THE Church of England was born in compromise. Or so it says in the preface to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Its ability to compromise is its “wisdom”, say the preface’s compilers.
But where is that wisdom now? Has it fled through the stained glass windows?
It emerged this weekend that the Church of England’s traditionalist clergy and lay people have been snubbed after a compromise ”“ that word again ”“ deal over women bishops was jettisoned.
Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals had hoped and earnestly prayed that the Church would agree to appoint male bishops to oversee them. But it has now become sadly, possibly even tragically, clear that a body looking at the females in mitres proposals ”“ the Revision Committee of the General Synod, the Church’s parliament ”“ has failed to back the idea.
“Anglicans who want to see women bishops, probably the great majority, are elated by the latest developments. Take Christina Rees. She heads Women and the Church, a body that has long campaigned for women’s ordination. “This is wonderful news. It’s a major breakthrough as it expresses the view that men and women are equal in the sight of God,” she says.”
Equal, except for Traditionalists, of course.
Does Christina not know that men and women have always been “equal” in the sight of God? Is it only when they are perceived as interchangeable units that she thinks they are “equal”? What a narrow view.
[blockquote] Anglicans who want to see women bishops, probably the great majority, are elated by the latest developments. [/blockquote] Michael Brown may be the Yorkshire Post’s religious affairs correspondent, but his field of vision extends scarcely beyond Yorkshire. By this statement he must refer to Church of England members rather than Anglicans worldwide, for if he intended a worldwide purview his statement is patently false. It may also be questionable even from his limited Yorkshire perspective.
Now shall we also hear from Cheshire, Berkshire, and Cornwall?