UK Edition
Clergy can dress down after church votes to let them ditch vestments
Clergy have been given the go-ahead to ditch their robes and dress down for services following a vote by the church's General Synod.
Priests should be allowed flexibility to wear what they want to make the church more accessible and relevant to the modern world, members said.
This means that clergy are now officially allowed to lead services in casual clothing such as jeans and trainers.
The changes would help the church by "reflecting the way society has gone in the way of informality", said Leyland vicar Alistair McHaffie.
He also pointed out that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had led the charge by wearing unorthodox footwear to the York-based synod.
Mr McHaffie said: "Years ago the Archbishop of Canterbury would wear sensible black shoes at General Synod - and I've noticed this weekend our Archbishop is wearing a pair of blue trainers."
However the Archbishop protested that they were in fact "walking shoes".
During a debate on the motion members said they had been concerned that the new freedoms could mean clergy were pressured into "foolishness".
Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London, said: "I had concerns because I felt that there were moments perhaps where themed weddings might have suddenly imposed.
"I heard stories of a priest who was asked to wear a purple stole at a wedding - those of you who don't do coloured dressing up in church should know that that's the sort of thing worn at a funeral most of the time - because purple was the colour that the bridesmaids would be wearing."
But clauses which specified that clothing must be "suitable for a minister of the Church of England ministering divine service" had allayed concerns.
Another member, Bill Braviner, a Stockton-based vicar, implored clergy to consider the needs of congregants who would prefer to see their priest in robes.
"I would just make a plea for clergy who prefer not to robe to be open to robing when it is best for the mission of the church," he said.
In another vote, the church also decided that people who die by suicide would now be allowed to have a full Christian burial service.
Under official rules they had previously been denied the standard funeral set out in the Book of Common Prayer.
But a long-awaited plan to change the law has now been given final assent, in a move hailed as "compassionate" by synod members, who backed it almost unanimously with just one member of the laity voting against.
Alan Smith, the bishop of St Albans, said: "The traditional attitude towards the burial of suicides reflected the belief that all suicide was a grave sin.
"But public attitudes had changed markedly by the second half of the last century as understandings of mental health had developed.”
Clergy will be allowed to opt out using a conscience cause if they choose to do so in cases such as a death by assisted suicide or where a person was avowedly not a Christian, he added.