I used to live in Machen, a small Welsh village about 12km away from where the new Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev. Cherry Vann, is to be consecrated in Newport Cathedral. Much as I would enjoy visiting my old home, I won’t be using that as an excuse to attend Ms. Van’s installation as Archbishop.
Vann is collecting a catalogue of firsts to add to her résumé: she was the first female priest to be ordained in the UK, and now she is the first lesbian primate to be in a homoerotic relationship with her partner for the last 30 years.
What is curious about that, you may be wondering. After all, the only thing that the Anglican church can do that excites any interest in the secular press is to have yet another scandal exposed or to appoint a new archbishop with unusual sexual tastes. I’ve come to suspect that it’s all part of a devious Anglican strategy to be noticed.
The curious thing about it is that, while every liberal Western province is clamouring to enshrine same-sex marriage into their liturgies, this Archbishop says she doesn’t need to be married in church.
If an Archbishop doesn’t need to be married in church, why does anyone else?
Problem solved: there will be no same-sex marriages in churches because it isn’t needed.
From here:
The archbishop grew up in a religious family in Whetstone in Leicestershire, following in her church organist father’s footsteps by studying at the Royal College of Music and then the Royal Schools of Music, where she trained as a teacher.
She entered an Anglican theological college in 1986 to prepare for ordination and then worked in the Manchester diocese, becoming a priest in 1994 and archdeacon of Rochdale in 2008.
Gender and sexuality are still highly divisive issues in the Anglican communion. Even in her new role as the first female and first openly gay archbishop in the UK, Vann was cautious on the topic of gay marriage.
“I don’t personally feel the need to get married in church; Wendy and I have been together for 30 years, we’ve made our vows, and we are committed to each other.
This would be well directed to the ACoC as well. Since there are no figures published, there’s no evidence, but based largely on my own impressions, I would be surprised if there have been any same-sex blessings or weddings in any diocese for years.
Marriages between a man and a woman began in the Book of Genesis, long before the creation of the Christian Church.