Archbishops Criticise Gay Clerics' Ceremony

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York yesterday expressed their "very great concern" over a wedding-style service between two gay priests at a London church and condemned clergy who disregarded Church of England teaching on human sexuality.

The joint statement from Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, the two most senior figures in the church, is the most significant rebuke yet about the ceremony involving the Rev Peter Cowell and the Rev David Lord, who outraged conservatives by exchanging rings and vows at St Bartholomew the Great church, and could increase pressure on the bishop of London to discipline the rector who performed the service, the Rev Martin Dudley.

The archbishops said: "We have heard the reports of the recent service in St Bartholomew the Great with very great concern. We cannot comment on the specific circumstances because they are the subject of an investigation launched by the Bishop of London.

"Those clergy who disagree with the teaching are at liberty to seek to persuade others why they believe, in the light of scripture, tradition and reason, that it should be changed. But they are not at liberty simply to disregard it."

Although the archbishops are unable to influence the investigation, their intervention will be seen as a warning to those acting unilaterally.

Dudley was unrepentant about conducting the service, saying he did not deliberately disregard the House of Bishops' guidelines, which do not permit services of blessings for civil partnerships.

In an article for the New Statesman magazine he wrote: "We set out to express, experimentally, pushing at boundaries, a love of a type which is not unusual or perverse but which is perfectly ordinary and accepted outside the church. Why, then, can it not be accepted inside the community that is based, not on law, but on the loving presence of God in Jesus Christ?"

Dudley is not the first priest to incur the wrath of the establishment by flouting guidelines. In 2005 the former Bishop of Durham, the Rev David Jenkins, blessed the civil partnership of the Rev Christopher Wardale and Malcolm Macourt. The incumbent bishop, the Right Rev Tom Wright, was furious but took no action.

The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement said in a statement there was a long tradition of clergy disregarding "unjust" official teaching, including on remarriage of divorcees and the ordination of women. "All have come to pass and are now considered integral to the life of the church."

The House of Bishops' pastoral statement on civil partnerships sees some form of service as within the range of permitted action and clergy are encouraged, by canon law, to pray with people when asked, and may use appropriate liturgies.