Lesbian Couple Outraged -Vicar Says They're Not Both Moms of Baby (Church overrules vicar)

Creative Minority Report ^ | September 9, 2013 | Matthew Archbold

[NYer]

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.

[Sioux-san]

From the Church of England website on Baptism:

What is baptism?

In baptism, you as parents are: thanking God for his gift of life, making a decision to start your child on the journey of faith and asking for the Church’s support.

For your child, baptism marks the start of a journey of faith, which involves turning away from all that is evil, turning towards Christ and becoming a member of the local and worldwide Christian family.

The Church of England has two authorized Baptism services. One is taken from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and is in 17th century English.

Most baptisms use a service in contemporary English, taken from Common Worship (2000).

http://www.churchofengland.org/media/1190836/holy%20baptism.pdf

[AliVeritas]

I would ask that the biological father also be present.

That would really blow the top off.

[AliVeritas]

We have a winner.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The ONLY Catholic canonical criteria that must be met are the following two things:

• At least one parent must be Catholic (or the person being baptized must be old enough to make the decision himself)
• Both parents(if both are available) must promise to raise the kid Catholic. (If the priest is convinced that the parents are insincere, then they may not decline, but rather direct them to another priest)

This is because baptism of an infant or child presupposes that the parents will raise him in the Catholic faith. The godparent(s) must be Catholic, too.

Otherwise it's a hollow, or even a hypocritical gesture. Who makes the Baptismal promises on behalf of the child? What do they mean by it--- if not that they are (or are willing to be) "conformed to Christ" in their faith and morals?

In this case, the lesbian couple went, not to the Catholic Church, but to the Church of England, and I'm in no position to say what they mean by their Baptismal promises.

[NYer]

Where did baby Alfie come from? Did someone contribute sperm?

Tsk ... you're being much too rational. The 'sperm donor' is a minor technicality for these narcissists, who think only of "their" desires being fulfilled. From the getgo, Alfie's pediatrician will begin to ask probing questions like, "Is there a history of ....... in the family? That question will perplex and follow Alfie, all the days of his life. In about 20 years when "Alfie" discovers Ancestry.com, he will demand to know about his paternal father is in order to trace his true ancestors.

EVERY child has a mother and father. It is disingenuous and selfish to deny ANY child his or her rights to that information.

[NYer]

What about the biological issue? That’s all that really means anything. Idiotic.

See my post #25.

[kitkat]

I think King Solomon of Israel already thought of that one.

[fwdude]

If I were this vicar, I would just walk away. Just walk away and never look back.

[MinuteGal]

Happy to note the Catholic churches here as well as my own Missouri Synod Lutheran church don't have this problem....and I pray they never will.

Leni

[Chode]

LOL!!! confused or heretic, which...

[Mrs. Don-o]

The "Who's the biological mother" question can be complicated if the birth was by IVF, with one woman contributing an ovum (and thus being the true genetic mother) and the other woman carrying the child during pregnancy (and thus being the true gestational or birth-giving mother.)

The Brits are talking about having their NHS fund artifical reproduction with 3 genetic parents: the father (provides sperm), mother #1 (provides an oocyte with mitochondrial DNA), and mother #2 (provides haploid nuclear DNA to be inserted into the oocyte).

The purpose of this is supposedly to enable mother #2, if she carries a mitochondrial disease, to reproduce and have "her" genetic child by putting her genetic code into another woman's ovum.

I say "supposedly," because the whole push behind this kind of reproductive interference, is to eventually develop fully depersonalized human laboratory reproduction, long dreamed of by people who really, really don't like procreative sexuality.

[trisham]

I think you are quite right. This is why I believe this is such an important document:

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

[IbJensen]

Apparently one of the ‘partners’ was impregnated by tongue.

[Arthur McGowan]

I love that little touch: “Rev. Gebauer SAT THERE and told us...”

I mean, can you IMAGINE??? They allow crazy men like him to walk in the STREETS???

[massgopguy]

In the 21st century, Reality was politicized.