If there was a theme that resonated throughout Mervyn Kingston’s Church of Ireland ministry, it was ‘reaching out’. In parishes across Belfast, Down and the Armagh/Louth border, the gay cleric stretched out a hand of friendship and understanding wherever he went. In south Armagh, the east Belfast Protestant developed a love of the Irish language – he would often recite the Lord’s Prayer as Gaeilge – as he worked to bring communities together. [Continue Reading]
Guardian: Unionists defeat Northern Irish gay marriage bill
April 29, 2013
Unionist politicians have defeated a Sinn Féin bid to create marriage equality for gay couples in Northern Ireland. The votes of the Democratic Unionist party and Ulster Unionist party in the Stormont Assembly helped defeat a Sinn Féin motion backed by the SDLP, Alliance and the Green party. But their defeat of the proposed bill sets the scene for a legal challenge in both the British and European courts against the continued ban on gay marriage in part of the UK. [Continue Reading]
Irish Independent: CoI group weighs in behind gay marriage
April 13, 2013
A Church of Ireland pressure group says marriage should be extended to same-sex couples. Changing Attitude Ireland (CAI) has also said that children being raised by same-sex couples “need the protection of marriage”. The CAI, formed in 2007, has told the Irish Independent that it is “quite indignant” that it was not afforded the opportunity to make oral submissions at today’s Constitutional Convention, which is debating whether same-sex marriage should be voted on in a referendum. [Continue Reading]
Belfast Telegraph: Homophobia is new sectarianism in Northern Ireland
August 20, 2012
A veteran Church of Ireland cleric has backed David Cameron’s calls for same sex marriage – saying homophobia has become Northern Ireland’s “new sectarianism”. Canon Charles Kenny has spoken out about the attitude to the gay community from within his own Church, claiming that bias was distorting the Christian message. Canon Kenny, who retired from Belfast’s St Anne’s Cathedral in 2000, told the Belfast Telegraph: “The same failings of the Christian Church, and the presentation of the Gospel, which led to sectarianism in the past are playing again now in relation to homophobia.” [Continue Reading]
Statement by Canon Charles Kenny in support of David Cameron’s comments on same-sex marriage
August 17, 2012
In Downing Street on July 25th the Prime Minister applauded the contributions over the years to all aspects of life in the UK of people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. He deprecated the fear and hatred that they routinely have to endure. Mr Cameron welcomed the social and political progress towards eliminating irrational and unjustified fear and hatred of gays over the past four decades. [Continue Reading]
Belfast Telegraph: Bishops back ‘traditional marriage’
March 12, 2012
THE Church of Ireland has underlined its commitment to marriage as being between a man and a woman following its major weekend conference on human sexuality. A joint statement from the Primate Archbishop Alan Harper and the Archbishop of Dublin Dr Michael Jackson stressed that “the church’s position on marriage as being the union of one man and one woman remains constant”. [Continue Reading]
Belfast Telegraph: We have not barred gays from conference on sexuality: Church
March 10, 2012
THE Church of Ireland has denied claims that a conference this weekend on human sexuality has deliberately excluded gays from its list of speakers. The two-day conference, which began in the Slieve Russell Hotel in Co Cavan last night, is for members of the General Synod. Some 450 of the 600-strong body are attending. [Continue Reading]
Canon Charles Kenny’s contribution from Bible Listening Day
November 16, 2011
The article below is one of seven contributions, representing a variety of viewpoints, given at the “Bible Listening Day” organised by the Irish Peace Centres in November 2011. This is part of an effort both to take Scripture seriously and to engage in respectful evangelical dialogue. [Continue Reading]
