Message from Bishop Peter and Bishop Ruth in response to the statement on civil partnerships from the House of Bishops.

Posted on 27th January 2020 in Headlines on Bath & Wells website:

We are very acutely aware that the release of the statement from the House of Bishops last week has caused a great deal of hurt and pain. We are deeply sorry for this.

This week sees us meeting as a College of Bishops to consider further work on Living in Love and Faith, which is exploring ways to help the Church respond to issues of human sexuality. Releasing a statement without any of the context provided by those discussions was not only unhelpful, but hurtful to all those affected by the deeply human issues raised in these conversations.

We have talked together about this today and we commit ourselves to learning to communicate better, to listening well, and to being more sensitive to the needs of others in all that we say and do. Our diocesan vision is to live and tell the story of God’s love for the world and it is very much our hope and prayer that Living in Love and Faith will help us to do that.

Rt Revd Peter Hancock, Bishop of Bath and Wells and Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, Bishop of Taunton.