Archbishop Stephen has spoken today about the Church of England’s Living in Love and Faith programme, and how we will approach it in the Diocese of York:
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"The bishops of the Church of England together are inviting the whole church to engage with the recently published resources for the next steps in the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process in 2021. The Diocesan Leadership Team and I welcome these resources and commend them to you. You can find them on the LLF Learning Hub, which can be accessed via the Church of England website and copies of the LLF book can also be ordered from Church House Publishing. In the New Year we will be in touch with parishes to outline how we envisage the process working in the Diocese, and how that will be facilitated.
"We recognise that the conversations we will need to have may be difficult, but we urge you, and commit ourselves, to listen, and to learn from one another and from Scripture. The Church of England has six pastoral principles for living well together, which we fully support - to address ignorance, acknowledge prejudice, admit hypocrisy, cast out fear, speak into silence and to pay attention to power. The bishops of the Diocese of York fully support these principles, and the statement made by the Bishops of Coventry and London that the recent instances of "specific and harmful targeting of some of the individuals who have courageously shared their stories as part of LLF is wrong and not in the spirit of LLF and the Pastoral Principles commended by the House of Bishops. Personal insults and attacks are contrary to the respect, love, grace, kindness and compassion to which we are all called."
"My hope is that through this process we will grow in love for one another and in faith in God, that all voices will be heard, and that we will be strengthened and encouraged to live Christ's story together."