The Commonwealth Government’s exposure draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill
Submission 122
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
CHRIST CHURCH SOUTH YARRA
Worship, Ministry, Mission
Committee
Secretary
The
Revd
Dr
Richard
Treloar
Select
Committee
on
the
Exposure
Draft
of
the
Vicar,
Christ
Church
South
Yarra
Marriage
Amendment
(Same
Sex
Marriage)
Bill
President,
Christ
Church
Grammar
School
Department
of
the
Senate
Honorary
Research
Associate,
PO
Box
6100
The
University
of
Divinity
Canberra
ACT
2600
12
January
2017
Dear
Sir/Madam,
I
am
an
Anglican
Priest
of
27
years
in
Holy
Orders,
currently
serving
in
the
Diocese
of
Melbourne
with
the
License
of
His
Grace
the
Archbishop
and
Primate,
The
Most
Revd
Dr
Philip
Freier.
I
am
the
Vicar
of
a
busy
inner-‐city
Parish,
which
has
an
independent
Anglican
co-‐educational
Primary
School
at
the
heart
of
its
ministry
and
mission.
I
Chair
the
Board
of
Christ
Church
Grammar
School,
and
have
recently
served
on
the
Boards
of
Melbourne
Grammar
School
and
The
Brotherhood
of
St
Laurence.
I
am
an
appointed
member
of
the
Liturgy
Commission
of
the
General
Synod
of
the
Anglican
Church
of
Australia,
and
(before
being
called
to
Christ
Church
ten
years
ago)
was
for
nine
years
Stewart
Lecturer
in
Theology
at
Trinity
College
Theological
School,
which
is
now
a
College
of
the
University
of
Divinity,
of
which
I
am
an
Honorary
Research
Associate.
Among
over
40
academic
publications
and
conference
papers,
I
have
contributed
chapters
in
three
edited
volumes
addressing
the
Scriptures
and
human
sexuality,
and
an
article
in
an
international
peer
reviewed
journal
on
the
subject,
as
well
as
presenting
a
paper
at
the
Society
of
Biblical
Literature
in
Philadelphia,
USA,
on
the
same
topic
(see
select
reference
list
at
the
end
of
this
submission).
As
the
Vicar
of
a
Parish
which
has
many
GLBTIQ
people
who
worship
regularly
among
the
700
people
who
attend
services
(on
average)
each
week,
the
issue
of
‘marriage
equality’
has
great
pastoral,
professional,
and
personal
relevance.
I
was
surprised
to
receive
a
standing
ovation
at
the
end
of
a
sermon
I
preached
on
the
subject
last
August
–
not
a
gesture
to
which
Anglicans
are
typically
given!
Over
the
years
I
have
worked
with
countless
gay
and
lesbian
clergy
and
lay
people,
who
have
suffered
on
account
of
the
Church’s
active
discrimination
(exempt,
of
course,
from
any
legal
recourse),
and
from
the
more
‘passive’
cultural
inequality
that
persists
with
respect
to
full
recognition
of
their
relationship
status.
Of
the
25
marriages
we
perform
annually
at
Christ
Church
(one
every
fortnight
on
average),
well
over
50%
involve
at
least
one
divorced
person
–
something
that
would
have
been
impossible
and
unthinkable
within
living
memory.
The Commonwealth Government’s exposure draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill Submission 122
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
CHRIST CHURCH SOUTH YARRA
Worship, Ministry, Mission
As
an
Authorised
Marriage
Celebrant,
auspiced
by
my
ordaining
Church,
I
am
not
required
to
‘remarry’
divorced
persons;
it
is
a
matter
of
conscience.
Were
the
law
of
the
land
to
change
such
that
‘same
sex
marriage’
became
permissible,
I
would
not
be
eligible
to
officiate
at
such
marriages
as
a
Registered
Minister
of
Religion
unless
my
ordaining
Church
empowered
me
to
do
so
and
provided
a
liturgy
for
that
purpose,
reflecting
changes
to
the
Marriage
Act.
Even
were
that
to
happen
–
as
with
persons
who
have
been
divorced
–
I
would
free
to
marry,
or
not
to
marry,
same
sex
couples.
It
would
be
a
matter
of
individual
conscience.
That
said,
I
would
expect
the
number
of
weddings
at
Christ
Church
in
the
year
following
any
such
legislative
and
ecclesial
amendments
to
double,
and
I
would
rejoice
in
the
privilege
of
solemnising
the
marriages
of
dozens
of
same-‐sex
couples
whose
relationships
we
have
celebrated
in
other
ways
over
the
last
decade.
There
would
be
no
coercion
for
me
to
officiate
at,
or
for
parishioners
to
attend,
such
ceremonies.
Any
suggestion
to
that
effect
demonstrates
a
complete
lack
of
understanding
of
the
Anglican
ethos,
and
of
religious
freedoms
in
Australia
more
generally.
In
this
regard
I
must
aver
to
the
misleading
campaigning
of
bodies
such
as
the
‘Australian
Christian
Lobby’,
which
–
of
course
–
represents
a
very
small
fraction
of
Australian
Christians
(the
vast
majority
of
whom
are
Roman
Catholic,
Anglican,
or
Orthodox),
who
preach
a
doctrine
of
fear
as
to
what
might
happen
were
the
law
to
provide
for
‘gay
marriage’.
The
simple
and
obvious
reality
is
that
Churches,
and
individual
ministers
within
those
Churches,
will
be
free
to
respond
according
to
their
formularies
and
doctrines,
and
consciences,
respectively.
At
our
Parish
School,
comprising
over
400
children
and
their
families,
we
have
–
naturally
–
several
same-‐ sex
sets
of
parents,
and
gay
or
lesbian
staff
members.
My
four-‐year-‐old
son’s
best
friend
–
in
an
explicitly
Anglican
School
–
has
two
dads.
This
is
normal
for
him,
as
for
them.
Our
faith-‐community
would
rejoice
in
the
capacity
to
acknowledge
these
relationships
for
what
they
are.
I
recommend
that
a
law
which
recognises
marriage
irrespective
of
gender
retain
and
not
exceed
the
powers
of
existing
legislation
with
respect
to
the
freedom
of
Registered
Ministers
of
Religion
to
act
in
accordance
with
the
authority
of
their
ordaining
and
licensing
bodies,
which
includes
the
dictates
of
the
individual
conscience
of
the
minister
concerned.
Sincerely
and
with
best
wishes,
The Commonwealth Government’s exposure draft of the Marriage Amendment (Same-Sex Marriage) Bill Submission 122
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA
CHRIST CHURCH SOUTH YARRA
Worship, Ministry, Mission
Relevant
Publications
and
Conference
Papers
“‘Come
Out
and
Stay
Out’:
Homosexuality,
Hermeneutics,
and
Schism
in
Anglicanism.”
Society
of
Biblical
Literature
Annual
Congress,
Marriott
Hotel
Philadelphia,
USA
(19
November
2005).
‘“How
Do
You
Read?”:
The
Anglican
Church
of
Australia
As
A
Hermeneutical
Community.’
Pages
47-‐79
in
‘Wonderful
and
Confessedly
Strange:
Australian
Essays
in
Anglican
Ecclesiology.
Edited
by
Bruce
Kaye.
Adelaide:
ATF
Press,
2006.
“‘Come
Out
and
Stay
Out!’:
Hermeneutics,
Homosexuality,
and
Schism
in
Anglicanism.”
The
Anglican
Theological
Review
90.1
(Winter
2008):
47-‐63.
‘On
“not
putting
new
wine
into
old
wineskins”,
or
“taking
the
Bible
fully
seriously”:
An
Anglican
Reading
of
Leviticus
18:22
and
20:13.’
Pages
13-‐30
in
Five
Uneasy
Pieces:
Essays
on
Scripture
and
Sexuality.
Adelaide:
ATF
Press,
2011.
‘Esther’s
“Coming
Out”
as
Costly
Redemption:
Living
Through
and
Beyond
the
Violence
of
“Othering”.’
Pages
53-‐69
in
Pieces
of
Ease
and
Grace.
Edited
by
Alan
H
Cadwallader.
Adelaide:
ATF
Press
(Theology),
2013.