FOSTERING has "enriched" the life of a gay Anglican priest who is speaking out against Catholic Church calls to sidestep new regulations allowing same-sex couples improved adoption rights.

Reverend Martin Reynolds believes it would be "a disaster for children" if Catholic Church leaders succeed in watering down proposals for improved adoption rights for gay couples.

He says he and his male partner have had great joy in caring for their 19-year-old foster son, who has complex learning difficulties, for the last five years.

"Fostering has enriched our lives in more ways than we thought possible," says the priest, who lives in Stow Hill, Newport.

"It has allowed us to develop as a family, move forward as people and grow in our faith."

The 53-year-old hit out this week against a campaign by the Catholic Church to sidestep new regulations allowing gay couples to be on an equal footing with other proespective adopters rather than breach Church teaching.

Gay rights campaigners claim the Catholic Church is using "blackmail" in its bid to allow Church adoption agencies to be exempt.

But the Catholic Church says that unless they get an exemption, local authorities would not be able to use its agencies, funding would be withdrawn, and they would be forced to close.

"They're playing politics with children," claims Mr Reynolds, the director of communications for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.

"This is not a gay rights issue - the only rights at stake here are the children's.

"By cutting off gay and lesbian families from the adoption process, they would narrow the base from which to choose prospective parents and that can only be bad for the children."

Born and raised in Caerphilly, Mr Reynolds found his calling in 1977 when he was ordained as an Anglican priest.

Three years later he met his partner, Chris Iles. The couple became civil partners last year.

After serving a congregation in Pontyclun for many years, he took official retirement in 2000 and moved to Newport, but still takes services where needed.

Mr Reynolds and Mr Iles, 47, a shopkeeper and practising Catholic, have raised their foster son as a Catholic, taking him to mass regularly.

Despite the condemnation of homosexuality from some quarters in the Anglican Church, he said the Church in Wales took the line of "tacit approval".

The experience of being rejected at the first phone call by a Catholic adoption agency, which he refuses to name, left him with a sense of "desperate sadness".

However the couple have moved on, and are now putting themselves forward to other agencies as prospective adoptive parents or foster carers.

They are looking for two more children to join their family.

"Our son said he wanted brothers and sisters," he said.

Mr Reynolds urges adults in the Gwent area to consider fostering or adopting.

"Some of the children have been through 20 or 30 short term placements," he said. "There is a desperate need for a safe and loving home environment for children."