A lesbian couple claims a Church of England vicar refused to baptize a baby after they both insisted on being registered as the mother, according to the UK Telegraph.
Aimi, from Gosport, Hants, said: “Rev Gebauer sat there and told us no child could have parents of the same sex, no child could have two mothers.
“There was no way one of us was going to be listed as the Godparent. We are both Alfie’s mum.
“He did all this for about 10 or 15 minutes and was asking us why we want Alfie brought into the church.
“I’m baptised Church of England, and Victoria is a Catholic. We want him to be brought up the same as we were.”
Reverend George Gebauer said he’d be willing to write one down as the mother but not both. So they stormed out and it would appear they called the press as well.
And guess what, The Anglican Church quickly reversed the vicar’s decision.
However, Ven Gavin Collins, Archdeacon of the Meon, said today he was happy for the christening to go ahead as planned – with both named as the mother…
“We have addressed the legal issue. As I understand it, her partner Victoria has full legal co-parental responsibility for Alfie. We can therefore enter their details onto the baptism register as ‘mother’ and ‘mother’, as they would like.
“I’m pleased that this issue has been resolved, and we look forward to welcoming Aimi, Victoria, Alfie and their friends and family. I’m sure it will be a great occasion as we welcome him into the Christian family.”
If you’d like to know why the Anglican Church is dying, here it is.
September 9, 2013 at 9:38 am
"We want him to be brought up the same as we were."
A damning witness to the state of catechesis and parenting over the last 40 years.
September 9, 2013 at 2:31 pm
"Victoria is a Catholic"
Sounds like we aren't doing too well either.
September 9, 2013 at 2:42 pm
The innocent child is being denied baptism. The sins of the parents will be visited on the children. Baptize all children and let the parents, physical and spiritual learn from it. All human beings are spiritual parents to every individual member of mankind, a genetic mother, a spiritual mother and/or God mother. Only when an individual claims to be something that he or she is not is when fraud, lying and perjury, the swearing to an untruth as true become a sin. This seems to be the case.
September 9, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Could one have signed on as the father?
September 9, 2013 at 9:06 pm
"We want him to be brought up the same as we were." Too late for that! The Rev. is quite right, there can be only one mother.
Mary de Voe: I was taught in my seminary class on the sacraments that it is perfectly legit not to baptize a child if you don't think he/she will be given a Christian upbringing; I assume that would be even more true if one was CERTAIN the child would be brought up in an anti-Christian home. In either case, the child is (arguably) more harmed by baptising him or her than by waiting.
September 9, 2013 at 10:36 pm
Gail…I hear what you're saying, but I just don't think people get it. Entitled? Poorly catechized? Narcissistic? All of the above? I don't know, but there is such poor comprehension of what the values of our mainstream culture are, I suspect everyone just end up thinking they need to be catered to…everything else be damned.
The vision has been repeated by politicians, media and friends…Od fits our agenda. Religion comes from the word surrender. Surrender yourselves to Christ. Not…well, I'm Christian but I don't want to be all ______fill in the blank_____. I just think that Jesus would have I'd ok to everything…blah, blah, blah, me, me, me.
September 9, 2013 at 11:15 pm
Even putting aside the obviously unchristian aspects — have these two ever taken a biology class? "Mother" is a word with religious and social meanings, but it has a biological one as well: female parent. Homo sapiens reproduces sexually, and so every single person in history has had exactly one mother and one father. The child has a father, of course — I wonder what his opinion on this is?
September 10, 2013 at 4:30 am
What's it all about, Alfie?
September 11, 2013 at 3:00 am
I recently came across a Dorthy Sayers quote that might be applicable here:
"If we refuse assent to reality: if we rebel against the nature of things and choose to think that what we at the moment want is the centre of the universe to which everything else ought to accommodate itself, the first effect on us will be that the whole universe will seem to be filled with an inexplicable hostility. We shall begin to feel that everything has a down on us, and that, being so badly treated, we have a just grievance against things in general. That is the knowledge of good and evil and the fall into illusion. If we cherish and fondle that grievance, and would rather wallow in it and vent our irritation in spite and malice than humbly admit we are in the wrong and try to amend our behaviour so as to get back to reality, that is, while it lasts, the deliberate choice, and a foretaste of the experience of Hell." (Introductory Papers on Dante, p. 64)