Oath of Canonical Obedience Explained
The Revd Dr Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society has called on clergy to remember the explanation of The Oath of Canonical Obedience from the Faith & Order Commission last year.
“The Oath of Canonical Obedience takes for granted that those in authority are themselves obedient to the Christian message as proclaimed in the Word of God. The apostles expected loyalty, not to church leaders or canons, but first and foremost to the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no place for obeying what is manifestly not according to the teaching of Christ.
“Nor does the Oath depend upon the personal virtues or opinions of the current occupant of the See. Rather, it is a symbolic way of expressing loyalty to the historic and corporate teaching of the Church of England—loyalty to the inheritance of faith.”
