Anglo-Catholics on the brink, again
By Andrew Brown, Guardian
Opponents of women priests must finally make up their minds which church they belong to. Neither much wants them
The majority of the Church of England has lost patience with the opponents of women priests. Such priests may stay in the church after it has women bishops, but they will be unable to pretend that they don't exist. The opponents must apply to women bishops, or their supporters, for permission to have services taken by bishops more to their own taste. They had wanted a legal guarantee, sent through parliament, that they were entitled to this. But a speech leaked to the Times (gnashing of teeth gnoise here), makes it clear they have lost.
Rowan Williams was prepared to give them a legal guarantee, but the synod voted him down last summer. Then he tried to get it in by the back door, in the synod's revision committee. That might have succeeded had it not been for Pope Benedict XVI. The revision committee did announce in the autumn it would agree to legal safeguards. Then the pope made his announcement that the opponents of women might be able to convert as a body, and keep their own bishops. "We have got everything we wanted" said one of their leaders; and though no one actually said so in as many words, the message from the rest of the church was "Well, go and collect it, then."
The revision committee then found that while it had agreed in principle to legal safeguards, there was no possible particular safeguard which all parties would accept. So, back to the voluntary code of practice. This means Anglo-Catholic opponents have had their bluff called. They can be proper Anglicans, with consideration for their views, but without any special legal status, or they can be Roman Catholics with a special legal status if they will admit they were never priests at all. But in neither church are they really welcome on their own terms.
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