Women bishops may only be a few years away
-3/11/04
The Church of England has acknowledg
Women bishops may only be a few years away
-3/11/04
The Church of England has acknowledged that it could ordain the first women bishops by the end of the decade if proposals contained in a new report are taken forward by its general synod.
The report, which follows a three-year-long working party headed by the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, set out a series of options for the church to consider.
Its findings were immediately denounced as contrary to Holy Scripture by the conservative evangelical fringe group the Church Society, who have also been instrumental in causing the divisions over homosexuality in the church, but were welcomed by women in the church who have been pressing for the change.
Dr Nazir-Ali told a press conference: “We have tried to show in the report that it is a soluble problem if the church wants to make a decision that is not maintaining the status quo. If the church decides after due consideration to ordain women to the episcopate we think it will be possible, given goodwill on every side, to maintain the unity of the church.”
Although the 289-page report did not make recommendations, as predicted it sets out a series of options ranging from maintaining existing practice, to ordaining women to all orders of bishoprics, allowing dissenting parishes oversight from male bishops, and the setting up of a separate province with its own episcopal structure, parallel to those of York and Canterbury, catering only for those churches which could not recognise women’s ministry or accept the authority of men ordained by them.
The report lists the advantages and disadvantages of each option, though it makes clear that the current situation is not really sustainable because pressure will continue. It comes a day after the retiring Archbishop of York, spoke of his despair at the rancour in the Anglican communion, but also its preoccupation with internal issues which make the church seem irrelevant to world around it.
The report adds: “It seems certain that, for the foreseeable future at least, acceptance of gender-blind equality of opportunity will remain a central feature of western society. This means that the church’s position will appear increasingly isolated and anachronistic and there will be continuous pressure on the church to reconsider its decision … the Church of England will not be able to commend the gospel effectively if its structures embody sexism in a way that contemporary society no longer finds acceptable.”
Nevertheless, the way towards promoting women further is not straightforward. The report will be debated by the church’s general synod at its next meeting in February, with a proposal in principle likely to be put before its following meeting next July.
Then, once a detailed legislative measure is worked out, the 44 diocesan synods will have to decide their stance, before the general synod finally adopts a decision – which will require two-thirds majorities among its lay, clergy and episcopal members. Parliament will ultimately have to give its assent and the plans will require the royal assent.
The process is expected to take at least four years, which could mean that women bishops might be appointed at the earliest in about 2009.
Although women now make up nearly a quarter of all ordained ministers in the Church of England and this year have exceeded men in the numbers training for ordination, their ministry is still not accepted by a minority rump of both High Church Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals who believe their status is contrary to church tradition and biblical injunction.
The Church Society insisted: “The New Testament clearly teaches that leadership in the churches should be exercised by men. This pattern is not a result of prejudice or inequality. It is an expression of the fact that God has made men and women with different yet complementary gifts and roles. Following … the innovation of ordaining women as priests, decline in the Church of England has accelerated.”
Women bishops may only be a few years away
-3/11/04
The Church of England has acknowledged that it could ordain the first women bishops by the end of the decade if proposals contained in a new report are taken forward by its general synod.
The report, which follows a three-year-long working party headed by the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester, set out a series of options for the church to consider.
Its findings were immediately denounced as contrary to Holy Scripture by the conservative evangelical fringe group the Church Society, who have also been instrumental in causing the divisions over homosexuality in the church, but were welcomed by women in the church who have been pressing for the change.
Dr Nazir-Ali told a press conference: “We have tried to show in the report that it is a soluble problem if the church wants to make a decision that is not maintaining the status quo. If the church decides after due consideration to ordain women to the episcopate we think it will be possible, given goodwill on every side, to maintain the unity of the church.”
Although the 289-page report did not make recommendations, as predicted it sets out a series of options ranging from maintaining existing practice, to ordaining women to all orders of bishoprics, allowing dissenting parishes oversight from male bishops, and the setting up of a separate province with its own episcopal structure, parallel to those of York and Canterbury, catering only for those churches which could not recognise women’s ministry or accept the authority of men ordained by them.
The report lists the advantages and disadvantages of each option, though it makes clear that the current situation is not really sustainable because pressure will continue. It comes a day after the retiring Archbishop of York, spoke of his despair at the rancour in the Anglican communion, but also its preoccupation with internal issues which make the church seem irrelevant to world around it.
The report adds: “It seems certain that, for the foreseeable future at least, acceptance of gender-blind equality of opportunity will remain a central feature of western society. This means that the church’s position will appear increasingly isolated and anachronistic and there will be continuous pressure on the church to reconsider its decision … the Church of England will not be able to commend the gospel effectively if its structures embody sexism in a way that contemporary society no longer finds acceptable.”
Nevertheless, the way towards promoting women further is not straightforward. The report will be debated by the church’s general synod at its next meeting in February, with a proposal in principle likely to be put before its following meeting next July.
Then, once a detailed legislative measure is worked out, the 44 diocesan synods will have to decide their stance, before the general synod finally adopts a decision – which will require two-thirds majorities among its lay, clergy and episcopal members. Parliament will ultimately have to give its assent and the plans will require the royal assent.
The process is expected to take at least four years, which could mean that women bishops might be appointed at the earliest in about 2009.
Although women now make up nearly a quarter of all ordained ministers in the Church of England and this year have exceeded men in the numbers training for ordination, their ministry is still not accepted by a minority rump of both High Church Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals who believe their status is contrary to church tradition and biblical injunction.
The Church Society insisted: “The New Testament clearly teaches that leadership in the churches should be exercised by men. This pattern is not a result of prejudice or inequality. It is an expression of the fact that God has made men and women with different yet complementary gifts and roles. Following … the innovation of ordaining women as priests, decline in the Church of England has accelerated.”