Church of England to vote on women bishops

Church of England to vote on women bishops

By Michael Buchanan
BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20385411
November 18, 2012

The Church of England is to meet in London this week to vote on whether to allow women to become bishops.

The outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury and his successor the Rt Rev Justin Welby are in favour of the move.

A majority of church members also support the measure, but strong opposition from traditionalists and a complicated voting system means the outcome is uncertain.

It comes 20 years after the Church decided to ordain women as priests.

The Church of England's national assembly, meeting in Church House, London, will hold a series of votes, in what is being seen as the first major test for the next Archbishop of Canterbury.

The Bishop of Durham Justin Welby is expected to speak in Tuesday's debate, urging the Synod to support the change.

Among the initial group of women to be ordained in 1994 was Frances Ward, who is now Dean of St Edmundsbury Cathedral and one of the most senior women in the Church of England. She is impatient for change.

"The time now is right and we really do need to take this step. Our credibility will be shot through if we don't pass this on Tuesday," she said.

The Church of England has been at this stage before. It was due to vote on the change in July, but the discussion was adjourned without a vote after supporters of women bishops objected to the concession being proposed for opponents.

They feared the proposal would create two tiers of bishops within the church, with opponents allowed access to a male bishop who agreed with their objections to women bishops.

A new amendment has now been drawn up, conceived by the Rev Janet Appleby, a vicar from Tyne and Wear.

'Not fit for purpose'

It says male bishops should be selected in a manner that "respects" the reasons the parish asked for him in the first place. How that would work in practice will be defined when the Church's code of practice is written up following the vote.

The new amendment has received qualified backing from supporters of women bishops but has been described as not fit for purpose by opponents.

Opposition groups, a coalition of traditionalists, evangelicals and Catholics within the Church, have sent a booklet to all 468 members of the Synod arguing the draft measure falls short of what they need.

In a letter to the Times on Friday signed by 327 clergy from all but one of the Church's 44 diocese, they said the draft measure would "severely prejudice" their future ministries, and its approval would "lead irrevocably to deep fractures appearing within the Church".

One Synod member who will definitely be voting against the measure is Susie Leafe. A member of the Reform evangelical movement within the Church, she says her objections are simple.

"I believe that God created men and women equal, but I also believe He created us different and that we've got different roles to play. And that the ultimate leadership of the family - and the church which is the family of God - should be taken by men," she said.

Major test

To pass the change, supporters need to get two-thirds majorities in all three houses of the General Synod. The measure is expected to be comfortably passed in both the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy.

But the vote in the House of Laity is said to be on a knife-edge. So divine intervention is being supplemented by more earthly manoeuvrings - phone calls, petitions and online campaigns.

If the Synod fails to support the change this would lead to questions about the next Archbishop of Canterbury's leadership and leave him taking over a divided church.

It would also be a blow to the outgoing Archbishop Rowan Williams. He has warned of turmoil in the Church if the change is voted down, and he could claim a lasting legacy if one of his final acts was to oversee the introduction of women bishops. Lambeth Palace has therefore produced a series of videos, called Enough Waiting, urging support.

If the measure is approved, the first woman bishop could be consecrated in 2014. If it is defeated, the proposal would be killed for at least seven years.

END

Source: http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16830

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