Brisbane’s tenth incoming Archbishop says LGBTQI community should be welcomed into Qld churches as ‘all people should be loved’

The incoming tenth Archbishop of Brisbane says members of the LGBTQI community should be welcomed into churches because “all people should be loved”.

Fr Jeremy Greaves has been announced as the new Archbishop of Brisbane to start in December, taking over from Archbishop Phillip Aspinall.

The incoming tenth Archbishop of Brisbane says members of the LGBTQI community should be welcomed into Queensland churches because “all people should be loved”.

The Sunshine Coast’s Jeremy Greaves was announced as Brisbane’s 10th Archbishop by the Anglican Church Southern Queensland on Friday, to start his new position in December.

Bishop Greaves will replace Archbishop Phillip Aspinall AC who resigned in February after 21 years.

Outgoing Archbishop Phillip Aspinall. Pic Annette Dew

Bishop Greaves said he felt a weight of responsibility ahead of his role and the challenges it would present but said it was one he was proud to take on.

He vowed to make churches a place for people of all backgrounds and views to come together, including those in the LGBTQI community.

While Australia’s Anglican community is split around views on same-sex marriage, Bishop Greaves said he had a commitment of welcoming all people.

“If you start from a point that every person is created in the image of God, that includes the LGBTQI community,” Bishop Greaves said.

Bishop Greaves said his own children were “bewildered” by some of the views that church communities had of the LGBTQI community.

“I think for many people in the younger community, particularly those outside of the church, the issues of sexuality that we struggle with, (for them) it’s just not an issue,” he said.

“It’s pretty straight forward that we should just love people. I do agree with that.”

Bishop Greaves said the church had historically treated the LGBTQI community “appallingly” and that a sense of trust had to be rebuilt.

The father-of-three praised the legacy of Archbishop Aspinall and the eight others who preceded him.

“I am really mindful of the legacy of those before me, he did so much important work, particularly around making it a safer place for children and vulnerable people,” he said.

Reverend Canon Dr Marian Free, the chair of the Archbishop Election, said Bishop Greaves’

background, outlook and skills would stand him in good stead.

“I am confident that he will make a faithful Archbishop because of his experience here and elsewhere, his commitment to comprehensive Anglicanism, and in particular his pastoral approach to those holding different views,” Dr Free said.

He will be installed as Archbishop of Brisbane and Metropolitan of the Province of Queensland at St John’s Cathedral on Saturday, December 16.

The Diocese of Brisbane, trading as the Anglican Church Southern Queensland, spans from Coolangatta to Bundaberg, and out to the Northern Territory and South Australian borders.

Bishop Greaves said the church could provide a place for people to come together in an “ever polarised and fractured” society.

“Sunday mass, in the same queue, you can have a Labor voter, an Asian person, an Indigenous person, a gay person … it’s the one time of the week where the most unlikely group of people can gather for a common purpose. To me it’s such a gift to give the world.”