The Bishop of Chichester is looking to build bridges with the gay community with the appointment of a liaison officer.
Bishop Martin Warner wants help providing proper pastoral care and hopes to gain a better understanding of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and intersex) issues.
Whoever is picked for the part-time post – whether lay or ordained – will be expected to represent the church in the community.
Dr Warner is the senior clergyman in the Church of England area known as the Diocese of Chichester which has its head office in Church Road, Hove.
An advert for the job said: “The Bishop of Chichester is seeking to appoint a liaison officer for the LGBTQI community in the diocese.
“The overall purpose of this post is to provide the bishop with up to date information about the pastoral needs of the LGBTI community and to identify what ministry among this community might look like if it is to be effective.
“It is also to represent the church in this community so as to build bridges and enable pastoral support for a substantial group of people who feel the church is hostile towards them or that they are tolerated but not included.
“The post holder is not to be an advocate for change in legislation or theological position. Neither is the creation of this post to be understood as establishing a particular policy change or a new direction of travel in the diocese’s position on same sex issues.
“It is essentially to enable the fulfilment of the established church’s responsibility to offer a pastoral presence and a place of inclusion for all.
“The appointed person will be involved in the following areas
- Pastoral
- Educational
- Public relations
- Taking forward the outcomes from the Shared Conversations
- Briefing the bishop and his staff
“This is a 0.2 job equating to about one day per week. It is open to lay or ordained applicants. If you would like further information, please contact the Archdeacon of Brighton Martin Lloyd Williams.”
The closing date for applications is today (Wednesday 31 August).
Shorter: Need someone to minister to the queers, but must agree that they remain second-class humans in the eyes of the church.
Nice.
Takings are down! So let’s rake in those people we’ve been persecuting for the last 1500 years. “Bums on seats” and all that…
The main point which marks this man out as a laughing stock is that he is against gay equality on theological grounds. Not because of the evidence of his eyes and ears; not from whatever he will hear should this pointless box-ticking ‘liaison officer’ exercise get off the ground, but because of what was written in a book many hundreds of years ago in an obscure corner of the Middle East. What a deeply silly man.