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Church restores heresy trials for priests who defy doctrine

By Victoria Combe, Religion Correspondent
News - Church of England

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HERESY trials for clergy are to be reintroduced to try to rid the Church of England of its reputation "for believing anything or nothing". For the first time in more than 150 years, clergy who err on doctrine may be tried by a closed tribunal.
The General Synod agreed yesterday to the proposal by bishops to include offences against "doctrine, ritual and ceremonial" matters in new streamlined structures for disciplining clergy.

The last heresy trial was of the Rev A Gorham in 1847, when the Bishop of Exeter accused him of being unsound on the doctrine of "baptismal regeneration". Gorham did not agree that at baptism a person is cleansed of original sin and born again into Christ.

Since then, clergy and bishops have been able to deviate from doctrine without fear of punishment, giving the Church a reputation for being loose on doctrine. The former Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev David Jenkins, caused a scandal in the 1980s when he said that he did not believe in the Church's doctrine on Christ's bodily Resurrection.

A code of practice drafted by the bishops says that clergy who profess atheism or deny the doctrine of the Trinity or the Incarnation should be disciplined.

The new legislation will replace the cumbersome Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act of 1963, which has been used only three times and never for heresy. The consistory courts of the 1963 Act are seen as outdated and expensive and will be replaced by tribunals to be held in private. The judgments will be made public.

The tribunals, based on the industrial model, are intended to be cheaper, quicker and to protect the Church from the embarrassment of a public trial.

The Ven Robert Reiss, the Archdeacon of Surrey, argued against heresy tribunals, saying that they would unleash "evil spirits" into the Church. He dismissed a claim by the bishops that such trials would be rare. Many people who thought that they had "the greater grasp on doctrine" would bring complaints against vicars with whom they disagreed. Margaret Brown, from Chichester, supporting the more rigorous disciplinary measures, compared the clergy to double-glazing salesmen.

"What person would have their house double-glazed by a man who said that his firm was no good and the glass does not fit?" she asked. "He should be fired."

Ian Garden, a barrister from Blackburn, questioned the bishops' decision to replace the criminal verdict of "beyond reasonable doubt" with the civil one of "on the balance of probabilities". He said: "Only when the standard of proof is fixed can we be assured of fairness".

The Rev Stephen Trott, of Peterborough, said that the 1963 Act was unworkable and allowed "bad apples" to hide behind its inadequacies. The synod referred the proposals legislation to the revision committee, which will prepare a fresh draft for the November meeting.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000271261842766&rtmo=VZwkF5lx&atmo=ggggg3qK&pg=/et/99/7/13/nher13.html