Saturday, January 21, 2012

Will 'Dean Jennifer' and his chaplain boyfriend tear the Church apart?


From The London Daily Mail-

From the ornate pulpit of the vast and ancient cathedral where fire and brimstone have reverberated down the decades, the sermon that Sunday morning took on a very different, intimate tone.

The Dean of St Albans, the Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John, was preaching to the congregation about his own personal anguish and the challenge of finding the strength to meet it.

His uplifting message, as he surveyed the absorbed faces of worshippers in St Albans Cathedral, was that all those who faced difficult challenges should be supported by their fellow men and women.

This was a fine Christian message, but it may not have been quite what it seemed.
For Dr John, who is openly gay and living in a civil partnership with a fellow cleric, is threatening to sue the Church of England for failing to appoint him a bishop.

Twice the controversial cleric has been the favourite to become one, first at Reading in 2003 and then at Southwark in 2010. And twice — despite a brilliant career — he’s been rejected.
Dean Jeffrey has now instructed specialist employment lawyers to consider suing the Church under the Equality Act 2010, which bars discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.

Such action, whatever the result, could catastrophically deepen the schism that threatens an Anglican church already dangerously divided worldwide over homosexuality.

It would almost certainly require the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to give evidence under oath, as he is said to have blocked John’s promotion on both occasions.

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089702/Dr-Jeffrey-John-Will-gay-Dean-Jennifer-chaplain-boyfriend-tear-Church-apart.html#ixzz1k6ZDKX2f

1 comment:

JCF said...

I don't know which is worse: that the Daily Mail gets the FACTS wrong (John isn't mulling a lawsuit because he wasn't made a bishop, but because of the discriminatory policy---counter UK law---that prevents ANY person of homosexual orientation from being considered), or the disgusting "Dean Jennifer" slur. >:-/