On 10 February, The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher, Bishop of Dorchester and Acting Bishop of Oxford, issued the Ad Clerum: The House of Bishops Pastoral Statement to clergy and LLMs in the diocese of Oxford, and for wider circulation. The Ad Clerum is reproduced below, and is also available here.

The House of Bishops Pastoral Statement: the journey to date and my reflections on how we may go forward

Archbishop Justin and Archbishop Sentamu issued an apology at the end of January, taking responsibility for releasing a pastoral statement from the House of Bishops concerning Civil Partnerships.

The pastoral statement attracted significant press interest, and it immediately became a source of considerable distress for many within and outside the Church. The statement also drew praise from some quarters for ‘upholding the orthodox and historic teaching of the Church of England’.

I hope that this, necessarily long, letter goes some way to explaining what happened and my thinking on the matter. It also comes with news of two major new developments in the Diocese. Continue reading →