The bishop of
London said Sunday he would order an investigation into a
wedding-like church service for two male priests. The
priests exchanged rings and vows in a service at one
of London's oldest churches marked by a fanfare of
trumpets and capped by a shower of confetti on May 31,
Britain's Sunday Telegraph reported. Bishop of
London the Right Reverend Richard Chartres said in a
statement that such services were not authorized in
the Church of England and said he would ask the
archdeacon of London to investigate. A call placed with the
archdeacon was not immediately returned.
The bishop of
London said Sunday he would order an investigation into a
wedding-like church service for two male priests.
The priests
exchanged rings and vows in a service at one of London's
oldest churches marked by a fanfare of trumpets and capped
by a shower of confetti on May 31, Britain's SundayTelegraph reported.
Bishop of London
the Right Reverend Richard Chartres said in a statement
that such services were not authorized in the Church of
England and said he would ask the archdeacon of London
to investigate. A call placed with the archdeacon was
not immediately returned.
While civil
partnerships between same-sex couples are officially
recognized in Britain, the Church of England's guidelines
ask clergy not to bless such partnerships.
The ceremony is
likely to anger conservative members of the Anglican
Communion, a loose-knit worldwide Christian grouping that
includes the U.S. Episcopal Church.
Conservatives are
fiercely opposed to both same-sex partnerships and the
ordaining of gay priests, and the issue threatens to tear
the Anglicans apart. The Archbishop of Uganda the Most
Reverend Henry Orombi was quoted by the
Telegraph as calling the ceremony blasphemous.
The ceremony took
place at St. Bartholomew the Great, according to the
Telegraph. The Reverend Peter Cowell and the
Reverend David Lord walked up the aisle in morning suits to
the tune of Mendelssohn's ''A Midsummer Night's
Dream'' and, after exchanging rings, took part in
communion, the paper said.
While not
technically a marriage, the ceremony's liturgy, including
the introductory ''Dearly beloved...'' closely matched
the wording used for weddings.
Telephone and
e-mail messages left at St. Bartholomew the Great were not
immediately returned.
The Sunday Times quoted the Reverend Martin
Dudley, who presided over the service, as saying he had no
regrets.
''Unrepentant would be the right word,'' Dudley
was quoted as saying. ''I have made no secret about this. I
have done something that was a very nice pastoral,
godly occasion. ... I certainly didn't do it to defy
anyone. I have done what I believe is right.''
Church of England
spokesman Lou Henderson said the archbishop of
Canterbury, the Anglican Communion's spiritual leader, was
unlikely to make any public comment about the
controversy. (Raphael Satter, AP)
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