September 18, 2015

More than half of the Church in Wales’s officials support same-sex marriage

The ballot was held at Lampeter, Ceredigion, but in order for any change to be implemented support in favour of the move needed to be given by two-thirds of voters.

In total, 61 of 120 members marked their support for such ceremonies to be allowed, while 50 voted for no change and nine wanted only to allow blessings.

The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, has shown that his stance is in line with the majority of voters.

Dr Morgan said: “It would be a very brave or perhaps a very foolish Bench of Bishops who were to bring the bill before the governing body at this stage.

“Because that might just rip the church apart and lead to the acrimony that has been absent from this debate.”

He also made it clear that any changes to current marriage procedure would require “quite a long convoluted complicated process”.

The governing body of the Church in Wales consists of the Bench of Bishops – six diocesan bishops – along with 51 clergy and 86 non-clerical representatives.

Despite the fact that 66 per cent of the vote was needed to change church law, and it fell short of that mark, the strong support shown for same-sex marriage in churches means that the issue is likely to be assessed again in the future.

It is expected that the Bench of Bishops will have responsibility for deciding how to handle the issue moving forward.

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