Responding to today’s announcement, the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill, Bishop of Lichfield, said: “I am very sorry to hear that Bishop Andrew Burnham is leaving us. As our local ”˜flying bishop’ we have worked together well and he has always been frank and courteous. We have agreed on most things and I have received much from him. He has had a huge territory to cover from the South West of England to the North West midlands and has looked after his churches well. I wish him well as he transfers to the Roman Catholic Church. We have increasingly good relationships with Catholics here so our loss will be their gain.”
In words designed to reassure those traditionalist congregations who had petitioned for alternative episcopal oversight, he added: “The Archbishop of Canterbury is moving immediately to appoint fresh ”˜flying bishops’ and there will be no gap in pastoral care for those churches in our Diocese who have looked to the Bishop of Ebbsfleet. I am going to arrange a meeting in January for all who are anxious about the possibility of women bishops and wish to ask my colleagues and me about the future.
Disingenuous. The ABC will appoint fresh flying bishops until the day when women start being appointed to the office of bishop, and pastoral provision for the orthodox is discontinued.
People tend to forget, these Anglo-Catholic parishes did not have a burning desire to leave the CoE. They are being pushed out by the majority of General Synod who refuse to provide them space to continue in their orthodox beliefs.
In the end, the major issue is not so much Women Bishops as it is a repudiation of what was supposed to be a “forever” respecting of the beliefs of the A/C congregations whose only offense is to hold to the “deposit of faith” as they received it and as it existed for 1900 years.
I welcome this cordial, warm farewell by +Jonathan Gledhill. This is a far better public statement than the minimalist, bare-facts-only announcment released by ++RW.
But I don’t think it will really do much to reassure traditionalist Anglo-Catholics that they are truly wanted and valued in today’s CoE. All the evidence unfortunately points in the other direction.
David Handy+