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LONDON: Vicar defends protest against gay marriage
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
THE LONDON TIMES
May 3, 2006
A REBEL clergyman who had his licence revoked after he invited a South African bishop to England to ordain three deacons explained yesterday that he went ahead with the "irregular" ordinations in a protest against the stance of Church of England bishops on civil partnerships.
In a rare sitting of the Court of Arches in London, the Church of England's court of appeal, the Rev Richard Coekin, minister of Dundonald Church in Wimbledon, southwest London, said that the choice of a bishop from the Church of England in South Africa, which is not part of the Anglican Communion, had been a "last resort". The Bishop of Southwark, the Right Rev Tom Butler, revoked Mr Coekin's licence after the ordinations, witnessed by more than 30 evangelical clergy.
Mr Coekin appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who will deliver his judgment after the hearing. The Court of Arches was convened at the Fleet Street church of St Dunstan's, under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt.
Mr Coekin wanted the Bishop of Southwark to dissociate himself from the House of Bishops' pastoral statement on civil partnerships, which said that clergy had no right to inquire into the private lives of congregations who register their relationships when the law comes into effect next month.
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