Monday, July 7, 2008

The C of E Approves Women Bishops

Church of England Votes to Ordain Women Bishops from the timesonline

Of note, the Synod passed the resolution, with only a minimal concession to the conservatives plea for acceptable oversight. The idea of "superbishops" (akin to the "flying bishops")was rejected outright, much to the sadness of ++Rowan Williams, and Bishop of York, John Sentamu, who were supporters.

Gledhill reported that deliberations went on for six hours, with some conservatives feeling very cut off by the church by the end of the proceedings, proclaiming they were "ashamed of the church", and "cut off from every opportunity to 'flourish' within the church.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who urged generous provision for opponents, sat with his head in his hands as a proposal for “super bishops” for objectors to women bishops was defeated. The super bishops would have been an upgraded version of the “flying bishops” appointed to care for opponents of women priests.

The synod rejected the plan even though it had the backing of the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Under the new proposals to consecrate women, flying bishops will also disappear and parishes will no longer be able to opt into their care instead of that of their diocesan bishop.

Dr Williams told synod members he would be unhappy to see a “systematic marginalisation” of Anglo-Catholics, whom he described as a “necessary abrasion”.

The Bishop of Winchester, the Right Rev Michael Scott-Joynt, afterwards condemned the synod’s move as “profoundly short-sighted” and “mean spirited.”


Over all, the votes to allow the ordination of women bishops were quite strong among bishops, priests and laity. Under the time frame proposed by Gledhill, it will likely be 2015 before the church sees the first women bishops ordained.

The world will likely undo now...Oh wait, wasn't that supposed to have happened when the apostate liberal churches allowed women's ordination in the first place?

ETA: James has a wonderful commentary on this up over at his place here. Do go check it out!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

No, no, it was gay bishops that were going to lead to the collapse of the planet.

Oh wait...

IT

Dave said...

I approve of women bishops too!

Dennis said...

2015. 2015.

Will the CofE still be relevant by then?

The really interesting thing for me was that Rowan didn't get the special protections for the rightwingers that he wanted.

that bodes really well for Lambeth.

Doorman-Priest said...

So lets bring on the Lesbian Bishops to hasten the end of Anglicanism and then you can all turn to Wittenberg where you will be welcomed with open arms unless you have the GAFFEPRONE snake-handling Southern Baptist tendency, in which case you can turn to.....?

Where is the centre of the Southern Cone?

You can turn to Sidney?

Hmmm, we might hear more of that idea as time passes.

David said...

DP,

You're Lutheran, right ? Unfortunately, there's a sizable contingent of Lutherans in the U.S. (the LCMS) who are as nastily "conservative" as any GAFCONite...

Caminante said...

I wrote two postings on the debate but frankly, I am not in a place of charity right now for those who are against the consecration of bishops who are women. Patriarchy is having such a hard time letting go.

Being Peace said...

Oh bless you, bless you, bless you! You're all my best friends for the day far starting this blog!!!

Anonymous said...

How long before this is used by GAFCON as further "proof" that Canterbury and the CoE in general is just as "tainted" as TEC?

Or should I ask how long it took?

-- Jarred.

James said...

Given that all bishops are appointed by the prime minister and approved by the Crown, it may be a year or two before thre is a woman bishop in England. However, I think it will happen much sooner than 2015. I bet there will be on in about two years at the most.

Being Peace said...

"Given that all bishops are appointed by the prime minister and approved by the Crown,"

I thought that had changed. It is a wonder to me anything gets done. Was there talk of changing the process or did I dream that?

James said...

From the BBC News as of this year.

Here's a brief guide to how the person is chosen:

* The retiring Archbishop of Canterbury tells the Queen they want to retire.

* The Queen accepts the resignation.

* The Crown Appointments Commission begins to oversee the selection of a new Archbishop of Canterbury.

* The Commission chooses two names and sends them to the Prime Minister for approval.

* If the Prime Minister likes the choices, one name is sent to the Queen.

* The Queen has the final say.

episcopalifem said...

Where do we think Gledhill came up with the 2015 date?

I have no clue..it was just cited as a time line in her article.

Ann said...

They still have to sort out the "guidelines" -- that will be next year. The proper woman has to be chosen (a Jackie Robinson of English priests). A friendly diocese has to have an opening. If I see an CoE bishop who is female in my lifetime I will be amazed.

James said...

Well, Ann, I said the same thing about the possibility of a black man being elected president of the United States. :)

Dennis said...

2015 is about right. 7 years.

2 or 3 years until the final approval of the rules is given (this was just a preliminary vote giving permission for the rules to be written, remember that). Then there will be a year to two years of consultation before the final setting of the rules. We are at four or five years so far. Then another year before it goes into place after approval and then 9 months to a year before a search has been made and the choice confirmed.

And yes, the rules were recently changed and the CofE has much more say over the appointments and the politicians much less. This happened since Gordon Brown came in to 10 Downing.

Unfortunately if the CofE picks its own bishops then the evangelicals and the high church crowd will divide things up and you will see very few liberal bishops I'm afraid. The laity have little say in the process unlike in TEC.

Anonymous said...

We must always bear in mind that women too are created in the image of the Creator.

I see so much fear in the male hierarchy here. I do not believe that fear is of the image of God.

Doorman-Priest said...

David: I was thinking more of the LCiGB. We are nice people.