Church of Ireland General Synod: Speech on Changing Attitude

May 16th, 2008
By Dermot O’Callaghan

Dermot O’Callaghan has been a member of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland for over thirty years. His speech was greeted with warm applause by most of the 400 members of General Synod.

Archbishop and members of Synod

I would like to ask if any criteria will be applied in permitting organisations to exhibit on stands at Synod in 2009.

I believe in freedom of speech, but I am concerned at some of the doctrines being promoted by the organisation called Changing Attitude. I should say that (a member of Changing Attitude) was on duty yesterday at the CA stand, and I had a long friendly chat with him. He knows that my concerns are driven by compassion, not homophobia. Indeed I met him again this afternoon and said that I intended to make a speech against CA, but that he should know that it was not against him personally. I asked him to pray for me as I made my speech, and he promised to do so.

The current CA Newsletter (Spring 2008, No.40, available free on the CA stand at Synod) contains a defence by Rev Colin Coward of CA’s document called Sexual Ethics. He describes it as “a well-written, serious contribution” to the church’s debate on sexual ethics.

The document says that:

-exploration of our sexual selves can be something which benefits from involvement with more than one person
-serial commitments and serial faithfulness may be a more realistic aspiration than permanent faithful stable relationships - clearly moving on from Jeffrey John’s position.

These are deadly doctrines. (Last night I rang my wife and asked how she would react if I ‘changed my attitude’ and proposed to involve more than one person in my sex life. I thought she would say she would have my guts for garters, but she said simply, “I would just walk. No woman would put up with such a thing.”

the rest at Anglican Mainstream