RI: General Synod vote sees women bishops take a step closer

The Church of England’s General Synod voted to a continue its work towards consecrating women bishops with an accompanying Code of Practice, as it voted on Wednesday to take the relevant Measure to revision in committee.

Despite being an unpopular middle ground at last July’s Synod, the Code of Practice Measure received 281 votes of support, against 114 with 13 registered abstentions. The Draft Amending Canon then received 309 votes of support against 79, with 14 registered abstentions.

This was after the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, the chair of the Steering Committee for the draft legislation, had assured many of the options remained open. He also made clear the alternative, which would likely see the rescinding of the Act of Synod, would leave opponents of women in the episcopate even more vulnerable.

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Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), CoE Bishops

19 comments on “RI: General Synod vote sees women bishops take a step closer

  1. Brian from T19 says:

    Talk about “An Inch At A Time!” At this rate they will have women bishops by the year 2112 [Yes-a RUSH reference-I can’t help it]

  2. Pageantmaster Ù† says:

    We think it is important to hold your fire, gather feedback and show grace under pressure Brian, otherwise it sends all the wrong signals.

  3. Brian from T19 says:

    I understand not doing this in a Rush. You don’t want to be some Fly By Night outfit. But sometimes you need to say A Farewell To Kings and allow in some women. It’s done in other Hemispheres. I know alot of people wil Exit…Stage Left. But let’s Roll The Bones. Take a Show of Hands and Presto, our Counterparts will be with us [Lord help me!]

  4. Pageantmaster Ù† says:

    Entre nous, we’ve got to go through the different stages to avoid subdivisions – which pretty much covers it in the circumstances.

  5. Phil says:

    I love you guys!

  6. Alice Linsley says:

    Women bishops, as with women priests, ensure permanent division within Anglicanism and between Anglicans and Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. It seems a high price to pay for a few women to wear pointy hats.

    Some think that the RCs and Orthodox will “get over it” and eventually ordain women priests. Those who think this are un-informed. For true catholics this is not “a second-order issue” as Bishop Duncan believes.

  7. Brian from T19 says:

    Pageantmaster

    It’s not like we didn’t have a Distant Early Warning. We’ve been Beneath, Between and Behind this issue. Every Working Man has had an opinion. How can people say “I’m Finding My Way?” I don’t want Something For Nothing, but it feels like we’re in The Twilight Zone.

  8. Br. Michael says:

    Brian, how about No! Does that work?

  9. Brian from T19 says:

    Br. Michael

    You have to say it like this

    “Forget about your silly whim, it doesn’t fit the plan!”

  10. Pageantmaster Ù† says:

    There you go Brian, its heresy without the ghost of a chance.

  11. Brian from T19 says:

    Well, we all have Free Will and even though we may be playing Different Strings, the issue remains in the Limelight. I’ll keep Workin’ Them Angels!

  12. tired says:

    This is terribly sad. If there is no structural accommodation, then the CoE is blowing off Romans 14 – fellow believers holding to traditional anglicanism will be treated less well than those who could not eat meat sacrificed to idols. A witness to hard hearts.

    …and For What it is Worth, that is nothing but a Caress of Steel.

  13. robroy says:

    On this day from MSNBC: “In 1989, the Reverend Barbara C. Harris became the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a ceremony held in Boston.”

    It has all gone swimmingly for the TEClub, hasn’t it!

  14. JoePewSitter says:

    They just need a parallel province.

  15. KevinBabb says:

    And, 33 years after the Philadelphia ordinations, when it comes to the status of opponents of WO in the Episcopal Church:

    “nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone”

  16. Alice Linsley says:

    The Philadelphia ordinations can’t be set at the feet of ECUSA, but at the feet of Baby Boomer bishops who acted without canonical authority, as this generation of Episcopal bishops often does. Bishop Moore (NY) was the first to ordain a women priest canonically and he ordained a lesbian, also the first women to hold office in Integrity.

    With time to reflect on the actions in Philadelphia and New York many have gained perspective. We now see what was happening and why it was wrong.

  17. Don R says:

    A contagiously Rush-centric comment thread! LOL

    There are likely those who are too far removed from [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_(band)]your particular subculture[/url] to catch exactly what’s going on, though.

  18. Brian from T19 says:

    There are likely those who are too far removed from your particular subculture to catch exactly what’s going on, though.

    Too true. What I’m waiting for is a chance to tell the ABC “If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.”

  19. Don R says:

    I will choose Freewill (aka, Free Will)!