Anglican Mainstream

The Church of England has published, today, new legislative proposals to enable women to become bishops which will be debated by the General Synod in July.

This will be the first occasion that Synod members have met since November 2012, when the previous legislation narrowly failed to secure the requisite majority in all three Houses, despite a 73% majority overall.

The proposals from the House of Bishops accompany the publication of a report of a Working Group which it had established in December. The Working Group's report sets out four possible options for the shape of the new legislation. Of these the House of Bishops has recommended "the simplest possible legislation" (option one) which reads:

"A measure and amending canon that made it lawful for women to become bishops; and

"The repeal of the statutory rights to pass Resolutions A and B under the 1993 Measure, plus the rescinding of the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod."

In addition, option one involves arrangements for those who, as a matter of theological conviction, are unable to receive the ministry of women bishops or priests being set out either in a declaration from the House of Bishops or in a new Act of Synod.

The short report from the Archbishops on behalf of the House sets out the text of a motion which invites the Synod to reaffirm its commitment to admitting women to the episcopate as a matter of urgency, require the legislative process to begin in November so that it can be concluded in 2015 and specify that the legislation should be in the simplest possible form.

Read here

by John Bingham, Telegraph

Hopes of a “fast-track” solution to the Church of England’s women bishops crisis have been dealt a blow after it emerged there will be no final decision for at least two years.

The Church was left in disarray in November last year after the General Synod threw out plans to admit women to the episcopacy despite overwhelming support among members.

Amid calls for Parliament to intervene, the church leadership set about an urgent drive to come up with a new measure and speed it through its legal hurdles in time to be presented to the next meeting of the Synod in July.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, made the drive one of his top priorities after taking office in February.

But, following a two-day meeting behind closed doors, the current bishops announced that the new legislation would not be ready in time for the July meeting of Synod.

Instead the Synod will be presented with four basic options – details of which have not yet been published – and asked to discuss them under the supervision of mediators before choosing one.

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By Damian Thompson, Telegraph

The introduction of the institution of female bishops will lead to the elimination of even a theoretical possibility of the Moscow patriarchate recognising the church hierarchy of the Anglican church, the communications service of the Department of External Church Relations reported on Saturday.

By Ed Thornton, Church Times

By John Bingham, Telegraph

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, says he is convinced his role will eventually be held by a woman.

He said it would "certainly" happen one day despite the Church of England General Synod's rejection of plans to admit women to the episcopate in November last year.

He voiced confidence that a new measure to be fast-tracked onto the agenda when the Synod meets in July would eventually succeed.

He was speaking as he prepared to be enthroned as Archbishop in a ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral, confirming him as leader of the Church of England and the nominal head of the 77 million-strong worldwide Anglican Church.

In a sign of the changing face of the Church in the 20 years since the first female priests were ordained, he will be enthroned by a woman – The Venerable Sheila Watson, Archdeacon of Canterbury.

Speaking to Channel 5 News, the Archbishop said a woman would undoubtedly sit on the throne of St Augustine one day.

Read here 

Interview with Archbishop of Canterbury on BBC Radio 4 "Sunday Programme" on Women Bishops, Gay Marriage

Listen here  (around 25.00 in)

Interview in Sunday Times Magazine Section with Dominic Lawson:

"My understanding of sexual ethics has been that, regardless of whether it's gay or straight, sex outside marriage is wrong."….Welby is adamant that the government were wrong to legislate to enable gay couples to be married. "They haven't even achieved their objective. It's a bad piece of legislation. It hasn't resulted in equal marriage, in the sense we understand marriage. They have created a new institution that they label as marriage, and then say that it's equal, only it's not…This is a radical change to one of the most fundamental building blocks of society, and that is hugely important. A law that changes marriage from being about covenant to being contract is a weakening of the glue that holds society together."

By Julian Mann

Conservative evangelicals in the Church of England are now faced with the prospect of losing 'strategic' (i.e. socially influential) ministry platforms.

We have to face the fact now that we are an embarrassment in any Anglican clergy chapter. Why? Because the growing proportion of female clergy find us offensive. Any bishop appointing a conservative evangelical faces the wrath of his local women's ministry support network.

So in the coming years, under the almost inevitable single clause women bishops' measure and more or less covertly even without that, conservative evangelical opponents of the unbiblical innovation of women presbyters and now bishops are not going to be appointed to incumbencies.

There are some glowing exceptions. Carlisle is conservative evangelical friendly. But how many conservative evangelicals want to go and minister in Carlisle? How 'strategic' in conservative evangelical eyes is Cumbria compared to London and the south-east?

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By Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Guardian

In appointing a female chaplain, the new archbishop of Canterbury makes clear that a priest's gender is not an issue

I long for the day when we don't note that an important appointment is given to a woman. But we're not there yet, so the news that the archbishop of Canterbury's new chaplain is to be the Rev Dr Jo Bailey Wells is very good news indeed.

Bailey Wells has an impressive CV for the role, and it is not hard to see why she has been appointed, regardless of her sex. Her interest in conflict and reconciliation clearly overlaps with Justin Welby's own interests. Indeed, they were both speaking this week at a conference on Faith in Conflict. Moreover, she has detailed and recent experience of the church in America and Africa, as well as in England, which will be a significant asset in this role.

So she would probably have been appointed even if she were a man. But it is certainly also possible to read this appointment as a statement of intent. Welby has been very vocal in his support for women's ministry. He spoke strongly in favour of having women as bishops last November, when the legislation to allow that was so narrowly defeated. But actions are more revealing than statements. In this appointment, the new archbishop has put his soul where his mouth is, and shown – not just said – that he trusts women as priests.

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From Together 4ward

• On the 8th February, William Fittall summarised some initial thoughts about that meeting, and invited contributions from Synod members and others to input into the next phase of developing legislation. His note is available here.
• In light of this, Church Society and the Together4ward team undertook a listening exercise to gather opinions and suggestions from the Conservative Evangelical community. There was a great response to the EV News item particularly from Church Society members, who got in touch through emails, phone calls, face to face, etc. The EV News item is available here.
• We are very excited to have engendered such a positive discussion, and very excited by some of the very creative thinking that has been taking place. Church Society and Together4ward have collated much of this feedback, and today emailed it through to the working group as requested. We are very grateful to the working group for seeking to hear opinions, and for their desire to undertake the discussion in a transparent manner. As such, we are making our contribution available online.

By David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK

• to produce a shorter, simpler measure than the one that was defeated; and
• to provide, through the totality of the elements in the package, a greater sense of security for the minority as having an accepted and valued place in the Church of England while not involving the majority in any new element of compromise on matters of principle,

• to introduce consistent, durable and enforceable measures through which women may be admitted to the episcopate, [Objective 1]; and
• within these measures to address the concerns of those with theological difficulties over the ministry of women as priests and bishops, and provide adequate certainty on how this will be achieved, [Objective 2].

By David Pocklington, Law and Religion UK

[...]  Annex B provides a general description of the various forms of “black letter law” and “soft law” that might be included in a package of measures to address these objectives, the former comprising: Measures; Canons; and Secondary Legislation, (Rules/Regulations/Orders); and the latter: Codes of Practice; and Acts of Synod.

A consultation document setting out a new way forward in enabling women to become bishops in the Church of England has today been sent to all General Synod members.

The document draws on the facilitated conversations arranged by the Working Group on women bishops legislation held earlier this week and the meeting of the House of Bishops on February 7.

The consultation document can be read here.

Notes

Statement following the meeting of the House of Bishops PR28.13

Read here

By John Bingham, Telegraph

A cleric who held secret talks with the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland has been leading behind-the-scenes efforts to help the Church of England resolve its differences over women bishops, it has been confirmed.

Documents released on Friday confirmed that Canon David Porter has been leading a team of “facilitators” to help find a solution to the crisis in the Church.

Canon Porter, originally from Belfast, is the director of the International Centre for Reconciliation at Coventry Cathedral, a post once held by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

During his previous ministry in Northern Ireland he and a small group of church leaders worked for years behind the scenes preparing the way for the peace process.

Uniquely, he held talks with both the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries.

At the time the British Government was publicly denying that it was speaking to terrorists.

The Church of England confirmed for the first time that the Canon and his team had been leading mediation sessions between different interest groups last week as part of a process to attempt to find a solution to the crisis over women bishops.

The General Synod rejected a plan to allow women to become bishops in November, despite overwhelming support in the Church as a whole.

At the talks, the facilitators used conflict resolution techniques usually applied in war-zones, encouraging the participants to share their “anger and grief” at the result of the vote and even how it had caused “damage to the soul”.

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General Synod GS MISC 1042
Women in the episcopate: a new way forward
Developments since November

1. On 20 November the General Synod declined to give Final Approval to the legislation that would have allowed women to become bishops.
2. At its meeting a week later the Archbishops’ Council concluded that “a process to admit women to the episcopate needed to be restarted at the next meeting of the General Synod in July 2013. There was agreement that the Church of England had to resolve this matter through its own processes as a matter of urgency.”
3. On 11 December the House of Bishops endorsed the Council’s assessment and committed itself to bringing fresh proposals before the Synod in July. It established a Working Group drawn from all three Houses of Synod to help it in this task. The ten members of the Group (four bishops, three clergy, and three lay) were announced on 19 December.
4. The Group held its first meeting on 3 January and following a second meeting on 30 January, held intensive facilitated discussions, with 15 others drawn from a wide range of positions, on 5 and 6 February. The list of those who attended is attached at Annex A. The working group then gave a progress report to the House of Bishops at a specially convened meeting yesterday.
5. The House of Bishops meets again on 20/21 May and will have to take decisions then on what legislative proposals to bring to the Synod in July. This is a demanding timetable, but, in the view of the House, unavoidable given the situation in which the Church of England finds itself.

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From BBC News

The bishops who lead the Church of England are to include female clergy in their meetings for the first time.

At least eight senior women clergy, such as deans and archdeacons, will participate as non-voting members of the House of Bishops.

The move is in response to the defeat of attempts to create women bishops.

Proposed legislation failed to win the backing of the Church's ruling general synod in November. The Church will reconsider the issue in the summer.

Supporters of the change partly blamed the defeat on a failure by the House of Bishops to consult women clergy about the best way to draft the legislation to include exemptions for traditionalists who do not want to serve under women bishops.

The proposed legislation needed to gain two-thirds majority support in each of the synod's three houses – bishops, clergy and laity – but fell short by six votes in the House of Laity.

In the latest move, at least eight senior women clergy will participate as non-voting members of the House of Bishops until such time as at least six women bishops have been appointed and joined the group by right.

Read here

Read also:  Church of England to give women clerics ‘observer’ status in House of Bishops by John Bingham, Telegraph

Women dignitaries to be elected as Bishops’ ‘participant observers’ by Madeleine Davies, Church Times

The House of Bishops of the Church of England has today expressed its encouragement and support for new robust processes and steps in bringing forward to General Synod the necessary legislation to consecrate women to the episcopate.

At a special meeting at Lambeth Palace today, the House reviewed the progress to develop proposals to enable women to become bishops at the earliest possible date. The meeting also considered changes to future meetings so as to ensure that eight senior women clergy will be participants in all meetings of the House and its standing committee.

The House was briefed on the two meetings held in January by the working group under the chairmanship of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. All 10 of the members of the working group attended the House of Bishops meeting. The House also received an account of the intensive, facilitated conversations held by the group with 15 others from a wide range of viewpoints on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

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By Hannah Phillips, New Directions

Many years ago when a vote was passed to ordain female priests, I was a teenager. The news had little impact in my convent school, except for Father wandering around muttering under his breath as to how this would change the nature of the Church. Now, I understand what that poor priest (in a school full of girls) was muttering under his breath. The nature of the Church changed on that day and continues to be manipulated by a secular philosophy.

Different and complementary

No longer is being a ‘woman’ or ‘mother’ seen as being something to desire. In fact most of the time it is portrayed as someone failing to reach their full potential. This is not the image that God desired when he sent an Angel to an innocent girl and gave her the gift of carrying the Messiah. Echoed in that acclamation from Elizabeth, ‘Hail Mary, full of Grace’, is the message that this was a great and wonderful vocation from God. Mary both chose to accept this immense gift, but also bore with strength the sacrifices that came with it.

The Holy Mother has embodied the feminine characteristics that help to make the Gospels the powerful scriptures they are. The gift of the Messiah, born of a woman, was a boy. The maleness of Christ is essential to the narratives in the Bible. The significance of the two genders being different and complementary is written throughout the Bible, first of all as the People of Israel (God’s chosen people) being portrayed as a loved wife. The imagery is then carried on as the Church itself being the Bride of Christ and is therefore evident in the writing of our Liturgy.

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From Ancient Briton

The chair of St Augustine of Canterbury is soon to be occupied by the Rt Rev Justin Welby following the confirmation of his election in St Paul's Cathedral on Monday, 4th February. I say occupied because the retired 104th Archbishop demonstrated in his valedictory 'Goodbye to Canterbury' TV programme, that the chair is too big to be filled by one man, or woman as he implied in a typical gender neutral comment, perhaps alluding to an earlier comment that the job was too big for one man.

[...]  The new Archbishop has a difficult job on his hands. The stumbling block of 'second class' women bishops cannot be overcome by going over the same ground which has been deemed totally unacceptable to the women's movement. Much to the chagrin of some in the women's lobby the recognition by the C of E of Free Church of England orders presents the opportunity to be more outward looking. As the Right Revd Christopher Hill, Chair of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity, said: 'I hope there will be good relations between us and especially in those places where there is a Free Church of England congregation.' Charity begins at home!

By Madeleine Davies, Church Times

THE next stages in the path towards fresh women-bishops legislation have been outlined to members of General Synod.

"Intensive" facilitated discussions are to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday next week by the working group on wome bishops. The group has invited an additional 15 people to participate. Their names will not be released until the conclusion of the discussions.

The news came in a statement sent to all Synod members today by the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, the Rt Revd Nigel Stock (above), who chairs of the working group. He writes that the decision to invite the additional 15 was made at the group's first meeting on 3 January. The group had "sought nominations for some of these places from interested groups, and issued some invitations to named individuals." The group had met again yesterday.

Read here

By Ruth Gledhill, CEN

I can’t help but feel sorry for the Church at the moment. It has got itself into such a pickle over women bishops and gay marriage. It is right at the crossing point of these key cultural issues, with views that go unchallenged in other faith communities but that arouse secular passions by virtue of its particular position as the established Church.

I grow more and more certain that the vote on women bishops was the right one, because of the flawed measure to consecrate them. It is increasingly apparent that, given the damage done to the Church’s mission and the wide hurt and distress caused, it should never have been put to the vote in this form. In the months leading up, it is possible to discern in retrospect a desperate and rather undignified struggle to get anything on the table. The difficulty of doing this should have caused pause, rather than haste, yet overall it did appear as though it had all taken far too much time already.

Lent is a good time, with a new Archbishop coming in, to reflect on all this. We’ve all suffered a bruising, and nowhere were the consequences more apparent than in the recent special meeting of the House of Laity.

In the name of charity, perhaps we can hope in faith for a better 12 months in the light of what we have all learned.