Pat Ashworth reports in the Church Times today, Women face another delay as committee misses deadline.
THE draft legislation on women bishops will not be coming before the General Synod for debate next month as scheduled. Instead, the revision committee is expected still to be working on it after Easter. It will not now be debated till July…
This became public knowledge by the issue of the draft agenda, a little over a week ago.
Also, Jane Hedges writes about women in senior clergy posts, A little encouragement is all it will take.
This contains the results of a survey which showed that women clergy were less likely to respond to open competitive advertising than they were to respond to a personal approach. But what we don’t learn is whether this is the same or different for male clergy.
And there is a Church Times leader, Women bishops delay (scroll down).
THERE are two sorts of waiting. One is the wait while a family comes to a decision about whether it wants to journey to a particular place. Time can pass during consultations and preparation, but it is generally considered well spent in order to reach a proper agreement. The second sort of wait is when, having decided on its journey, the family stands on a snowy platform awaiting a scheduled train that the rail company has just taken out of service.
Churchpeople are entitled to feel irritated that the revision committee charged with taking forward the draft women-bishops legislation has missed its February deadline. The next stage of the process must therefore be delayed till the General Synod meets again in July. It is, though, important that the Synod comes up with the best possible legislation to introduce women to the episcopate without reservation while, at the same time, seeking not to unchurch those who object. This was the Synod’s express wish, and it cannot be any surprise that the revision committee has struggled to fulfil both sides of this task. Returning to the analogy above, there is no point in the train’s arriving in the station if the whole family is not on the platform. The committee now needs to be more open about its deliberations in order to curb the Synod’s impatience.
And certain archbishops and bishops in the Church of England think the Episcopal Church in the US doesn’t know how to run a church!
As the women and children in Haiti suffer.
Delay delay delay. What a crock. I wonder what that forthright and bright monarch, Eliz I would have said about this crapping around?
Oh for heaven’s sake Get Over Your Selves! Just do it, allow women to be bishops, and then send a large chunk of money, aid, people, to Haiti. Better yet – send with that aid women, who would have brought more useful gifts to Mary and the baby Jesus [casseroles, diapers, blankets].
And please send money to Episcopal Relief and Development for Haiti.
Will the Church of England please “come out” and be proud of being Protestant and stop pretending to be something it never was.
Too busy worrying about which maniple to wear Cynthia, there are priorities you know..
Maybe it’s time that The Episcopal Church sends a couple of bishops to England to investigate the situation of gay people and women within the Church of England. And then, issue a report. Wonder how Williams et al would react when the shoe is on the other foot, wot?
Kurt Hill
Brooklyn, NY
“Maybe it’s time that The Episcopal Church sends a couple of bishops to England to investigate the situation of gay people and women within the Church of England. And then, issue a report. Wonder how Williams et al would react when the shoe is on the other foot, wot? – Kurt Hill Let’s try a variation on this, Kurt. TEC could not send a delegation to England for this or any similar purpose without risking substantial damage to itself, in terms of brotherly/sisterly affection among (otherwise friendly) other provinces of the Anglican Communion. However, three or four RETIRED bishops of… Read more »
I think alternative pastoral support is needed in many places and by many people, lay and ordained, the UK.
I sometimes need that support and it is not always easy to find or access it.
What exactly is a “code of practice”? Is such a thing currently used to regulate things other than WO in the CofE? And why did opponents to WO take up the slogan “A code of practice will not do”?