‘A long journey’: blessings for same-sex couples expose Church of England divisions

Sunday brings a significant move, but progressives will keep pushing for full equality, as conservatives object to the change

On Sunday morning, Catherine and Jane will kneel together before the priest at their church to receive a simple prayer of blessing. At the end of the service, the congregation at St John the Baptist in Felixstowe will raise a glass of bubbly instead of the usual cup of tea.

Catherine and Jane will be one of the first same-sex couples to be officially blessed in the Church of England after eight years of debate – always impassioned, often rancorous – in the C of E’s ruling body, the General Synod, and decades of division in the wider church.