The Church of England's House of Bishops has offered a guide, "Some Issues in Human Sexuality," to encourage continuing discussion. The report is a follow-up to the 1991 document, "Issues in Human Sexuality," that said gays and lesbians should not be excluded from the fellowship of the church or from the Eucharist-but added that celibacy was the rule for clergy. The new report, launched November 4, does not change church policy.
"Recent events have highlighted the need for such a guide," said Bishop Richard Harries of Oxford, who chaired the group of bishops that produced the guide as a contribution to help Christians sort out the issues.
The Church of England has an "unhealthy obsession" with sexual sin, according to a panel of bishops who betrayed a frustration with the way the issues are threatening the unity of the church-especially in the wake of reactions to the consecration of an openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
The 320-page guide is not intended to direct the debate towards any conclusions but rather "to help Christian people think through different aspects of gay, lesbian and transsexual relationships," according to the introduction. While it describes a wide range of sexual activities it also contains a defense of the church's policies, noting that the church has been criticized for being "too permissive" and "too restrictive."
Among the advantages of the church policies, the bishops said, is that they reflect a consensus of opinion that still allows for "sensitive care" of homosexuals while maintaining the "internal unity and its relationship with its Anglican partner churches."
The guide recommends continuing education because "the discussion of homosexuality is not something that is going to go away. People need to be encouraged to explore... whether there is an unhealthy obsession with sexual sin that prevents people from focusing on other kinds of sin, such as commercial greed, poverty and inequalities of wealth."
The guide also acknowledges that homosexuals "will have encountered misunderstandings or hostility from members of the Christian Church in the past and, if the Christian gospel is to be meaningful to them, it will need to be incarnated in terms of Christ's love."
The guide concluded, "If this is in the context of pastoral care, then that must offer them understanding, support, and unconditional love as they seek to meet the challenges to Christian discipleship that their particular form of sexuality raises."
The study guide is available from the Church House Bookshop in London. To order visit their web site at http://www.chbookshop.co.uk
