|TOP|Chaplains at Oxford University have said they would offer blessings for same-sex unions after a Cambridge college chaplain said he would offer such blessings at his college chapel.

The Dean of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, the Rev. Jeremy Caddick, expressed his support for blessing same-sex unions in a letter to the Bishop of Ely last month.

Dr Walter Houston, Mansfield college chaplain, is one of at least three chaplains at Oxford University who are now also considering giving blessings for gay couples.

“I’d need to think about it,” he said. “It depends on the circumstances, but if a couple came to me, I would take it seriously.”

Canon Brian Mountford, Vicar of the University Church and Chaplain of St Hilda’s, told The Oxford Student, “I am not against this in principle, but it is a pastorally sensitive matter, both in the Church and with each couple. I would therefore only make a decision on an individual basis after careful consultation with the people concerned.”

|AD|He added, “There are many relationships which it would be appropriate to bless: parent/child, friendship, partnership and so on. From the Christian point of view the key thing is that people in relationships should act in a self-giving way to one another, trying to model themselves on the example of Jesus Christ.”

Others, however, have refused to conduct blessings for same-sex unions.

Brother Prins Casinader of Greyfriars said: “God’s will in Genesis is that a man and a woman get married. Any sexual relationship between two men or two women, even if it bears the commitment of public declaration, is not a marriage according to God’s will.

He concluded: “It would be impossible to give a blessing, which would be a public acknowledgment that it’s equal to marriage.”

Others also rejected performing blessings for gay unions. Rev. Geoff Maughan, chaplain of Wycliffe Hall, said: “I would not bless single-sex unions because the Church of England has asked its clergy not to do this, as the church considers this to be an inappropriate action.

“The reason is that marriage is understood to be the union of a man and a woman,” he said.