Curate outrages congregation by telling women to 'be silent and submit to your husbands'

With Valentine's Day approaching, the parishioners might have expected a more heartwarming message.

Instead, they got a sermon at St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent, urging women to 'submit' to their husbands.

The apparent lack of obedience of 'modern women' was also blamed for Britain's high divorce rate.

In a sermon entitled 'Marriage and women' last Sunday, the curate Mark Oden, a married father of three, told the congregation: 'We know marriage is not working. We only need to look at figures - one in four children have divorced parents.

It is understood that some women parishioners - and possibly even their husbands - have vowed never to attend services at the church again.

The church's vicar is Angus MacLeay, 50, a married father of two who is a leading member of the evangelical group Reform, which is opposed to the appointment of women clergy.

The group has produced a leaflet, called 'The role of women in the local church', which uses Biblical quotes urging them to 'remain silent' and informing them 'wives are to submit to their husbands in everything.'

One section of the leaflet, quoting Corinthians, said: 'It would seem that women should remain silent in the public weighing of prophecy or if their questions could legitimately be answered by their husbands at home.'

Another, referring to a passage from Ephesians, said: 'Because of the order and purpose of their creation, wives are to submit to their husbands in everything in recognition of the fact that husbands are head of the family as Christ is head of the church.....

Read more
No comments will be posted without a full name and location, see the policy.