Tradition and symbolism are among the most cherished in the Anglican and Catholic Churches. The prayers they recite, the call and response, the pomp and circumstance—all are intended to honor God and teach His people.

So when one remote church in Tyne and Wear County, in the Northeastern United Kingdom, drapes a communion altar with the “Progress Flag,” a design with both LGBT and Transgender colored symbols, it makes the news.

The communion altar is supposed to be sacred, but the Rev. Jacqui Tyson made it a prop to make a statement. Before blessing the sacrament, she said she was “proud to serve in a church that is ‘open to God, and open to all.'”

Her church is Sunderland Minster, a member of the “Inclusive Church,” whose motto is the same as Rev. Tyson’s quote. In 2021, Tyson’s church commemorated when a couple of priests changed routine cleric stoles with rainbow-adorned ones.

In the picture below from “X,” Tyson is shown in front of the chapel altar as it used to be compared to what they have placed on it now. In front of her is the church communion table. The candles were a clue this day was coming.

Tonight we celebrated Sunderland Minster becoming a fully Inclusive Church, becoming part of a network of churches working to celebrate the full diversity of humanity and to campaign against oppressions within the churches and wider society. Join us in that struggle for equality. pic.twitter.com/2bVljmr09r

— Chris Howson (@AJustChurch) September 27, 2021

The latest news angered clerics across the UK, with some Church of England leaders calling Tyson’s decor choices a “violation of canon law.” Rev. Ian Paul, an associate minister at St. Nic’s in Nottingham, also argued that the flag on the communion table creates the opposite effect Tyson desires.

“[The display] is not inclusive but exclusive,” he told the UK Telegraph. It excludes people who do not accept the false claims of transgender ideology.”

Additionally, Paul shared it “distorts and misrepresents the purpose of the Communion table.”

Anglican ministers outside of the UK’s pro-LGBT Inclusive Church network are divided on this issue as many leaders of faith are in the States. While loving homosexual, queer, and transgender people is Biblical, the acceptance of their choices is the target of division.

The differences between the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church are minor, except who heads each organization. Pope Francis, who is currently struggling with bilateral pneumonia, heads the Roman Catholic Church. Anglicans do not recognize his ultimate leadership as that is reserved for two people.

Literally, it was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, until he resigned in January 2025 over the church’s handling of an abuse scandal. The person in that role is considered the “first among equals.” Symbolically, it is the British monarch, King Charles III.

The flag drapery has been a concern in the UK before Rev. Tyson’s actions. In February 2024, a circuitous twist of irony occurred as Naomi Gyane, chancellor of the Diocese of Leicester, refused the same action from St. Nic’s in Nottingham–the same church that Rev. Paul oversees.

“The Progress Pride flag is not a Christian emblem,” she said. “Whilst I agree it is a sign of welcome for people from the LGBTQIA+ community and although not itself political, it is a secular contemporary emblem used for many causes and contemporary discourse.”