The proposed women bishops’ legislation provides “adequate provision” for those unable to accept the ministry of women, the Bishop of Dover has said.
Speaking to members of the Canterbury Diocesan Synod who voted in favour of the suggested legislation on women bishops at the weekend, Bishop Trevor Willmott said that for a long time God had been calling women to share in ordained ministry.
However, traditionalists in the Church say that Bishop Willmott has been steadfast in refusing to even listen to their objections….
BAHAHAH! Trevor Wilmott! In the Diocese of Peterborough, before he finally managed to winkle his long-coveted mitre out of the Crown Nominations Commission, he was referred to by all and sundry as “Mr Slope”, a witty and most accurate description used in my very presence -and his- by the Lord Bishop of Peterborough, William Westwood, of blessed memory. If Trevor should give any assurances at all to anyone whatsoever I would be extremely wary of accepting such blandishments as having a resemblance to reality.
Good to see that traditionalists in the Church of England are refusing to be cowed by the attempts of liberal bishops to force this legislation through even down at diocesan level:
[blockquote] Preb David Houlding said that many at the Canterbury Synod had voiced their objections to the legislation. He said that a Code of Practice would never provide proper provision and that this legislation should be voted down in its current state, for the good of the Church. “We don’t just want provision for us, we want provision for the sake of the whole Church because it is our catholic identity which is being eroded,†he said. He went on to say: “Bishop Trevor hasn’t listened to us [those opposed to women bishops] from the word go, he has never listened to us. [/blockquote]
Houlding++ is a courageous man, being prepared to speak out against such opposition from his superiors. May God guard him.
This is only the diocese of Canterbury, but no doubt similar pressure will be brought to bear in all dioceses, as the Church moves towards the General Synod vote in 2012. Remember all faithful English Anglicans in our prayers during this difficult time.
Trevor hasn’t ever listened to anybody. He has always been a terribly ambitious careerist. His own exercise of power over others has always been his only known creed. Everybody who knows him knows that.
#3 Yes, moreover the Druid has shoehorned him into running the business committee of General Synod, even though he was rejected he continues in an ‘acting’ capacity. That is how the Druid and HOB managed to change the rules on divorce and the episcopacy so that Nick Holtam could be made a diocesan bishop. Expect more of the same from the Druid and Mr Slope at next Synod, if Synod will put up with it. A massive conflict of interest he has, but that is the Rowan way.
Expect shortly the same blessings in relation to civil partnerships at Salisbury Cathedral that have been going on for years [with a little legal parsing to pay lip service to the letter, if not the spirit of the law] at St Martin’s-in-the-Fields. There is hope for Colin yet.
[blockquote]Bishop Trevor Willmott said that for a long time God had been calling women to share in ordained ministry [/blockquote]
Note that Mr Slope is not only the mouthpiece of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the business committee of General Synod but also speaks for God.
Is it worth mentioning that Canterbury led the way for the first priest and congregation to reject the oversight of The Druid in favor of that of the Bishop of Rome? What does that tell us? That of course followed the rather ugly laughter and hoots which greeted Williams’ message to the Global South meeting in Singapore last year, and the unprecedented criticism of him contained in the latest GAFCON statement:
[blockquote]We were disappointed that those who organized the Primates meeting in Dublin not only failed to address these core concerns but decided instead to unilaterally reduce the status of the Primates’ Meeting. This action was taken with complete disregard for the resolutions of both Lambeth 1978 and 1998 that called for an enhanced role in “doctrinal, moral and pastoral mattersâ€. We believe that they were seriously misled and their actions unacceptable.[/blockquote]
Such a public rebuke to the ABC, the convener and ‘the organiser’ of the Dublin meeting is deeply shocking, not to say unprecedented issued as it is by the Primates of the majority of the Communion’s membership.
But nothing gets through the scheming thick skin of the Druid and his appointee and fixer, Mr Slope; nothing is allowed to disturb the determination that they are right of the Druid and his advisors who, as one journalist has put it, have bunkered down in Lambeth Palace and pulled up the drawbridge [which they would, if they had one].
Meanwhile the same shambles that The Druid has brought to the Communion is being brought by him and Mr Slope to the Church of England in the appointment of a straight gay campaigner and supporter of SSU’s as diocesan of Salisbury, and the division being brought to General Synod. Onwards and downwards we go, it seems.
What does the appointment of a man who has publicly in his words and actions rejected the teaching of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion say to the Communion and the world about what Anglicans and Christians believe and the future direction in which the Archbishop of Canterbury and some bishops are leading it? Why should people have regard to the ABC as an Instrument of Unity when he has no regard for the doctrine and teaching of the Anglican Communion, when he rejects it so publicly?
We are already seeing signs of setting up of a GAFCON office in London. The Druid’s actions seem determined to bring us to the same position TEC is in – division and decline?
What a contrast as well with the last Bishop of Dover who was in tears at Synod when provision for traditionalists over women bishops was rejected time and time again by Rowan’s Affirming Catholics and liberals cobbled together with some ‘open evangelicals’. In his place has come Mr Slope who high-handedly it is reported:
“He said he believed the Church had ‘the right’ to make the decision for women to become priests and bishops and that the draft measure and amending canon provided adequate provision.”
What a contrast. The stoats and weazels have been invited in and appointed bishops by The Druid. Is Mr Slope Welsh? Is that his qualification?
Isn’t it extraordinary that for someone who extols “listening” to everyone else, Rowan Williams never really “listens”.
And neither does Slope. Why torture one’s self over a matter which can never be resolved to one’s satisfaction?
#9
[blockquote]Why torture one’s self over a matter which can never be resolved to one’s satisfaction?[/blockquote]
A fair question, A Senior Priest. It is like watching family members driving towards a cliff. One has watched other lemmings in the US and Canada doing the same thing, and I think one has a duty to call out when one sees English bishops doing exactly the same thing. For myself, I know that anything I can do may indeed just appear to be torturing myself, but that is not the whole of the picture. Down the road from me there are several new churches who are bringing in the youngsters. They are noisy, and they produce a pre-digested form of Gospel by numbers. Sometimes these youngsters come along to us as they are attracted by the deeper study and teaching they appear to find in the Church of England. I actually think the Church of England has a lot going for it, but at the top we have a bunch of lemming-bishops, drawing on Inclusive Church for new bishops, changing the church rules to enable it to happen, dealing haplessly with women bishops, and the fact that they have created both the Ordinariate and now it appears a Gafcon presence out of the division they are wreaking. I think all one can do is to keep speaking out and reminding people what is going on as our bishops drive us over the cliff.
Of course personally I have no hope that I can influence anything, but I am far from depressed. We have a gracious and loving God whose Church and battle this is, and He will provide and resource His people, if we continue to be faithful and to pray, and to call to account the feckless and the manipulative who have lost confidence in the Gospel. It is worth remembering Elijah’s tortured call in 1 Kings 19:3-9 and God’s soothing and restoring answer. Be comforted, all one can do is in the words of the hymn to continue with giants to fight:
[blockquote]He who would valiant be ’gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.
Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound – his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.[/blockquote]
So no, the answer is I will not shut up, or give up, or compromise as Slope and the Druid set the car towards the cliff and press their foot down on the accelarator, picking up Holtam, Cottrell and Conway on the way. I am going to continue to kick up a stink!
Pageantmaster, I follow events in the Church of England and appreciate your analysis. ISTM that they also choose ‘Fulcrum’ Open Evangelicals to be bishops, as they will end up – eventually – where “Inclusive Church” is. I note that “Inclusive Church” is led by a cleric who doesn’t sem to believe in life after death. Whereabouts in England do you work?