 Dr John's appointment has provoked strong reactions |
Eight Anglican bishops have voiced their support for the controversial appointment of a gay priest as Bishop of Reading. The eight mostly liberal bishops have written to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, saying the selection of Canon Jeffrey John has their full confidence.
Dr John's appointment has been described as "catastrophic" for the Church of England by evangelical and conservative opponents.
But the eight clergymen who signed the letter to Dr Williams, including the bishops of Worcester, Hereford, Newcastle, Salisbury and Leicester, argue Dr John's promotion will enrich Church debate about homosexuality.
Dr John has been in a relationship with a man for 27 years but says he is now celibate.
The Bishop of Hereford, John Oliver, said Dr John's lifestyle was fully compatible with the position the church had agreed 12 years ago.
He said the nine bishops who had written a letter to The Times opposing Dr John's appointment were "perhaps not in full possession of the facts".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Bishop Oliver said: "Dr John made a very careful, very full and very moving statement two days ago in which he made it quite clear that he was fully in line with what the nine bishops were asking for.
"We [the Church] recognise that for some people to be in a loving, faithful and exclusive same sex relationship is the best thing that they can do.
"We made a distinction between what it was appropriate for lay people to do and clergy to do and we required clergy to be celibate but they can still be in a loving, faithful same sex friendship."
Media glare
The Bishop of Leicester, Timothy Stevens, who also signed the letter in support of Dr John, said he regretted the way the debate had been conducted.
"A number of us feel that we all now need to get back to the serious discussion in which we try to discern God's will for us and that's going to take a long time, he told BBC News.
"This will be best done out of the glare of the media, which is where we need to be for the next few years as we try to work this one out," he said.
BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the letter to Dr Williams seemed intended to dispel any impression Dr John's appointment had met general hostility in the church dominated by conservatives and evangelicals.
Dr John's supporters have attacked what they say has been the serious and unwanted pressure to which he and his partner had been subjected.
His opponents, who number 80 clergy and 20 leading laity within the diocese of Oxford, have also promised to take their fight to Dr Williams.
They failed to persuade the Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, to reverse his decision to nominate Dr John, in a meeting on Friday.
'Gift from God'
The row has also caused concern within the Church further afield.
The Archbishop of the West Indies, Drexel Gomez, said on Saturday he objected to Dr John's teachings on homosexuality rather than his lifestyle.
"I was surprised by his appointment because I have read some of his writings in which he is not only critical but super critical of the church's traditional teaching on the whole issue of homosexuality," he told the Today programme.
He admitted that it was difficult to see how the church could avoid "some sort division".
Bishop Harries emerged from Friday's talks to reaffirm his "unswerving" support for Dr John.
But a spokesman for the opponents, Dr Philip Giddings, said: "We feel this appointment would be catastrophic in terms of the unity of the Church of England."
Earlier, Dr John described his relationship as a "gift from God", in a statement on the Diocese of Oxford website.
In his statement he described his "life partnership" with another man as a "gift and vocation from God".
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