Catholic ban on women priests ‘illegal under Harriet Harman equality bill’

Sunday Telegraph – 10/01/2010
The Sunday Telegraph reports that John Bowers QC, the eminent employment law silk, has said in a formal opinion that the Equality Bill “could make it unlawful for a church to require a priest or minister to be male, celibate and unmarried, or not in a civil partnership”.
The Sunday Telegraph article goes on to say that the government is to propose an amendment to make sure that this is not the case. It reports Michael Foster, a government minister, as saying:
“The Equality Bill will still allow churches to hire only male clergy and will let faith-based charities continue to recruit people of the same faith where this is a requirement of the job, such as care staff who may also be asked to pray with the people they look after. We have been absolutely clear on this throughout the Bill’s passage, but as there has been some misunderstanding around our intentions we will amend the Bill to make this clear beyond doubt.”
Hopefully this will prove to be the only part of the Bill where the drafting has failed to make clear what the legislature intends.

Subscribe To Site:

Full Post Feed | Summary Feed | Comments Feed