Priest's 'submissive women' sermon splits congregation

A number of female members of a South England church are said to be angry at a sermon delivered by the church's curate. He suggested that wives should submit to their husbands if a marriage is to work.

During a sermon at St Nicholas Church in Sevenoaks, Kent on Sunday Reverend Mark Oden reportedly told the congregation:

We know marriage is not working. We only need to look at figures - one in four children have divorced parents

Reverend Oden, himself married with three children, is then quoted as saying that the solution to the unacceptably high divorce rate in the U.K. is:

Wives, submit to your own husbands

Figures published last month by the Office for National Statistics actually show that the divorce rate in England and Wales in 2008 was at its lowest since 1979. The rate in 2008 was 11.2 people divorcing for every 1,000 people who were married, compared to 11.8 people divorcing for every 1,000 who were married in 2007. Reverend Ogden's sermon was preceded by the controversy over a pamphlet by the vicar of St Nicholas, Angus MacLeay, expressing similar views on the role of women in today's society. The church, located in a commuter town a little over 21 miles from the centre of London, finds itself attracting national attention. According to the Daily Mail in a pamphlet given the title "The Role Of Women In The Local Church", under the heading "Family Life And Church Family Life", Reverend MacLeay stated:

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. This is the way God has ordered their relationships with each other and Christian marriage cannot function well without it

Elsewhere in the pamphlet, under the heading "More Difficult Passages To Consider", Reverend MacLeay added:

It would seem that women should remain silent... if their questions could legitimately be answered by their husbands at home

Reverend Macleay is a member of the Church of England's governing body, the General Synod, and opposed to the appointment of female bishops, says the Telegraph. His parish has links with the group Reform, which is dedicated to "reforming the Church of England from within according to the Holy Scriptures". A number of female parishioners, angry at the sermon delivered by Reverend Oden, and presumably Reverend Macleay's pamphlet, are seemingly canceling their subscriptions/charitable donations to St Nicholas. The Daily Mail notes that one such parishioner posed the question "What kind of medieval sermon is that - we are not in the 15th century", while another declared "How can they talk that way in the 21st Century? No wonder the church is losing touch if this is the kind of gobbledygook they want us to believe it". And the Sevenoaks Chronicle reports another female member of the congregation commenting:

As if we are being told to let our husbands talk for us. And which husband? I divorced my previous husband because he threatened me and my children – am I supposed to listen to him?

In his defense Reverend Oden said:

I am passionate about helping people to have healthy marriages. I did not set out to unnecessarily offend people, but I stand by what God has said in his word the Bible

Furthermore Reverend Oden's sermon found support from at least one female parishioner, identified as Jenny, who wrote in the comments section on the Sevenoaks Chronicle:

I am astounded at what has been written in this article. Whoever has written it has taken the whole sermon out of context to make a 'good' story that will get people up in arms. Have they or the people complaining actually listened to the sermon or read the Bible passage???

"Female, 24, Sevenoaks" agrees, talking too about the sermon being taken out of context, observing also that "You may not like what the Bible says, but don't take it out on the vicar!!" A woman describing herself as "Happy Sevenoaks Wife" explained:

I am very happy to let my husband be in charge of everything. He steers our family - from what we eat for supper to where we go on holiday to what car I am allowed to drive. I know it is not fashionable but I see my role as being to look after our children and keep the house clean and tidy