The General Synod, the ruling body of the Church of England, has ruled it will soon test special services of prayer and dedication asking for God’s blessing on homosexual couples.
The synod voted Nov. 15 in favor of a motion to bring forward the standalone services based on texts known as Prayers of Love and Faith. (PLF) The PLF is a collection of prayers, readings, and other resources for praying with and for a same-sex couple who love one another and who wish to give thanks for and mark that love in faith before God, the church said.
The vote for the test program was preceded by hours of emotional debate about the church’s responsibilities toward LGBTQ people, Religion News Service (RNS) reported.
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According to the outlet, some synod members argued the testing of standalone services was significant since it might affect the “optics” of the blessings, suggesting that they are weddings in all but name.
Support for the prayers for homosexual couples came from the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell at the
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