Telegraph: Sex is a stumbling block for Anglicans on the road to Rome - by George Pitcher

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Sex is a stumbling block for Anglicans on the road to Rome - by George Pitcher

Church of England bishops can be such flirts. They were at it again over the weekend, as traditionalists met to consider Pope Benedict XVI's bombshell decision to welcome disaffected Anglo-Catholics, even the married ones, into Roman Catholicism, while keeping some of their Anglican ways. Since the Vatican's announcement last week, Anglo-Catholic bishops and priests have been lifting the hems of their copes to show Rome a glimpse of silk-gartered ankle. But they're coy and demure, too; they make it clear that they'll want a decent dowry from the Archbishop of Canterbury before they throw themselves into the arms of Rome. Perhaps a few well-appointed rectories and some beautiful churches. A bit of cash would be nice, too.

But property matters and theology are not the only stumbling blocks on the road to Rome. There is another elephant in the vestry. It is this: a very significant proportion, perhaps even a majority in some dioceses, of Anglo-Catholic clergy are homosexual men. Everyone with a ministry in the Church of England knows this.