The best that can be said in favour of the writers of this report is that perhaps they regard it as a halfway house, politically designed to move the Church along towards a more accepting view. There are hints in the Archbishop's Introduction that this is so, and the report itself notes twice that the Church is 'not yet' ready to accept clergy in same-sex partnerships, which evidently anticipates that one day it will be. It may be that few if any bishops really wish to lose clergy as a result of this report. But if it is endorsed in Synod and they continue to assert that all homosexual practice is incompatible with ministry, then it is hard to see how conscientious homosexual clergy can stay. The Revd Dr Jeffrey John is Vicar of Holy Trinity, Eltham London SE9.
Most dioceses have their own local groups to undertake similar projects themselves.