine’
In response to the Synod, Professor Sarojini Nadar of the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice at the University of the Western Cape wrote that this was indeed “a moment of truth” for the church, which finds itself at an historic crossroads:
“The Church’s refusal to bless sexually diverse unions mirrors past justifications for denying or recognising the ordination of women, as both rely on selective interpretations of scripture and tradition to uphold oppressive structures.”
Nadar accused ACSA of maintaining patriarchal systems and clinging to “outdated doctrines” and “selective interpretations of scripture … to uphold oppressive structures,” and likened the Church’s position to the use of scripture “to defend slavery and apartheid, each of which twisted the gospel to support unjust hierarchies.”
Church leaders ‘must repent’
They also called on church leaders “to reject the commodification of blessings” and to “repent of the violence and harm caused by queer-phobia,” saying “The Church’s refusal to provide pastoral care for queer people is a failure of love. All churches must offer prayers, pastoral support, and sacramental inclusion to all people, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.”
The church was guilty of gender-based violence, Nadar said, and has caused harm “through its teachings on gender and sexuality.” Moreover, the church is lagging behind government initiatives, they said, because despite legal reforms in South Africa, “church theology remains hopelessly queer-phobic.”
“We lament that, despite years of struggle, queer people remain marginalized in a Church that continues to act as if some people are more worthy of love, more worthy of blessing, more worthy of inclusion than others,” Nadar further wrote in their statement, which was subsequently endorsed by a number of pro-LGBTQI+ organizations, including the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation, and Hope Africa, which runs the social development programme of ACSA.
Globally the Anglican Church remains divided over the issue, with the Church of England for the first time endorsing prayers of blessings for gay couples last year, to allow clergy to bless the unions of same-sex couples. The House of Bishops also ruled in 2023 that clergy may not enter same-sex marriages, but gay clergy would be allowed to enter civil partnerships on the understanding that they remain celibate.
Several Anglican leaders have rejected the reforms, including the Church in Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda, which cut ties with the main body of Anglicans to join the Church in North America, a group not recognised as part of the Anglican Communion after it parted ways with the parent body over the LGBTQI+ issue.
The Provincial Synod of ACSA, which remains deeply divided on the issue was set up in 1870 and has 26 dioceses in four southern African countries and three mid-Atlantic islands, including Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, South Africa, and St. Helena.