During a North Carolina conference in early May, the United Methodist Church - a global denomination of Protestantism based in the US - changed some regulations to allow gay pastors and same-sex marriage.

The Ivory Coast division - which has an estimated 1.2 million followers - responded by accusing the international leaders of 'deviating from the Holy Scriptures' and 'sacrificing its honour and integrity to honour the LGBTQ community'.

Bishop Benjamin Boni, president of the division, said it voted to separate from the umbrella church during a May 28 gathering in the Jubilee Temple of Cocody, Abidjan, on the southern coast of the West African country.

In a statement, he said the decision to separate after more than 20 years was made 'for reasons of conscience'.

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Fr Flannery (77), suspended from public ministry by the Vatican in 2012, intends to give his views on whether "religious belief as we have known it can survive in modern Ireland".

He also intends to pay tribute to Pope Francis for "freeing up discussion, areas of study and the search for the truth".

The Redemptorist priest had been disciplined in 2012 for publicly expressing support for women's ordination and same-sex marriage and for expressing more liberal views on homosexuality.

Although he has been outspoken since his suspension and was profiled in a recent TG4 documentary, he has not given a public talk with a question-and-answer session in six years.

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The Holy Trinity Chapel, located on the grounds of the Finca El Campillo, a property used as a wedding venue in the town of El Escorial, was the scene of a celebration of the two men's civil marriage last Saturday.

Cristina González Navarro, who owns the property, told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, that at the event inside the chapel, "there was no priest" and that "a wedding wasn't held." Still, she refused to offer more details about what the ritual consisted of.

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Fr Luca Favarin, 53, who had been suspended since last December, made the announcement of his dismissal from the clerical state in an August 24 post on Facebook, saying the Vatican decree had arrived the day before.

Favarin had been a priest of the Diocese of Padua since 1988 and, in recent years, has turned himself into a highly successful businessman as he has sought to reach out and work with migrants.

Favarin has been long at odds with official Catholic teaching on several hot-button issues, including same-sex marriage and euthanasia.

"I believe in the right to love and to see that love publicly recognised, also for people of the same sex," he once said.

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The approval came after bishops rejected calls to allow same-sex marriages in churches at a meeting in January. Instead, they proposed numerous options and suggested offering blessings after a civil partnership or marriage, known as Prayers of Love and Faith.

The Anglican General Synod - the Church's elected governing body - spent five hours discussing and voting on the bishops' new proposals.

The vote was passed in all three Synod houses: the bishops, clergy and laity.

Bishops voted for it by 36 to four, with two abstentions. The clergy voted for it by 111 to 85, with three abstentions. The house of laity approved it 103 to 92, with five abstentions.

While their approval for gay-couple blessings after nearly six years of internal debate has been welcomed by some as progress, others say it doesn't go far enough.

Last week both bishops and clergy made impassioned pleas to back or block the plans and 28 related amendments.

The amendments include no change to rules banning Anglican priests from officiating at weddings of same-sex couples. However, they could offer "God's blessing" for civil marriages or civil partnerships in a church.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Stephen Cottrell, the Archbishop of York, said in a joint statement: "It has been a long road to get us to this point.

"For the first time, the Church of England will publicly, unreservedly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples in church. The Church continues to have deep differences on these questions which go to the heart of our human identity.

"As archbishops, we are committed to respecting the conscience of those for whom this goes too far and to ensure that they have all the reassurances they need in order to maintain the unity of the Church as this conversation continues.

"We hope that today's thoughtful, prayerful debate marks a new beginning for the Church as we seek a way forward, listening to each other and most of all to God. Above all we continue to pray, as Jesus himself prayed, for the unity of his church and that we would love one another."

The momentous shift in church orthodoxy was welcomed by the Archbishop of York.

He told Synod that same-sex couples "could now come to church and have that relationship acknowledged, celebrated and the couple receive a blessing" in a move that will be optional for priests.

Last month, in an open letter, the Anglican bishops also issued an unprecedented apology directly to LGBTQ people for the sometimes "hostile and homophobic response" they have faced in parishes.

Blessings without marriage

Veteran UK gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell described blessings without a marriage as "an insult".

He said same-sex couples should be able to marry in their own parish church.

"This is a right extended to every heterosexual man and woman in England, regardless of their religion - but not to LGBTs. That's discrimination, and discrimination is not a Christian value."

Source

• Telegraph
• UCA News

Cuba holds parliamentary elections every two years, though no party other than the Communist is allowed, but seldom has it held referendums on specific laws.

And seldom has an officially backed measure met as much open criticism as the family law of more than 400 articles, which has been questioned by many members of the island's increasingly vocal evangelical community.

The sweeping code would also allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents regarding grandchildren, protection of the elderly and measures against gender violence.

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Friday's announcement at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England came from the Global South orthodox bishops as they pressed for re-affirmation of traditional teaching on marriage.

The Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) claims to represent 75 percent of the Anglican Communion.

They declared their position a day after 100 people, including twelve bishops, joined a walk at the Conference's campus venue. The walk aimed to show solidarity with LGBTQ people.

Even before the conference began, documents referring to gay relationships were already causing tempers to flare.

The GSFA says it will table its own resolution at the conference. It will reaffirm Lambeth Resolution 1.10 as the Church's official teaching on marriage and sexuality.

That resolution was formally passed at the Lambeth Conference in 1998. It describes marriage as a life-long commitment between a man and a woman. Same-sex unions are therefore outlawed, the GSFA says.

The 2022 Lambeth Conference organisers have got it wrong, the GSFA adds.

They have failed to recognise the resolution "is not just about sex and marriage".

Rather, it's "fundamentally about the authority of the Bible which Anglicans believe to be central to faith and order".

GSFA chair Archbishop Justin Badi says the GSFA also wants the sanctions imposed on provinces that ordain bishops in same-sex relationships. Provinces allowing same-sex marriages should also be sanctioned.

The Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia is among them, he says.

Badi says the Communion has been "for far too long driven by the views of the West". It has ignored voices from the Global South.

"Today, in Canterbury, we may be ‘gathered together' but we most certainly cannot ‘walk together'".

For that to happen, provinces which have gone against scripture — and the will of the consensus of the bishops — must "repent and return to orthodoxy," he says.

The row over same-sex marriage erupted on the eve of the conference.

The draft conference documents said "It is the mind of the Anglican Communion as a whole that same-gender marriage is not permissible."

Protests from supporters of same-sex marriage followed.

The documents were then amended to note differences among Anglican provinces.

The statement now notes while many provinces ban same-gender marriages, others have a different view.

Besides the 650 bishops from around the globe attending the conference in person, hundreds of others have boycotted it.

They are protesting the support from some parts of the Communion for same-sex marriage.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, says the conference is not a synod or a legislative body.

Rather, it is a place where bishops could come together.

While Resolution 1.10 is "still very much part of the Anglican Communion, there's deep division," he says.

"It will need to be decided in each province and diocese."

The Conference - the first to be held in 14 years - will continue after it ends on Friday, when bishops return to their provinces.

Source

• Religion News Service

St Catherine's is in Sydney's eastern suburbs, where more than 80 per cent of residents supported same-sex marriage in the 2017 referendum. Some of the school's parents are in same-sex relationships.

While most families in the suburb are not practising Anglicans, the conservative, evangelical Sydney Anglican diocese dominates the school's board.

The news about the terms to which their new principal will have to agree prompted an outcry. The school's council was inundated with complaints.

A former dux of the school and now doctor, Rebecca James, pointed out that about 7 per cent of young females identify as LGBTQ. "That's two per class," she wrote on the school's Facebook page. "Let's see the school remove this hideous, discriminatory, un-Christian clause."

The outgoing principal, Julie Townsend, was sympathetic. She said discriminatory views had no place at the school. "Although we are a diocesan school, we are not the Sydney Diocese."

The Sydney Diocese holds control over the board of St Catherine's and those of many of Sydney's most sought-after schools including Shore, Kings', Trinity Grammar, Abbotsleigh and St Andrew's Cathedral School. While parents pay $30,000 a year or more, the ultimate decisions about how the schools are run lie not with them but with the church.

A local mum, Catherine Wilson, had all but settled on St Catherine's and Shore for her children's high schooling. Now she is having second thoughts, and she is not alone. "It fundamentally goes against our own beliefs," she says.

Wilson, who describes herself as agnostic, and her husband had already decided against Catholic high schools due to the religion's stance on social issues. "We're losing schools by the day and ... now I do think [Catholics are] more transparent [about their views]."

"What's the next clause - will it be about women?" asked one of several principals opposed to the move. "It's a huge rift between the schools and the synod."

The Sydney Diocese has become increasingly conservative over the past few decades. It is at odds with other Australian Anglicans on the ordination of women and blessing of same-sex relationships.

In 2019, the Sydney diocese told its 34 Anglican principals to sign a letter to federal MPs, saying that while schools would not expel gay students or staff, they wanted to reserve the right to employ people who supported the ethos of the school.

Sources

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian

The Sydney Morning Herald

Described as being a social and economic conservative, Perrottet won a NSW Liberal party room ballot on Tuesday morning. He replaces Gladys Berejiklian and will be the New South Wales' 46th premier, the youngest in the state's history.

Perrottet's views on same-sex marriage, abortion and assisted dying match those of the Catholic Church.

He firmly opposes same-sex marriage, on the grounds that "marriage is about every child's fundamental right to grow up with their own mum and dad".

He voted against decriminalising abortion and once told supporters of abortion rights that they were on the "wrong side of history".

He is likely to vote against the voluntary assisted dying laws that will soon come before the NSW parliament, but says he will allow a conscience vote on any such issues.

"My view has always been in the Liberal Party that when we have certain moral debates in the parliament that they are dealt with, with respect and through a conscience vote, and that's important.

"It's important that we have a diversity of views; that's what makes our parliament great and allows our state to flourish. We should embrace diversity of views and values, not marginalise difference."

But in recent days, Perrottet's Catholicism has drawn ever louder and harsher criticism from media.

Critics say he is such a conservative Catholic - he has six children - that he should not lead the state; that his brand of Catholicism is one of "righteousness and self-righteousness around central questions of identity, sexuality, gender politics, minority rights and an unwavering conviction that this is the one true faith".

Those comments stack oddly against the figure Perrottet has cast for himself: as an advocate for freedom, who expresses his conservative values in public discourse and his voting record in parliament.

He has spoken about how his religious beliefs have had a fundamental influence on his work in politics, including framing his views on issues such as abortion.

"Faith is personal to me, as it is for millions of people across our state, and anybody should be able to put their hand up to serve in public life, and should not be disqualified, based on their faith or their heritage," he says.

He also says he's "very passionate about freedom.

"Freedom is the overarching value that I hold and that is that people of different religions, cultural backgrounds have a great place in our society."

"I certainly believe in diversity. I believe in tolerance. I believe in values of respect for all people. And people should be judged on their actions, not based on an attribute that someone thinks shouldn't have a place in public life."

"I believe in freedom, because it is only by exercising freedom that individuals can develop the habits of generosity, hard work, fairness and concern for others," he said.

"I believe that these habits have made our country great and are ultimately the foundation for the pursuit of the good life. You cannot do good without striving to be good."

Source

• The Australian
• News.com.au
• SBS News
• Image: News.com.au

Local media have called the Vatican's intervention in Italian law "unprecedented" in the history of the relationship between the two states.

According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, a letter was delivered by Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican's secretary of relations with states, to the Italian government.

The "anti-homophobia" bill, known by the name "Ddl Zan," is being examined by the justice commission of the Italian Senate, after the text received initial approval from the House last November.

The bill seeks to prevent and oppose "discrimination and violence for reasons based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability."

The note from Gallagher said parts of the legislation violated a treaty made between Italy and the Catholic church in the 1920s that secured the freedoms and rights of the church, Corriere della Sera reported.

The agreement guarantees that the Italian Republic recognises "the full freedom of the Catholic Church to carry out its pastoral, educational and charitable mission, of evangelisation and sanctification."

According to article 2, paragraph 3 of the agreement, "Catholics and their associations and organisations are guaranteed full freedom of assembly and expression of thought by word, writing and any other means of dissemination."

The intervention has further stoked a fiery debate surrounding the law, designed to make violence and hate speech against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a crime.

An atheist group in Italy protested the Vatican's actions, saying they "violated the independence and the sovereignty of the Republic."

"The government has the political and moral obligation to not only just resist pressure but to unilaterally denounce this unprecedented interference in state affairs,'' the secretary of the Union of Atheists and Agnostic Rationalists, Roberto Grendene, said in a statement.

A gay-rights group, Gay Party for LGBT+ Rights, called on Premier Mario Draghi's government to reject the Vatican's interference "and improve the law so that it truly has, at its heart, the fight against homophobia and transphobia."

"We find worrying the Vatican meddling in the law against homophobia,'' said the group's spokesman, Fabrizio Marrazzo.

Marrazzo said Gay Pride Parades in Milan and Rome on Saturday would send a clear message from the streets on the topic "and defend the laicity of the state."

Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian bishops' conference, urged more "open dialogue" about the issue "to arrive at a solution without ambiguity and legislative stretch."

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Business Insider

The Guardian

His most recent comments were made in "Francesco," a new documentary on his life and ministry.

The film premiered Oct. 21 as part of the Rome Film Festival.

In the film, Francis says that "Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it."

The pope then suggests that civil union laws may provide a way for countries to protect the legal rights of persons in same-sex relationships.

Although the media reported the comments as "fresh" and Francis departing from previous 'teachings', he has previously spoken in favour of civil unions.

Francis first spoke about civil unions in 2013, when Argentina and facing the near-certain passage of the gay marriage bill, and the then Cardinal Bergoglio wagered on a position of greater dialogue with society and suggested civil unions as a compromise to his fellow bishops.

He was outvoted.

Then again in 2014, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he acknowledged that states passing civil union laws were primarily doing so in order to provide same-sex partners legal rights.

And in 2017, French author, Dominique Wolton asked him about marriage for same-sex couples and Francis replied: "Let's call this 'civil unions.' We do not joke around with the truth".

However, it is his most recent comment that has captured the world's attention and is welcomed by many on the progressive wing of the church.

One such is Jesuit Fr James Martin who has advocated for greater LGBTQ inclusion in the Church.

He labels Francis' comments 'historic'.

"First, he is saying them as Pope, not Archbishop of Buenos Aires, second, he is clearly supporting, not simply tolerating, civil unions. Third, he is saying it on camera, not privately," tweeted Martin.

However, Francis is under pressure from church conservatives such as Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island.

"The Pope's statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the Church about same-sex unions," Tobin said in a statement.

"The Church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships."

The reaction within the LGBTQ community is similarly mixed.

"This news should send an undeniable message to Catholic families with LGBTQ people that all family members are deserving of acceptance and support," said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the LGBTQ media advocacy organisation GLAAD.

"Pope Francis' public approval is a fundamental step forward at a time when LGBTQ acceptance around the world and across religions is expanding and rightfully becoming the norm."

And, "It is no overstatement to say that with this statement not only has the pope protected LGBTQ couples and families, but he also will save many LGBTQ lives," said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, which represents LGBTQ Catholics,

Others in the LGBTQ lobby, however, remain critical, saying Francis has taken too long to make the statement and not gone far enough and urge him to go further.

Shortly after becoming pope in 2013, he made big headlines when asked about reports of gays in the clergy, Francis answered, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?"

Sources

• NBC News
• NY Times
• James Martin SJ
• AP
• BBC
• Catholic World Report

The Sydney diocese, which opposes same-sex marriage blessings, has indicated to the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand & Polynesia (ACANZP) that organised religion in New Zealand is over.

The schism between the NZ Anglican faithful concerns what Anglican clergy may and may not do in relation to same-sex marriages. Some say the clergy can bless same-sex marriages - while others say Anglican clergy can officiate at such marriages.

Geoff Troughton, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies at Victoria University, says these fine distinctions matter within the Church.

"It's a balancing act. A same-sex marriage might be conducted legally by the state, and the Church won't conduct that rite. But it might then say you've contracted that legal marriage, and we're prepared to recognise and bless it."

Blessings give marriages religious legitimacy; religious legitimacy confers support and power.

"When [the Church] said they could bless same-sex marriages, it meant these marriages were fit and proper relationships," says emeritus professor Peter Lineham.

"It therefore became possible to ordain gay clergy."

Same-sex blessings will significantly change the Church's treatment of takatapui (LGBTQ+) communities.

The evolution for Anglicanism, and Christianity more generally is important. From being New Zealand's biggest religion, the number of self-identified Anglicans has almost halved since 2006 to just 315,000.

A former lay preacher in the Church says of his departure: "I haven't returned to religion since [I came out]. I've found a position in my own mind about… spirituality, Christianity and faith and works."

Facing similar declines, other Christian denominations are watching the struggles in Anglicanism.

Disputes over same-sex blessings have roiled Anglicanism for years. Senior Anglicans, who gather every decade at London's Lambeth Palace, prohibited "the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions," in 1998.

Liberal Anglicans rebelled. After the American Episcopal Church ordained a bishop in a same-sex relationship in 2003, same-sex blessings became increasingly common in North America.

Schism was not inevitable. Same-sex marriage was hotly debated in Aotearoa in 2016, with the dioceses of Nelson and Christchurch threatening schism in response to the proposals. Compromises and consultation soothed the fractiousness at that time.

It was against this background that ACANZP met in 2018 for General Synod. At this a large majority passed a rule-change to allow bishops to permit the blessing of same-sex marriages.

Few congregations were unanimous in their response to the rule change.

Churches which broke away often left substantial minorities of parishioners; churches which remained, particularly at the schism's epicentre in Christchurch, faced exoduses.

In both cases, Anglican vicar Jay Behan says "people are walking away from buildings where they were married, where they baptised their children, or where they held funerals for loved ones."

According to Archbishop Phillip Richardson of ACANZP, "[Those who left] were all people that I really love. And at a personal level, it hurt like hell."

Source

• Stuff
• Image: Stuff

On July 11, Father Emanuele Moscatelli, from the former pastor of the Church of St. Lawrence the Martyr in Sant'Oreste, presided over the wedding of two close friends identified as Beatrice, 50, and Francesca, 38 in the Italian press.

The pair were eager to enter into a civil union and enjoy the legal benefits that come with marriage.

A few days prior to the ceremony, Father Moscatelli even sought out the approval of the mayor of the Rome province, visiting the municipal registry to ensure he could conduct the service. Read more

Just 36 hours beforehand Flello was announced as the Lib Dem candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.

The Party concluded his values diverged for theirs.

The British media report that Flello's views on abortion and same-sex marriage are the cause of his deselection.

"We do our best to screen candidates in our approval process," a Party spokesman said.

"In this case, it only really became clear over the past few hours how greatly his values diverge from ours."

In 2005 Flello won the seat for Labour in 2005 but lost it in the 2017 election to the Conservatives.

Profoundly disillusioned with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, Fello joined the Lib Dems earlier in 2019.

During his political career, Flello had been once considered among Labour's most promising MPs, serving as private secretary to three Ministers.

However, Flello was consigned to the backbenches after his defence of human life and conversion to the Catholic faith.

"I could no more leave my faith at the door of the House than I could my name, my gender or my arms and legs", he is reported to have said during a debate on the defence of human life.

Flello was a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group that consistently voted against abortion, and in 2012 was one of 22 Labour MP's to oppose David Cameron's redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

At one point he also asked Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign.

Fello is accusing the Lib Dem's of religious discrimination and a lack of tolerance.

He said he was "deeply shocked and very disappointed" by his deselection, adding: "I feel utterly misled by the Lib Dem Party who claim in their constitution to acknowledge and respect the right to freedom of conscience."

"Not only do I feel betrayed by the false promises of the Lib Dems but I am profoundly concerned that people of faith who adhere to their religious beliefs are not welcome in their party."

Later, Lib Dem deputy, Sir Ed Davey insisted a judgement will have been made about values rather than religion.

"The party has many Catholics in it ranks and would continue to do so", he said to Shelagh Fogarty or LBC radio.

• Source: The Tablet

Attorney Kathleen DeLaney announced the settlement with Cathedral High School in a news release on Tuesday.

In it, the teacher thanks Cathedral for the opportunities and experiences that he has had teaching there and does not wish the school any harm. Cathedral thanks the teacher for the years of service, contributions, and achievements. Read more

They should find "other legal ways" to protect gay unions, Cuban archbishop Dionisio Garcia says.

Garcia was responding to efforts made by Cuban dictator Raúl Castro's daughter Mariela, who is pressing to have gay marriage legalised in Cuba.

This means marriage will need to be legally redefined. Castro has suggested by replacing the terms "man and woman" with "two people."

The redefinition of marriage has now been approved by the National Assembly and is currently undergoing a popular consultation.

However, Garcia says Cubans should find "other legal ways" to protect gay unions that don't include changing the "definition of an institution of the natural order, such as marriage."

Garcia says redefining the institution of marriage in the constitution "worries many."

This is because it could lead to the legalisation of gay marriage, or adoption by same-sex couples, "depriving them from birth of having a mother or a father."

He also says the constitutional re-definition of marriage could lead to a change in the content of what children are taught in schools.

The new definition of marriage being a ‘voluntary and consensual union between two people' is not correct, Garcia says.

He points out that human beings are either "men or women," and each sex has its own "particularities and genetic, physical, biological and psychological differences, in such a way that they complement each other."

This complementarity is expressed in a "unique and singular way" in marriage, Garcia notes.

To ignore "what has been given to us by nature or to go against the laws and process inscribed even genetically in our being carries regrettable consequences," that can be either immediate or manifest themselves over the years, he says.

Source

• Crux Now
• Rappler
• Image: Catholic Herald

Until Friday's decision, 93 US dioceses allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry in the church. Eight did not.

The decision by the Episcopal church's governing body overrides those local decisions.

Same-sex couples may request the church's approved gender-neutral marriage rites and will be able to marry in their home parish even if their local bishop has moral objections to gay marriage.

If the local bishop opposes same-sex weddings, the parish priest can still conduct the ceremony. If they wish, they can ask for pastoral support from a bishop in another diocese.

Clergy may also decline to bless or solemnise any marriage.

Bishop Lawrence Provenzano, who helped craft the resolution, said the arrangement provides greater inclusion for LGBT couples without alienating traditionalists.

"This [writing gender-neutral marriage rites] was really a pastoral solution ...one that was mindful of trying to hold on to everybody," he said.

A previous resolution would have effectively made same-sex marriage part of the official theology of the church by inserting the new liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer.

Provenzano said this would have been "a step too fast," for bishops who are biblically at odds with same-sex marriage and have threatened to leave the denomination over the issue.

Not all the bishops are at ease with the solution, however.

One says he is concerned LGBT Episcopalians would feel like second-class citizens without official adoption of the new marriage liturgies in the Book of Common Prayer.

Others said it was likely only a matter of time before the liturgies were added officially.

Opponents raised concerns about undermining bishops' authority and about possible schism within the church.

Bishop John Bauerschmidt, who banned same-sex weddings from the Tennessee diocese in 2015, said there is still "much to work out."

He said the resolution allows access to the liturgies for same sex marriage while preserving the rights and responsibilities of the parish clergy for the use of their buildings for any liturgy.

"It also preserves the ministry of bishops as chief pastors and teachers in our dioceses."

"We will be working out what it means for our diocese with clergy and congregations in the coming days," he said.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Tennessean
• Image: YouTube

The ban was announced after Fr Frank Brennan SJ defended Catholics' right to speak according to their conscience about the issue.

He had been invited to speak at a CatholicCare Tasmania conference in February.

Archbishop Julian Porteous says Brennan may not attend advertised speaking events because of his advocacy for religious freedom regarding same-sex marriage.

Porteous's decision was met with surprise by former Catholic priest Paul Collins.

"It is not as though Frank were some raging radical, he is a person who runs all of the Catholic Church's social services in the country," he says.

Mr Collins says Porteous, who holds opposite views to Brennan regarding same-sex marriage, is out of touch with mainstream Catholics.

"Frank Brennan's views on same-sex marriage are absolutely the views of the majority of Catholics in Australia. I voted yes," he says.

"All the evidence points to the fact that the vast majority of Catholic's voted 'yes' and a number of the other Catholic bishops voted 'yes'.

Collins says Australia is a pluralistic democracy, "and in a pluralistic democracy, people are able to express their views in public.

"What it does is reinforce the notion that bishops live, somehow or other, in cloud-cuckoo-land."

Source

• SkyNews
• ABC
• Image: Australian Marriage Equality

He disagrees with the recent decision made by the Anglican Synod to give bishops the freedom to allow the blessing of same-sex couples in their dioceses.

The motion allows only for blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples who have been married elsewhere.

The proposal also gives each diocese's bishop and clergy immunity from complaint if they refused to conduct blessings of same-sex couples.

Behan is chair of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans New Zealand (FCANZ), an evangelical conservative group within the church, that opposes same-sex blessings.

A statement on the FCANZ website greeted the synod vote with "deep sadness."

"We are ready to support people and parishes that cannot remain within this changed Anglican structure.

"We will work together nationally and internationally to provide fellowship and support as we look towards new ways and structures of ministering the unchanging good news of Jesus," it stated.

FCANZ is governed by a Trust Board located in Christchurch.

It is unclear how many members it has. The FACNZ website reported that a total of nearly 500 Anglicans attended two conferences in Auckland and Christchurch to launch the organisation in 2016.

FCANZ is the New Zealand arm of a Global Movement known as the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA).

FCA is closely associated with Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCOM).

It is a coalition of Anglican bishops, archbishops and lay people from around the world.

They come mainly from churches in the southern hemisphere - Africa, Asia, Australia, South America - but also enjoy the support of unhappy conservative evangelicals from the US, Canada and England.

According to a Guardian report, gay clergy and same-sex unions are the main issues for FCA.

However, members are also unhappy with the west's failure to proselytise to non-Christians.

FCO claims to represent around half of the world's 77 million Anglicans.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• theguardian.com
• anglicandownunder.blogspot.co.nz
• fcanz.org
• Image: newshub.co.nz

The ruling Progressive Labour Party's bill to replace same-sex marriage with domestic partnership arrangements was passed in the House of Assembly last Friday.

The Domestic Partnership Act 2017 was passed with 24 MPs supporting the bill and 10 opposing it.

Senators then approved the Domestic Partnership Act by an 8-3 vote.

It must now be signed by the governor before it becomes law.

Home Affairs Minister Walton Brown, who introduced the bill, says the new law will provide same-sex couples with a raft of legal rights but prevent any further same-sex marriages on the island.

"We need to find a way in Bermuda to fully embrace greater rights for all members of the community," he says.

Gay couples who have already married in Bermuda will not be affected if the law changes.

The question of same-sex marriage in Bermuda has been the subject of much debate this year.

In May, the Supreme Court ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.

At the time, the Supreme Court said "the common law discriminates against same-sex couples by excluding them from marriage."

The new Domestic Partnership Act overturns the Supreme Court's ruling.

Opponents of the legislation say it is unprecedented to strip the right to same-sex marriage after it was granted in a jurisdiction.

Theysay global reaction could hurt the tourism industry.

The opponents also claim the new legislation it is discriminatory because same-sex couples will only have the option of domestic partnerships while opposite-sex couples could choose between marriage or domestic partnerships.

Source

• Jamaica Observer
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Metro