In September 2022, with the publication of the results of the Living in Love and Faith consultation, LLF entered its final phase, ‘Discernment and Decision’. On 12–14 December 2022 the College of Bishops had the second of its series of meetings to discuss the way forward for the Church; at this meeting the bishops debated what formal proposals should be presented to the General Synod in February 2023, though a further meeting is to take place in January.
In preparation for this meeting of the bishops, the Hereford Diocese Inclusive Church Forum (HDICF) decided to contact their diocesan bishop, the Rt Revd Richard Jackson, to make sure he knew why they hoped the Church would decide to accept equal marriage. Members of HDICF made this video – https://cofe-equal-marriage.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/hdicf-message-to-the-bishop-of-hereford-8-december-2022.mp4 – and sent it to Bishop Richard.
HDICF have kindly allowed the Equal Campaign to share their video more widely. We are most grateful for this, as the video is excellent and very powerful. We hope that inclusive groups in other dioceses will decide to do something similar – it’s too late for the December meeting, but there is time to make other presentations before General Synod in February. They don’t necessarily have to be videos, of course, but audiovisual media can be very effective in getting our message out to those who need to hear it.