‘Ecumenical work is about working with people who we often don’t agree with but loving one another anyway.’ Photo: Hannah Brock Womack
Quaker says Churches Together must evolve
'Hannah Brock Womack was not able to take her place alongside the other CTE presidents when they gathered.'
Hannah Brock Womack, who was prevented from fully taking up her position as a president for Churches Together in England (CTE) because she is in a same-sex marriage, says the organisation must continue to evolve to stop history repeating itself.
The Friend, whose term finishes at the end of April, was nominated by Britain Yearly Meeting in 2019 to represent the Fourth Presidency Group. But the plans were derailed because not all denominations in membership of CTE would accept a president who is married to someone of the same sex. Though technically remaining the fourth president (of six), Hannah Brock Womack was not able to take her place alongside the other CTE presidents when they gathered. Instead, the fourth chair was left empty as a symbol of the work still to be done to find unity.
‘We acknowledge the pain and sadness that this will provoke,’ said CTE’s Enabling Group at the time. The group represents forty-nine member churches, which asked for the presidential appointment not to be made. Now approaching what would have been the end of her term, Hannah Brock Womack said that the vocal minority who opposed her appointment do not appear to have shifted their perspective. The working group taking forward the CTE’s commitment to work on ‘Living with Diversity’ must prioritise embracing diversity to ensure this painful episode is never repeated, she stressed.
Brock Womack has also emphasised the importance of ecumenical work. ‘[It] continues to be vital, so that we can speak up for Quaker beliefs and ensure that LGBTQ+ peoples’ voices are not pushed out.’
She added: ‘As long as there are people keen to do this work, as I have been, we should continue to be part of ecumenical groups because otherwise queer people will continue to be silenced, and Quakers will not be represented.’
‘Ecumenical work is about working with people who we often don’t agree with but loving one another anyway.’
Other Christian denominations in the UK that enable same-sex marriage include: individual Baptist churches; Methodists; the United Reformed Church; Unitarians; the Church of Scotland; and Scottish Episcopalians.
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