The Church of England will today give its blessing to gay clergy who want to enter into civil partnerships.

But the Church is refusing to accord civil partnerships the status of marital relationships and gay clergy will be told they must remain chaste.

The "sexless marriage" code for gays has been prepared by a working group headed by the Bishop of Norwich, the Right Rev Graham James.

The established Church’s complex manoeuvrings are the result of having to remain on the right side of the law while at the same time abiding by Church doctrine.

The worldwide Anglican Communion is deeply divided over the issue of gay clergy and has been brought to the brink of schism over the election of its first openly gay bishop, the Right Rev Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire in the US.

The Church of England has long held that heterosexual marriage is the only state within which sexual relationships are permitted.

The bishops are standing by the 1991 guidelines, Issues in Human Sexuality, which grant grudging acceptance to gay sex among the laity, but state that gay clergy must be chaste.

The Church’s official line is that its approach to civil partnerships will reflect the fact that the partnerships will not be marriages and that the two people making the legal agreement will not be presumed to be in a sexual relationship.

According to the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, more than 750 couples involving at least one clergyman or woman could be considering steps to legalise their relationships under the new law.

Dr Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans, who was persuaded to stand down from his nomination as Bishop of Reading even though he is in a celibate relationship, is among those who could benefit from the new law.

Under the 2004 Civil Partnership Act, which comes into effect in December this year, the Church has no choice but to allow its clergy to register their partnerships.

Gay clergy who register their partnerships will in effect have all the rights accorded to married couples, such as enjoying the benefits of their partners’ pensions and being allowed to remain in the vicarage for a time should their partner die or abscond. Clergy will have to seek their bishop’s permission before they register their partnerships.

Bishops will then ask clergy in face-to-face meetings whether they are in a sexual relationship or not. Clergy who confess they are put themselves at immediate risk of discipline, while clergy who say they are not when in fact they are put themselves at risk of complaints from parishioners which could lead to discipline at a future date.

Defiant clergy who insist on their legal rights under secular law could also be at breach of their pledge of obedience to their bishop, putting them at odds with the hierarchy and again at risk of disciplinary measures. Disciplinary action could involve suspension or withdrawal of a bishop’s licence to minister.

However, the Church hierarchy will also be wary of challenges from the gay community under the Human Rights Act. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that everyone has the right to respect for their private and family life.

Clergy swear canonical obedience to their bishops at ordination and whenever installed in a new post, but bishops can only require clergy to do what is "lawful and honest". A senior canon lawyer gave warning: "The bishops are on a loser if they are going to try and insist on chaste relationships."

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