Bishops in the Church of England published the final texts of Prayers of Love and Faith along with pastoral guidance explaining how the prayers may be used on December 12 following a meeting of the House of Bishops.
The suite of prayers can be used to bless LGBTIQ+ couples during regular public worship (including celebrations of the Eucharist or the Liturgy of the Hours) or in private prayer, and includes collects, intercessions, dedications, benedictions, as well as suggested bible readings. The Prayers for Love and Faith have been allowed in public prayer since December 17.
On December 18 the Holy See published the Declaration “Fiducia supplicans” which explicitly allows the blessing of persons in ‘irregular’ relationships. I contacted a bishop long involved in ARCIC and IARCCUM asking if there had been background co-ordination or consultation between the two churches, noting that both the bishops of the Church of England and the Vatican, at least at first glance, were moving together simultaneously exploring and expanding the notion of blessings and doing so to offer positive pastoral care to the LGBTIQ+ community. The bishop responded that if there was any coordination it was done by the Holy Spirit.
Soon after its publication Fiducia supplicans was characterized by many as a watershed moment in the Catholic Church. Upon further reflection others are finding Fiducia supplicans falling flat in terms of any type of pastoral or doctrinal development, although the Vatican is insisting the document does represent pastoral and doctrinal development (at least regarding the nature of blessings). Following a press release from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding Fiducia supplicans on 4 January 2024 it is now clear that what perhaps first appeared as parallel developments in the Church of England and Rome is not the case.
The Church of England now allows liturgical prayers of blessing for LGBTQI+ couples. Rome has now explicitly excluded such a liturgical possibility while formally allowing and encouraging spontaneous pastoral blessings of persons in ‘irregular’ relationships. More than this however, the intention of the ‘blessing’ in the two churches is notably different.
During a press conference on 20 January 2023, the Archbishop of York emphasized that Prayers of Love and Faith was meant as a way to welcome LGBTQI+ couples and to celebrate what is good and loving in their relationships. This characterization of the life of a same-sex couple is also reflected in the praenotanda of the prayers where one reads: “The Prayers of Love and Faith are offered as resources in 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. To celebrate in God’s presence the commitment two people have made to each other is an occasion for rejoicing. The texts are offered to express thanksgiving and hope, with prayer that those who are dedicating their life together to God may grow in faith, love and service as God’s blessing rests upon them.” There is a clear positive Christian anthropological evaluation in the statement “To celebrate in God’s presence the commitment two people have made to each other is an occasion for rejoicing”, as one cannot legitimately celebrate in God’s presence that which is ‘disordered’, ‘irregular’, or sinful. This is a different understanding of blessing and same-sex relationships presented in the 4 January 2024 press release from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding Fiducia supplicans. The pastoral directive from the Dicastery insists that the blessing a same-sex couple may receive is not an affirmation or approval of anything about the persons involved or their relationship. Indeed, blessings are more or less portrayed as a form of intercessory prayer, which remains neutral about the moral status of persons, but is focused upon their needs, physical and spiritual. At the same time, the directive is clear that the relationships of LGBTQI+ couples are defective. Rather than the former language of ‘intrinsically disordered’ found in doctrinal documents on human sexuality, same-sex relationships are now labeled ‘irregular’, which while meant to shift attention to the relationship per se, cannot but reflect upon the individuals who make up the relationship. Indeed, the example blessing provided, which it is advised can only last a “few seconds”, prays that the divorced or gay couple may conform their lives to the Gospel. Given the document’s assertion that gay relationships are ‘irregular’ the hetero-normative and hetero-essential character of marriage relationships in the Catholic Church’s theology remains. In short, the example prayer of blessing, is not a blessing, but a prayer that the gay couple essentially become straight when evaluated in the overall sense, context, and logic of the document.
To this extent, the sense of ‘blessing’ as celebrating or recognizing something ordered towards the will of God and divine reality is not present in Fiducia supplicans. This is the case however for Prayers of Love and Faith, in as much as there is an essential evaluation of the good within the same-sex relationship between two persons that is described and named in the prayers. In the case of Fiducia supplicans and its pastoral clarification, I would suggest that what is presented regarding blessings is actually closer to the so-called exorcistic prayers found in rites of baptism and the catechumenate. In such cases there is a gradualist approach to conversion and accompaniment towards living the Gospel that appears as ‘blessings’ for the defeat of evil. In these prayers there is often a positive pastoral linguistic tone to the supplication for transformation. Prayers of Love and Faith, on the other hand, are decidedly not seeking the transformation of couples or their relationships by turning them away from that which they are. Rather the prayers request a strengthening and sustaining of the virtuous characteristics found within and between the two persons. From a pastoral and liturgical point of view I find, therefore, the assertions made around Fiducia supplicans, namely that there is a type of doctrinal advancement or a positive reflection upon LGBTQI+ couples, rather in doubt. The Roman Catholic German theologian Oliver Wintzek has stated the case against Fiducia supplicans in rather stark terms highlighting the weakness he perceives in its supposed pastoral advancement writing: “the letter leaves a pale aftertaste, as it merely offers a blessing en passant, a junky discounted blessing that is ideally intended to act as conversion therapy against ‘irregularity’. So nothing new under the Roman sun: the doctrine remains untouched but is coated with pastoral niceness.”
Considering the current reflections upon human sexuality being undertaken by the Church of England and the Catholic Church a few common priorities seem to be taking shape.
(1) Our language about people is often still pastorally inadequate, even damaging, especially regarding human relationships. It was right for the bishops of the Church of England to apologise for their use of destructive theological language. I am not sure that the adjective ‘irregular’ introduced in Fiducia supplicans is any advance in this sense.
(2) It remains clear that the essential matter of Prayers of Love and Faith and Fiducia supplicans is not liturgical blessings or their characterisation. The essential matter is the nature of human (sexual) relationships, their boundaries, and holiness. As I wrote at PrayTell previously, the bishops and General Synod of the Church of England have knowingly or unknowingly created an answer for a question no one is asking. No conversation in our churches is geared towards establishing the idea that LGBTQI+ relationships are ‘separate but equal’ – similar to marriage, but not. Yet, this is essentially the state of play in the Church of England at the moment. The Living in Love and Faith listening process, and subsequent Prayers of Love and Faith have articulated a Christian anthropology which positively assesses LGBTQI+ persons and their relationships. Yet there is no consensus at the moment that marriage can include same-sex couples in the Church of England. But same-sex sacramental marriage (or ‘marriage equality’, as understood by Western society) is now the point of all conversations and discernment regarding human sexuality and relationships no matter how they might be characterized – and our ecclesial conversations should be frank and open about this fact. To this extent, the clarification of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith is helpfully clear. In as much as one part of the church may be discussing marriage and blessings, other parts may need to be confronting the dehumanisation and demonising of LGBTQI+ persons and the need for the international decriminalisation of homosexuality. Houses of Bishops and bishops’ conferences of all churches that support the forced conversion, imprisonment, punishment, torture, or execution of LGBTQI+ persons must be called to task. There are a number of interrelated questions and practises that churches need to get ‘right’ simultaneously to offer the authentic possibility of a graced life to LGBTQI+ believers around the globe.
Finally, while my bishop friend said the only coordination regarding blessings for LGBTQI+ persons between the Church of England and the Catholic Church was the Holy Spirit, it seems to me that our bilateral ecumenical dialogues need to urgently include sustained attention to the differing Christian anthropologies held by our churches and the internal discussions we are all having about human relationships. There needs to be new consensus around Christian human anthropology which includes theological, social, and scientific insights. Moreover, our ecumenical dialogues around human sexuality need to focus not only upon theological content, but methods of discernment, and the ways we communicate. There seems to be so much wisdom and practical experience to share with one another as a means to build up our common faith and witness as it relates to the LGBTQI+ community. As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, emphasized last January, we are talking about people, not problems, and the church needs to learn to talk with people, not about them. We are called to listen, learn, and love.