The Church of England is to go ahead with the plan to create women bishops without giving in to demands from traditionalists for a separate structure of bishops and archbishops untainted by the hands of a woman.
Traditionalists oppose women bishops because they argue that Jesus had no women disciples and that the apostolic succession of bishops, passed down by the laying of hands at ordination, should therefore be male.
Traditionalists warned last night that the decision, to be announced at the General Synod today, will trigger an exodus from the Church of England of many thousands of priests and lay people.
Women Bishops….Katherine Jefforts Schori…I rest my case.
Intercessor
Bishop Wolf of Rhode Island may be the exception that tests the rule.
Onward, feministas, onward! Up the future’s endless stair! Chop us, change us, ever lead us; “Deconstruction and Despair!”
Never knowing The Faith’s knowing
Take the ruin everywhere!
#2-Sorry …Great lady and well respected but I could not take communion from her. I hope the trads in UK walk out en masse because of this sorry group of women. Some witness for Christ…Heh.
Intercessor
Dear Intercessor, I agree with you totally. I was rather lukewarm to women clergy until KJF…now I am completely opposed to it…if the CofE goes ahead with this do you think that more of the traditionalists will be swimming the Tiber, given the Pope’s most generous offer?
[blockquote]A contentious debate will be around a motion to recognise the new conservative evangelical Anglican Church in North America, created by traditionalists who have been deposed or broken away in the dispute over gay ordination in the US.[/blockquote] Ah Ruth, it’s the EACNA now is it? And we’ve broken away over gay ordination have we? And the debate you’re predicting will be contentious will it? It’s amazing how edifying one sentence can be.
NW Bob would gladly take communion from a biblically faithful woman bishop than 10 of the male bishops that have gotten PECUSA into the panthiest mess they are in now. And while NW Bob is on his soap box, might he remind you that the likes of Bishops Pike and Spong were baptised and confirmed with the 1928 prayer book. There! I have gored both oxes at once!
In Hoc Signo Vinces,
NW Bob
#5, it’s not just Anglo-Catholics. Reform, the evangelical association, has issued a letter saying it will have to advise clergy to leave the CofE if there are no alternate arrangements for those who cannot accept a female bishop, and they also will begin withholding funds from the CofE. As these parishes are growing, this is a significant threat. What they’re trying to do to the no-WO groups in England is just like the insufficient DEPO proposals in the U.S. Not good enough, and if the “open evangelicals” think they won’t be next on the list, they’re kidding themselves.
#5- It is difficult to figure whether Anglo Catholics will go to Rome or find another path, but if you use the Anglo Catholic definition of “traditionalist” then they will virtually all leave the CoE- because they either have to leave, or give up tenets of the faith (thereby no longer being “traditionalist”). Probably rather like TEC- you will see a wave leave upon the implementation of the legislation (those who lose their “flying bishop”), another wave leave upon the actual consecration (figuring it to be the last straw), and then more as bishops retire and are replaced by revisionists (those currently in dioceses with a “traditionalist” bishop- and I understand there are a few in addition to the “flying bishops”). The whole process may take another 15-20 years, as it did here after the consecration of Barbara Harris to the retirement of +Keith Ackerman. Remember, that like the US, there was already a large exodus after the first women priests were ordained. A bit less in England, since they put in place the flying bishop scheme whereas TEC just plowed on. But it will only make it harder now.
Still, what were the Anglo Catholics going to do in 15 years when there is a woman Archbishop of Canterbury? For that matter, what will all the Anglican Provinces who do not ordain women do?
How about the orthodox go to the ACGB (Anglican Church of Great Britain)? How does ABp Nazer-Ali sound? Sounds pretty good to me.
For reasons still beyond my understanding, this great religious tradition is doomed in its motherland.
What an utterly extraordinary article!
1. “…the decision, to be announced at the General Synod today, … The historic decision, to be ratified by the synod in July”
Excuse me? There is NO decision until Synod makes it. And no, it doesn’t “ratify” a decision already made, it decides whether to make the decision in the first place.
2. “It will bring England in line with Canada, New Zealand and the US.”
Hmmm, specific mention of the tiny minority of overseas provinces which allow women bishops, and NO mention of the vast majority of overseas provinces which do not. Now THAT’s responsible balanced journalism…
3. “The General Synod voted two years ago to go ahead with women bishops in a simple measure but leaders of the Church of England have since been struggling to find a way forward that would keep the traditionalist wing on board.”
Of course, because said leaders know that without the regular tithes of the “tradionalist wing” (which includes most of their pew-sitters) CofE is facing bankruptcy. Canterbury has already gone cap-in-hand to the Commons seeking funding for many of their properties, and the number of leavers is still fairly small.
4. “One effect will be to increase the numbers of Anglicans taking up Pope Benedict XVI’s offer to join the new Anglican Ordinariate.”
That is what ABC *hopes* – if he has to lose paying pew-sitters, he would rather lose them to Rome, where at least he can categorise them as having abandoned Anglicanism. What ABC *fears* is that significant numbers of pew-sitters will do what they have done in the USA – move to alternative Anglican churches who are recognised by the rest of the Communion.
All that these churches need is somewhere to worship and a roof for their rector. If they start putting money aside now, they can move straight into new rented digs as soon as they are ready. After that, experience shows that orthodox congregations can support themselves. And of course their will be no lack of overseas bishops, archbishops and primates willing to extend episcopal oversight on request.
5. “Recognition [of ACNA] by the Synod would be no more than symbolic but it would add weight to any formal request from the new church to become an extra province within the structure of the Anglican Communion.”
No, recognition of ACNA by the Synod would be recognised as 90% of the battle, given the low esteem in which ABC is held throughout the Communion these days. And there is no “structure” of the Anglican Communion as such – membership in AC depends on who recognises it, so it will be determined by each province in the Communion, not by ABC or ACC.
As a libertarian I defend such denominations’ right to govern themselves and to their property.
As a Catholic I say good for them: no flying bishops and other tortured ecclesiology for those trying to live in but not of a Protestant sect.
‘Both those in favour of women’s ordination and those opposed will b treated equally’
‘Traditionalists will always have an honoured place’
Votes may not have been taken but the Revision Committee ‘s report leaves no hope. At best the Synod are exposed as the makers of hollow promises and at worst as cynical liars.
Doubtless the weasels will now adpot sympathetic faces and wring their hands assuring me that I will be cared for….despite knowing full well that it matters not one iota who visits me for confirmation services if the person who they represent holds sacramental validity which I doubt
I only hope I will recieve generous compensation as I am forced onto the street with my wife and children
‘Traditionalists will always have an honoured place’
Sure. That’s what they said in the U.S. Didn’t happen.
Wouldn’t the arrangements for traditionalists in the CoE be akin to what happened in TEC? The arrangements would merely be a way stop on the journey toward mandatory acceptance of women bishops.
Dcn Dale, as I read it, it would be mandatory acceptance, now, not a way stop. Those who object could get alternative bishop services provided through the authority of their diocesan bishop. Her authority would be recognized.
Fr. Tomlinson of CoE to the RCC: “…–please welcome us. We have not been loved for a very long time…”
Indeed.
If this is how the CoE cares for its own, imagine the message it sends to others.
🙄