Campaigners who want to see a fresh Measure to admit women to the episcopate at the General Synod next July may be disappointed, two bishops have suggested….
On Tuesday… the Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Trevor Willmott, suggested that the House “ought to be able to share with people a process” at the Synod in July. “That will lead in due course to fresh legislative proposals.”
Also this week, the Bishop of Chester, Dr Peter Forster, called for a “concentrated period of reflection”. There were “good reasons” why the legislative group and Synod had not pursued a single-clause Measure or “stronger safeguards”, and “the greatest problem would be if we started the process quickly and ended up with another mess.”
[blockquote] “It may be that the legislation is simpler. But that is not necessarily to say it is a single clause, as if that in itself can answer the twin desires of the Church as we have articulated them. The Measure must allow for women to be bishops, but it must also enable those for whom that is a difficulty to flourish.” [/blockquote]
Hmmm, the extremist liberals like WATCH won’t be happy with that. They aren’t interested in any sort of compromise with those who cannot in good conscience accept the ministry of women bishops.
Oh wait… they aren’t:
[blockquote] “Bishop Willmott’s view was not shared by the campaigning group WATCH, however. On Monday, it urged the House of Bishops to bring a single-clause Measure to the Synod in July, and end a “wasteful” internal debate within the Church which “has been so weighted to accommodating small minorities that we have lost sight of the legislation’s main objective – to make women bishops.” [/blockquote]