Anglican priests need not be “chaste” under a change of policy in the progressive Diocese of Perth that has angered traditionalists and stoked tension over moral standards in the nation’s second-largest church. The terms “chaste” and “chastity” were axed when the Faithfulness in Service rule book for clergy and church workers in the West Australian capital was revised last month in a bid to accommodate same-sex relationships, critics say. They argue that the changes will license permissiveness and potentially undermine years of effort to stamp out sexual abuse in the church. Instead of “maintaining chastity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage”, priests and staff would value God’s “gift” of sexuality by “taking responsibility for their sexual conduct” in the amended code of conduct in which the Faithfulness in Service (FIS) provisions sit. The stipulation that priests and church staff “be chaste and not engage in disgraceful conduct of a sexual nature” has become a less-onerous expectation that “sexual behaviour should be characterised by faithfulness and integrity”, according to opponents of the shift.
Archbishop of Sydney Kanishka Raffel, the Australian president of the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion, a global alliance of traditionalists, said this was contrary to the teachings of both the Bible and the church. He expressed alarm that Perth was the eighth of Australia’s 23 Anglican dioceses to “water down” the FIS provisions. “The Faithfulness in Service guidelines were the result of a process, guided by scripture, and reflecting a clear view of the standard required of those in Christian ministry,” the Archbishop said. “Those Biblical standards have not changed and yet one more diocese has changed the guidelines to permit sexual activity outside marriage, whether in heterosexual or homosexual relationships, and other sexually permissive practices. This is neither scriptural nor Anglican teachings.” The chair of the WA chapter of EFAC, Marc Dale, said expunging chastity amounted to a “very radical departure” from Christian orthodoxy. “We’ve gone from a requirement that clergy are either faithful in their marriage or chaste in singleness, to that no longer being the requirement.
I think even the average punter would see it as a significant shift in position,” Reverend Dale said from his parish of Highgate in inner Perth. “Of course, in the broader culture I accept that people don’t have the same view of marriage as they used to, or, indeed, of being chaste in singleness. But the church has had that position for 2000 years … and those words carry a significant and clear meaning. I do think that most people in Australia would accept that being faithful in marriage is a good value to uphold.” Rejecting this, Archbishop of Perth Kay Goldsworthy said the changes would strengthen the rules governing priests’ behaviour and were in line with measures adopted elsewhere. The code of conduct was a “policy document” that was subject to being “amended from time to time”, she insisted. “A change to the code of conduct does not give permission for wrongful behaviour in pastoral or personal relationships,” Archbishop Goldsworthy said. “Integrity and faithfulness should be hallmarks of every relationship for Christians.”
“Faithfulness has a far wider implication than sexual fidelity. It requires faithfulness of the heart and mind as well as body. This is evident in the responsibility taken by single and married Christians, apart from those who have made promises as members of religious communities which are life vows.” The row is the latest in a series of pitched theological battles between the progressive and conservative wings of Anglicanism in Australia, spurred by the dilemma same-sex marriage poses for the churches. Christian doctrine holds that people should refrain from sex – chastity in singleness – until they wed and then be faithful to their spouse. The catch for committed Anglicans in same-sex relationships is that marriage is the union of a man and woman – a position church traditionalists led by Archbishop Raffel sought to enshrine when the issue came to a head in 2022 at the church’s General Synod, its supreme decision-making body. The failure of the motion to pass the General Synod gave legs to a breakaway movement known as the Diocese of the Southern Cross, headed by former archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies. It now boasts six churches in southeast Queensland and one in Perth.
Reverend Dale said the push to change the FIS in Perth came from activists concerned that the former rules were being used to challenge the positions of clergy openly living in same-sex relationships. “The speech made by the mover of the motion at the (diocesan) synod made it very clear that one of the primary reasons was to prevent the use of Faithfulness in Service as a cause to object to the ordinations of people in same-sex partnership,” he said. “It affirmed what was well known – that is, that there were a number of senior figures in the clergy who were living in same-sex relationships but that could not be officially condoned.” Asked if this was the case, Archbishop Goldsworthy said: “I don’t remember those words being spoken. I think it would be absolutely true to say that many church workers are people who live in relationships and friendships with people of the same sex. But that would not be the case only in this part of the country.” Archbishop Goldsworthy, Australia’s most senior female church leader, said she was surprised the changes in Perth had attracted such heated opposition when “various iterations” of the code had been adopted in the Anglican dioceses of Grafton, Newcastle and Riverina in NSW; Wangaratta, Ballarat and Gippsland in Victoria; Bunbury, WA; and the Brisbane-based Diocese of Southern Queensland.
Firing back at one of her fiercest critics, David Ould, a senior associate Anglican minister in Sydney who writes an influential blog on church affairs, she said: “We’re the last in a long line … and it’s odd to me that David Ould – you know, just saying here – should single out the Diocese of Perth, the only diocese in which the bishop is a woman, to have a go at. I don’t know why he hasn’t singled others out.” Reverend Ould said in response: “The idea that this is about whether the bishop is a woman or not is ridiculous.” After Archbishop Goldsworthy advised members of the Perth synod on October 22 that she had assented to the amendments, the standing committee of the Diocese of Sydney passed a resolution expressing “the most profound concern” at the move and called on her to “repent of her decision”. If not, she should resign. Archbishop Raffel said the Bible provided an objective standard and the role of churches was not to be “in keeping with community standards, but to teach and practice the life-giving and authoritative teachings” of Christ.
“I cannot see how removing a clear statement such as, ‘you are to be chaste and not engage in disgraceful conduct of a sexual nature’ improves the standard to which we want all church workers to adhere,” he said. The Bishop of Bunbury, Ian Coutts, said the diocesan synod there voted several times before altering its FIS provisions, broadly reflected by the changes in Perth. “One of the stated reasons for requesting the change was due to a concern there was not a corresponding set of expectations about the quality of conduct in marriage in the original wording,” Dr Coutts said. “I do believe that chaste behaviour is of importance for clergy in contemporary Australia.” Bishop of Newcastle Peter Stuart said the diocese’s code of conduct, amended in 2019, required clergy and church workers to “set an example of integrity in relationships and faithfulness in marriage and not engage in disgraceful conduct of a sexual nature”. Dr Stuart said: “We urge all people, gay or straight, married or unmarried, to recognise the profound significance of sexual expression.”
Dr Stuart went on “We remind people not to casualise intimacy, not to engage in predatory behaviour, not to exploit others and to act in ways which promote the dignity and esteem of others. We teach that this is best expressed within marriage. The people of the diocese expect clergy to model healthy and safe approaches in their own lives.” Perth and Brisbane are considered to be the most progressive of the Anglican Church’s metropolitan dioceses, whereas the bigger and financially powerful Diocese of Sydney is the seat of its fast-growing and deeply conservative evangelical movement.
Source: Compiled by APN from media reports
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