Church in Wales says it won’t respond to criticism of Archbishop Cherry Vann’s sexuality
Vann’s appointment marks two milestones for the denomination. She is both its first woman leader and its first openly LGBTQ+ Archbishop.
By Callum Wells
The Church in Wales has refused to respond to criticism of Archbishop Cherry Vann’s sexuality, following her election as the head of the church.
Vann’s appointment marks two milestones for the denomination. She is both its first woman leader and its first openly LGBTQ+ Archbishop. Speaking to BBC News, she said the church should reflect “the diversity that is in our communities”.
Not everyone welcomed the news. The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon) – a conservative network within the Anglican faith – described her appointment as “another painful nail in the coffin of Anglican orthodoxy”.
Unsurprised by the reaction
Its chair, Dr Laurent Mbanda, who is also Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, accused the church of having “bowed to worldly pressure that subverts God’s good word”.
Gafcon emerged in 2003 after the appointment of Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, US. Five years later, the group issued its Jerusalem Declaration, a statement rejecting the blessing of same-sex unions and opposing the consecration of bishops in same-sex relationships, arguing this “undermines the authority of scripture”.
Rev Canon Sarah Hildreth Osborn, chaplain for the LGBTQ+ community in the St Asaph Diocese, said she was unsurprised by the reaction.
“Who is nailing the nails in the coffin?” – Rev Canon Sarah Hildreth Osborn on the church’s response
“If they’d been welcoming I’d have been shocked. I’m saddened by the idea that, as a church, our choice under the guidance of God can be wrong,” she told BBC News.
Osborn added that cultural and theological differences exist across the global Anglican tradition, and praised the Church in Wales for “a good choice”.
She added: “To call another part of the church out in those terms, well who is nailing the nails in the coffin as it were?”
This week, Vann reflected on keeping her sexuality secret for decades in order to be accepted as a female Anglican minister.
“You can hide your sexuality, up to a point” – Archbishop Cherry Vann on keeping her identity secret
It was only after being appointed bishop of Monmouth five years ago that she openly shared she had been in a civil partnership with Wendy Diamond for three decades.
She told the Guardian: “Other people in England were braver than I was and made their sexuality clear. A lot of them suffered the consequences of that, certainly when going forward for ordination.
“For years we kept our relationship secret because I worried about waking up and finding myself outed on the front page of a newspaper. Now, Wendy joins me everywhere, and when I take services, it’s just normal. But in England she had to stay upstairs if I had a meeting in the house.
“You can hide your sexuality, up to a point, but you can’t hide being a woman. There was a lot of nastiness; the men were angry, they felt they had been betrayed.”