The Church in Wales have vetoed an openly gay priest in a
celibate Civil Partnership from being appointed as Bishop of LLandaff. This is especially shocking as the Church in
Wales has been one of the more supportive Anglican provinces towards LGBT
people in the past.
According to a letter published by Jeffrey John, whose
appointment was blocked, the reason is anti-gay discrimination. Despite unanimous support for Jeffrey among
the appointed representatives for the Diocese of Llandaff, and a reminder by
the presiding bishop that being in a Civil Partnership was not a bar to
appointment, 2 of the 5 Bishops objected to his appointment on the grounds of
his sexuality, effectively blocking his appointment. In his letter Jeffrey John notes that, “This
is the way that anti-gay discrimination always works.”
He should know. He
has been blackballed from the club of Bishops on a regular basis for the last
14 years.
In 2003, Jeffrey John was forced to withdraw from being
appointed Bishop of Reading by the then Archbishop of Canterbury because of his
sexuality. The conservative backlash
which followed the announcement of his appointment resulted in him being
hounded by the press, pilloried by conservatives, and hung out to dry by the
church which appointed him. It all
culminated in an ‘invitation’ to Lambeth Palace where he was subjected to
several hours of emotional blackmail before finally caving in and withdrawing
his acceptance.
At least that was all out in the open.
On numerous occasions since then, he has been shortlisted
for posts as a Bishop. Each time, he has
submitted the personal statements required, often been called for interview and
then told he was not suitable. All
under the veil of secrecy which shrouds the appointment of Bishops in the
Church of England and in Wales.
In 2010, he was shortlisted to be Bishop of Southwark where
he was known as a former parish priest, elected member of General Synod, and
Canon Chancellor at the Cathedral. He was
well loved by his friends and respected by those who disagreed with him. It should have been a perfect fit, but the
same pattern repeated. This time,
however, substantive leaks followed. One
of the members of the appointing group (the CNC) died the following year, and
his daughter made his account of the meeting public. Jeffrey John’s appointment had been blocked
by a ‘bad tempered Archbishop of Canterbury’ who left a number of the members
of the CNC in tears. The Archbishop of
York had worked behind the scenes to the same end. The whole episode had been shameful.
On and on it went, in a pattern which can only be called
abuse.
After the appointment of Nicholas Chamberlain as Bishop of
Grantham last year, and the subsequent revelation that he was in a long term
same sex relationship, it appeared that change had finally come. Now there was an openly gay Bishop in the
CofE. It appeared that the dam had
broken, but there was an important difference. The fact that Nicholas is gay, and in a long
term relationship, was not publicly known before his consecration. It was privately known, by the current
Archbishop of Canterbury amongst others, but it was not in the public
domain. Apparently that still makes a
difference.
And so we come to Llandaff.
Here, surely was the appointment that would break the cycle of
abuse. In recent years the Church in
Wales has been more supportive of LGBT people in its public statements than its
Anglican neighbours in England. Jeffrey
John is Welsh and a fluent Welsh speaker.
The 12 people elected by the diocese to represent the views of the
diocese in the appointment unanimously supported him.
But even this was not enough. After allegedly homophobic comments went
unchallenged at the Bench of Bishops meeting, he was blackballed again, along
with everyone else who had made the shortlist, just to obfuscate the blatant
discrimination at work.
The spiritual and emotional abuse continues.
I talked with Jeffrey John back in 2003 when he was unable
to go home because of the press camped out on his doorstep. He told me of the pressure he was under to
withdraw his acceptance to be Bishop of Reading. I remember encouraging him to stand firm, and
said that if he stood down, this opportunity would not come round again for a
generation.
Sadly the pressure on him proved too much, and half a
generation later, I am increasingly afraid that I might be right.
The irony is that I don’t blame the individuals involved as
much as the institution whose culture is characterised by fear more than love
or justice. It was fear that prevented
anyone challenging the homophobic statements made at the Board of Bishops. It was fear that led them to blackball
Jeffrey John rather than face any controversy which might follow. It was fear which paralysed these Christian
leaders from exercising true leadership.
The Christian Gospel is not meant to be about fear. It is supposed to be about justice and love. In
fact, the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. Perhaps the Bible should have the last word,
from 1 John 4:16-18
“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world, we are like Jesus.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
