Marriage on table as synod opens

Church of Ireland

A motion reaffirming the church’s commitment to traditional forms of marriage will be debated at the opening of the Church of Ireland general synod today.

The motion, proposed by the Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson and the Bishop of Down and Dromore Harold Miller, affirms marriage as “a holy mystery in which one man and one woman become one flesh”.

It also says that clergy are called “to be ‘wholesome examples and patterns to the flock of Jesus Christ’.”

In an open letter, 25 lesbian, gay or bisexual members of the Church of Ireland said the motion “provides a pretext to launch witch-hunts against gay clergy in liberal dioceses”, as had happened elsewhere.