Governing Body of the Church in Wales

Abstract

As always, the 2012 meetings of the Governing Body addressed issues of relevance both to wider society in Wales and to the domestic life of the Church. The Archbishop's Presidential Address to the April meeting focused on the likelihood of the extension of civil marriage to same-sex partners and the issues raised by Equal Civil Marriage: a consultation. If the legislation to allow same-sex civil marriage were passed, said the Archbishop, ‘I cannot see how we, as a Church, will be able to ignore the legality of the status of such partnerships and we ought not to want to do so’. In September, on the other hand, he concentrated on what he described as ‘musings on the underlying philosophy of The Church in Wales Review Report’ and, in particular, on what the Report had to say about the Gospel and the Church as an institution.