Consecrating female bishops in the Church of England
Steps taken during 2006 to 2008
Sponsored link.
2006: Status of the Church of England in the eyes of the public:
The church in an awkward position -- between a rock and a hard place:
Some of its most devout members are traditionalists who refuse to accept
female bishops; many refuse to even accept female priests. Their motivations
vary:
Some follow a literal interpretation of the Christian Scriptures,
a.k.a.
the New Testament. They interpret passages allegedly written by Paul in 1 Corinthians,
1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus as severely restricting the roles of women, and
prohibiting their ordination. 1
Others sincerely believe that the ordinations and consecrations of
women as clergy are invalid, and that any rituals performed by them
would be without effect.
Some are simply misogynists.
British culture largely condemns racism, sexism and homophobia as
serious social evils. The Church of England is one of the last institutions
in the UK that still actively discriminates against women. The church is
losing the confidence of the population because of sexism and other reasons.
Church attendance is dropping rapidly as a result.
The church cannot change and yet cannot retain the same sexist policies
without alienating large numbers of people.
2006-JUL: General Synod vote approves female consecration in principle:
On 2006-JUL-08, at the General Synod of the Church of England in York, the
Archbishop of York -- Rt. Reverend John Sentamu -- introduced a motion to
approve the consecration of female bishops. 2
Christina Rees, Chair of Women and the Church (WATCH) -- a group
supporting sexual equality -- said:
"This is
a day we have been praying for. This is a significant and important day in the
life of the Church. Now the Episcopal leadership of the Church of England will
reveal in a new way what we say we believe - that women and men alike are made
in the image of God."
This is an obvious reference to Genesis 1:27:
"So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."
3
The vote was 288 to 110 after a three-hour debate. It carried by more than a two-thirds majority among the bishops and clergy.
If this level of support continues, a future synod would be able to pass the
required
legislation to actually consecrate female bishops. Because the Church of England
is the state church, Parliament would then have to pass enabling legislation
before consecrations could happen.
Organized religions are not known for speedy change. It is
remarkable that the Church of England is considering women bishops after having opened the priesthood to women
only 14 years
ago, and having ordained its first female priest only 12
years ago.
However, although the theological
impediments to consecration of women had been resolved, procedures to implement
the change had not been worked out. Church spokesperson Ben Wilson said that "2012
was bandied about [for the first consecration], but that is looking a little
premature now."
Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, -- the spiritual leader of the
Anglican Communion -- has suggested that the best path
forward might be to split the Church of England into two groups.
One would be
composed of laity and clergy who want to continue discriminating against women
as bishops
The other would be made up of laity and clergy who accept gender
equality.
That way, conservative parishes could secede from any dioceses led by a female
bishop, and obtain alternate episcopal oversight from bishops who opposed gender
equality.
Current status of women in the Anglican Communion's clergy:
As of 2006-JUL, fourteen of the 38 Provinces had accepted consecrated women bishops
in principle: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Mexico,
North India, Philippines, Scotland, Southern Africa and Sudan. Of these, three
-- Canada, New Zealand and the United States -- had already consecrated women
bishops. 1
In 2008-MAY-22, Australia consecrated its first woman bishop: Kay Goldsworthy
in Perth. On MAY-31, Barbara Darling was consecrated in Melbourne.
2008-MAY-14: Women priests sent an open letter to their bishops:
There are more than 2,000 women ordained as priests in the Church of England.
More than 700 of them signed an open letter to the bishops of the Church of
England in advance of the mid-year synod.
They firmly stated that they wanted to be eligible to be consecrated as
bishops, but not at any price. In the words of WATCH, they are keen to:
"... be
bishops on a par with their male colleagues. [However, they] "... don't
want their their ministry to be fenced around with restrictions in order to
'protect' those who will not accept them." 2
The open letter says, in part:
"We welcome the work done by the Legislative Drafting Group
outlining ways forward for the Church with regard to the consecration of women
as bishops. ..."
"We believe that it should be possible for women to be consecrated as bishops,
but not at any price. The price of legal “safeguards” for those opposed is
simply too high, diminishing not just the women concerned, but the catholicity,
integrity and mission of the episcopate and of the Church as a whole. We
cannot countenance any proposal that would, once again, enshrine and formalise
discrimination against women in legislation. With great regret, we would
be prepared to wait longer, rather than see further damage done to the Church of
England by passing discriminatory laws. In this, we support the recent
principled stand taken by the Archbishop and Bishops of the Church in Wales."
4
"After 21 years of ordained ministry and 14 years of priesthood, many of us
have much experience of building trustful relationships with those unable to
accept the priestly ministry of women. In the Anglican Communion overseas,
women take this experience into the episcopate, which leads them to invite other
bishops into their Dioceses or Episcopal areas to ordain, confirm and take other
services when required. Bishops should be trusted to act wisely and behave
with dignity, and all bishops should work within clear expectations and codes of
practice. The language of “protection” and “safeguard” is offensive to women,
and we believe the existing disciplinary procedures are enough for women or men
to be brought to account if they behave inappropriately. We would commend the
good practice over the past 20 years of the 15 Anglican Provinces which have
already opened the episcopate to women: none of these has passed discriminatory
legislation."
"Discussion of a single clause measure without including the possible
arrangements for those opposed, characterises those who argue for it as
somehow “not caring” about those who oppose the ordination/consecration of
women. This is far from the truth. Strong relationships have been
forged on the anvil of profound disagreement and there is ample testimony to the
richness of these encounters, to set alongside those situations which have
proved painful. As the broken body of Christ on earth, the Church’s
internal relationships should rest on trust, forgiveness, repentance and
reconciliation, rather than on protection and an over-anxious reliance on the
letter of the law. Work has already been done on a draft proposal of robust and
clear arrangements that make the passing of a single clause measure realistic in
today’s Church, as well as theologically and ecclesiologically cohesive."
"We long to see the consecration of women bishops in the Church of England,
and believe it is right both in principle and in timing. But because we
love the Church, we are not willing to assent to a further fracture in our
communion and threat to our unity. If it is to be episcopacy for women
qualified by legal arrangements to “protect” others from our oversight, then our
answer, respectfully, is thank you, but no." 5
Sponsored link:
Letter from over 1,300 male clergy to the archbishops:
LifeSiteNews reports that:
More than 1,300 clergy, including 11 serving bishops, have
written to the archbishops of Canterbury and York saying they will leave the
Church of England if women are consecrated bishops. Three sitting diocesan
bishops have also written to the Archbishop of Canterbury supporting the threat
and two other bishops have said they are preparing to leave the Church."
"[Ruth] Gledhill [of the Times] quotes the Rev. Prebendary
David Houlding, a leading Anglo-Catholic, who said,
'It's getting worse - it's going downhill very badly. It's
quite clear there is a pincer movement and we are being squeezed out. We are
being pushed by a particular liberal agenda and we are going to have women
bishops at the exclusion of any other view'." 12
Allegations of secret negotiations with the Vatican:
LifeSiteNews reports that:
"The news that a group of 'senior' Anglican bishops are in
talks with Rome during the crisis came as a surprise to representatives of the
Catholic Church of England and Wales, attending the Synod as observers. Gledhill
reported that Monsignor Andrew Faley, ecumenical officer of the Catholic bishops
of England and Wales, had 'no information' that such talks had taken place. The
Telegraph reports that the Rowan Williams was also not told of the talks that
are reported to have been with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
the Vatican's highest doctrinal authority after the Pope himself."
"The
talks come with a backdrop of a difficult history. In 1992, when the Church of
England voted to ordain female clergy, a similar crisis ensued in which a large
number of Anglican ministers applied to Rome to create a provision to retain the
traditional Anglican style of worship but seek communion with the See of Rome.
At that time, under Pope John Paul II, some 'Anglican Use' parishes were
established in the US, but the episcopate of the Catholic Church of England and
Wales obstructed the solution. Hopes were dashed when the Catholic bishops of
England and Wales announced that converts would only be accepted individually,
not en masse, and there would be no provision made for the retention of 500
year-old Anglican liturgical traditions."
"It was noted that the heavily
liberalized Catholic leadership did not relish the thought of a massive influx
of doctrinally and liturgically traditional and highly educated clergy into
their midst."
"But since the election of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made
unprecedented moves to reconcile traditionalists in the Catholic Church, and who
was strongly supportive of the Anglican traditionalists before his election,
hope has been revived that a path may be cleared." 12
2008-JUL-07: General Synod confirms female consecration in principle:
Those caucasians opposed to female consecration to the episcopate campaigned for special
arrangements so that they would not have to accept a woman as their bishop. They
offered two options:
The creation of separate dioceses to be led only by male bishops, or
Provision of "superbishops" (a.k.a. "complementary bishops" to
traditionalist parishes. These would be male bishops who could be asked to
come into a diocese that was led by a woman bishop and offer leadership to the
minority who cannot accept oversight by their own bishop. A parish would be
able to bypass their own bishop and ask for a superbishop. The latter would
take control of the spiritual and disciplinary leadership of the rebel
parishes. However, the diocesan bishops would continue to control parish
finances and Church schools. The superbishops would be selected from among
the ranks of Anglo-Catholic traditionalists. The superbishops would replace
the "flying bishops" who have been available since the CoE started ordaining
women priests; the flying bishops can be invited into a diocese which has
women priests to minister to parishes which do not recognize the legitimacy
of female ordination.
Some traditionalists reject the latter
compromise because the superbishops would still have to be supervised by
archbishops who would be seen as tainted because they had consecrated women
bishops. 6,11
Muriel Porter, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. was
unsympathetic to the attempt to derail gender equality in the episcopate. She
wrote:
"... these suggestions were dismissed by the synod, which
instead has opted for pastoral provisions similar to those now available in
Australia where there are women bishops. These are low-key arrangements designed
to treat with respect those who oppose women in church leadership, without
undermining the authority of women bishops."
"The arrangements the
English opponents wanted would have been deeply humiliating to women, creating
in effect a second-class tier of bishops. In a modern pluralist society such as
England is in the 21st century, this would surely be intolerable."
"If
anyone suggested that Anglican worshippers could be protected from any contact
with black bishops, for instance, both the vast majority of churchgoers and
wider society generally would be rightly alarmed and appalled. But the
proponents of discrimination against women seem to think they are immune to
criticism because of their outdated views about the Bible and church tradition."
7
Her article received 100 comments from readers by JUL-11; some were quite
vitriolic.
The synod confirmed its mid-2006 synod decision to consecrate women as
bishops. The voting numbers were:
Bishops: 28 for; 12 against; 1 abstention.
Clergy: 124 for; 44 against; 4 abstentions.
Laity: 111 for; 68 against; 2 abstention.
Draft legislation and a Code of Practice will be presented at the 2009-FEB
synod to implement the decision. 7 However, if the
level of support for women bishops remains constant, the legislation will fail.
The laity support was nine votes short of the two-thirds majority required to
pass legislation. 7 This should make for a lively
synod in February as supporters of women's restrictions battle with supporters
of women's equality. The nature of the CoE will hang in the balance.
2008-JUL-08: Response to the synod vote from the Vatican
A letter from the Vatican issued on 2008-JUL-08 stated:
"We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to
pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the
ordaining of women to the Episcopacy."
"The Catholic position on the
issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a
decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by
all of the Churches since the first millennium, and therefore is a further
obstacle for the reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Church of
England."
"This decision will have consequences on the future of
dialogue, which had up until now born fruit, as Cardinal Kasper had clearly
explained when he spoke on June 5 2006 to all of the bishops of the Church of
England at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury."
"The Cardinal has been invited once again to express the
Catholic position at the next Lambeth Conference at the end of July." 9
Their reference to "all of the Churches" having continuously discriminated
against women in the clergy until recently may be surprising to many readers, since all liberal
and most mainline Christian denominations have had female clergy for decades.
The letter is consistent with the document "Dominus
Iesus" that was ratified by Pope John Paul II in the year 2000. It
explains the Roman Catholic belief that all of the Christian denominations
except for the Church of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox churches have not
preserved the Apostolic succession. Thus, they are not "churches in the proper
sense." That belief was reinforced during 2007 by
Pope Benedict XVI in his document: "Responses to
Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church."
2008-JUL-09: Response to the synod vote from Forward in Faith
Many traditionalists were distressed at the synod vote. John Fulham, chairman
of Forward in Faith wrote on JUL-09:
"Many of you have phoned me in the last twenty four hours,
angry or distressed. Several have suggested that we should declare war on those
who seek to destroy us. Particularly, the suggestion has been made that we stop
paying Diocesan Quota. I am open on this matter but think that now is not quite
yet the time for such drastic gestures, for whatever we do needs its timing to
be agreed by us all so that we can act together. Be assured of my commitment to
our common life and of my determination to continue to seek a common way forward
in faith for all of us." 10
2008-JUL: Meeting of women bishops:
Eighteen women bishops gathered near Oxford for a two-day meeting prior to
attending the Lambeth Conference of Bishops that is held every ten years.
Included were 11 bishops from the U.S., three from Canada, two from Australia,
and one each from Cuba and New Zealand. 7
The path forward:
After the consecration of women as bishops is eventually implemented, the
relationship between the Methodists and Anglicans in England will probably
become closer. However, an additional strain would appear in the relationship of
the Anglican and Roman Catholic church. To the Roman
Catholic Church, even the ordination of women as deacons is a hot-button item. Debate and dialogue
by clergy in that Church is suppressed.
After the
Church of England first ordained women as priests in 1992, 720 priests found the
situation so intolerable that they felt compelled to leave the denomination.
About 400 priests joined the Roman Catholic Church even though many if not most
were married. The exodus opened up 720
posts for female priests to fill.
There are no firm data about how many
will leave if women are allowed to be consecrated as bishops. Estimates range
from a very few to 1,000. Allowing female
bishops would mean that some male priests would be under the authority of a
woman. Male conservative clergy might find this so unacceptable that they might
abandon the church in droves.
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
We use the word "allegedly" because most theologians believe that the
Titus and Timothy epistles were not written by St. Paul. Rather, they were
composed by an unknown forger who wrote in Paul's name during the 2nd
century CE, some 35 to 85 years after Paul's death. These writings thus
reflect the developing biases of the early Christian church, rather than
Jesus or Paul's teachings. Many theologians also believe that the passage 1
Corinthians 14:34b-35 which requires women to remain silent in church was
inserted into the original writing by an unknown person at an unknown date.
If it is not part of Paul's original writing, it cannot be considered
authoritative.
Women priests in the Church of Wales -- a separate Anglican province --
took a similar stand. As a result, a recent motion to allow the consecration
of women bishops was defeated.
Ruth Gledhill, "Church of England votes to ordain
women bishops," The Times, 2008-JUL-08, at:
http://wwrn.org/
Muriel Porter, "Accepting women bishops," Australian Broadcast Corp.,
2008-JUL-10, at:
http://www.abc.net.au/
"Synod votes in favour of women as bishops, with a Code of Practice,"
WATCH news, Accessed 2008-JUL-11, at:
http://watchwomen.com/ This will be a temporary listing.
"Church of England plans male 'superbishops' for rebel clergy who refuse
to be led by women," Daily Mail, 2008-JUL-06, at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Hilary White, "Anglicans to Catholics: Ready or Not, Here we Come.
Church of England General Synod to touch off an exodus by approving women
bishops," Life Site News, 2008-JUL-07, at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/
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