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CofE calls for priests to ‘better accommodate' gay couples
10 April 2013
The Church of England has urged its priests to be more flexible in helping gay couples achieve a "closer approximation" to marriage.
A report by the church's Faith and Order Commission - its doctrinal watchdog - said priests should "devise accommodations" for same-sex couples in their parishes but stopped short of encouraging formal public blessings of gay civil partnerships.
Revd Colin Coward of the pro-gay Changing Attitude group said the Church's refusal to encourage same-sex blessings was "deeply offensive". But Revd Dr Giles Fraser, a former canon chancellor at St Paul's Cathedral, said the report, Men and Women in Marriage, gave clergy a green light to conduct blessings for same-sex couples in all but name.
The Church of England opposes same-sex marriage, although the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has referred to gay couples he knows as having a "stunning level of commitment' to each other.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/5190
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/latest-news/5190