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Vicar tells Church of England to ‘Keep calm and support equal marriage’

Jan 02 2014
Written by Scott Roberts

A north London vicar has condemned the Church of England for its “unacceptable” opposition to equal marriage by using an iconic slogan.

Father Andrew Cain has put up “Keep calm and support equal marriage” posters in his churches of St James’ in Sheriff Road, West Hampstead, and St Mary’s with All Souls in Kilburn.

“The bishops have made a fuss and I’m embarrassed by their position,” he said to the local Ham&High newspaper.

“During the debate in England, Anglican bishops made a terrible fuss and said that marriage is between a man and a woman.

“As a result, when the government introduced the law, they took them at their words and excluded the Church of England.

“But those who were in favour found themselves in a situation where we’ve been legally excluded from performing the ceremony.

“It was just deeply embarrassing for the church – it’s no longer acceptable.”

The congregations of both Fr Andrew’s parish churches support same-sex marriage and both church halls are registered to perform civil ceremonies for couples.

“Both church councils and my congregation are very open,” he said. “People wouldn’t come to  St James’ unless they shared  that view.”

He added: “I’m very proud of being Church of England. They’ve just made a terrible mistake and I would want gay and lesbian people to know there is a welcome for them in the church and many churches in London.

“Sadly the bishops have made that difficult to get across.

“I would like people to know that we’re not against it. I absolutely would conduct a ceremony but legally I cannot.”

Fr Cain believes the Church will eventually change its views.

“It’s just going to take those of us in favour a long time,” he said.

“I don’t want to turn anybody away. What we should be doing is extending God’s welcome and that’s not for us to police. The Church makes a mistake in thinking we’re welcoming people as if it’s some kind of private club and actually God welcomes all of us.

“I think you’d find that the majority of parishes agree. You will find that privately the welcome priests will give to gay and lesbian couples will be exactly the same.”