The election of a woman in a same-sex civil partnership as the next Archbishop of Wales has been greeted with dismay by the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).
Cherry Vann, currently Bishop of Monmouth, was elected to the position last week, and describes herself as “openly lesbian”. She is also Patron of a pro-LGBT group that ‘welcomes and affirms’ people “of every gender identity and sexual orientation”.
The Most Reverend Dr Laurent Mbanda, Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council, described the appointment of Vann as “a serious error” contrary to the Bible’s teaching on sexual ethics.
‘God’s glorious truth’
In an open letter, Revd Mbanda said: “By celebrating this election and her immoral same-sex relationship, the Canterbury Communion has again bowed to worldly pressure that subverts God’s good word.”
sacrificing the authority of the Scripture
He urged Anglicans to “speak up and take a stand” against an appointment that “compromises God’s glorious and authoritative word on human sexuality.”
Nigerian Primate Archbishop Henry Ndukuba accused the Church in Wales of abandoning “the truth of God’s word by sacrificing the authority of the Scripture for a postmodern agenda that has no divine backing”.
The Most Rev Dr Justin Badi Arama, Primate of South Sudan and Chair of the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches, described the decision as a “divisive rejection of the historic biblical and Anglican teaching on marriage and human sexuality”.
Same-sex relationships
Speaking to The Guardian following her appointment, Vann said: “Gay marriage in church is inevitable, I think: the question is when.” However, she acknowledged that “a good proportion” of Church in Wales’ clergy were opposed to the idea on theological grounds.
Announcing her election, the Church in Wales said that “Archbishop Cherry will be enthroned at Newport Cathedral in due course.”
In June, former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby denigrated faithful Christians by saying he was “being thick” when he held to the Bible’s teachings on sexual ethics.
While in office, Welby angered evangelical Anglicans by stating that sexual activity is permissible within ‘committed relationships’.
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