Thinking Anglicans

Women Bishops legislation

The General Synod revision committee on the legislation to enable women to be bishops has completed its work and their report is published today, together with a draft measure and canon. The report will be debated at the July meeting of General Synod.

Here is the official press release.

Stage set for key July debates on legislation to enable women to be bishops
8 May 2010

The Church of England has today published the 142-page report of the Revision Committee that has been considering in detail the draft legislation to enable women to become bishops in the Church of England. Also published is an amended version of the draft, eleven clause Measure and associated draft Amending Canon.

The Committee has met on 16 occasions over the past 12 months and considered 114 submissions from members of the General Synod and a further 183 submissions from others. After much discussion the Committee rejected proposals aimed at fundamentally changing the approach of the legislation, whether by converting it into the simplest possible draft Measure or by creating more developed arrangements – whether through additional dioceses, a statutorily recognised society or some transfer of jurisdiction – for those unable to receive the ministry of female bishops.

As indicated to the General Synod in February 2010 (scroll to p6), the draft legislation continues to provide special arrangements for those with conscientious difficulties by way of delegation from the diocesan bishop under a statutory Code of Practice. The legislation has been amended in a number of detailed respects. Provision for statutory declarations by bishops unable to take part in the consecration of women as bishops or their ordination as priests has been removed as has an obligation on the Archbishops to nominate particular suffragan sees to be occupied by those who do not consecrate or ordain women.

Added to the Measure are new provisions requiring each diocesan bishop to draw up a scheme in his or her diocese that takes account of the national Code of Practice and provides local arrangements for the performance of certain episcopal functions in relation to parishes with conscientious difficulties. A further new provision allows such parishes to request, when there is a vacancy, that only a male incumbent or priest-in-charge be appointed.

It is expected that much of the July group of sessions of the General Synod in York (9-13 July) will be devoted to debating the Revision Committee’s report and conducting the Revision Stage of the legislation. This is the moment (equivalent to a parliamentary Report Stage) when all 470 members of the Synod have the opportunity to consider the draft legislation clause by clause and to vote on proposed amendments. Proposals rejected by the Revision Committee can be debated afresh at the Revision Stage.

Once the Revision Stage has been completed – and provided the Synod does not decide that further work is necessary in Revision Committee – the draft legislation will have to be referred to diocesan synods and cannot come back to the General Synod for final approval unless a majority of diocesan synods approve it.

The earliest that the legislation could achieve final approval in Synod (when two-thirds majorities in each of the Houses of Bishops, Clergy and Laity will be required) is 2012, following which parliamentary approval and the Royal Assent would be needed. 2014 remains the earliest realistic date when the first women might be consecrated as bishops.

There are some notes attached to the press release, and these are copied below the fold.

Notes

The motion carried by the General Synod in July 2008 was:

‘That this Synod:

(a) affirm that the wish of its majority is for women to be admitted to the episcopate;

(b) affirm its view that special arrangements be available, within the existing structures of the Church of England, for those who as a matter of theological conviction will not be able to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests;

© affirm that these should be contained in a statutory national code of practice to which all concerned would be required to have regard; and

(d) instruct the legislative drafting group, in consultation with the House of Bishops, to complete its work accordingly, including preparing the first draft of a code of practice, so that the Business Committee can include first consideration of the draft legislation in the agenda for the February 2009 group of sessions.’

The Legislative Drafting Group on Women in the Episcopate, chaired by the Rt Rev Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester, published in December 2008 its further report and drafts of a Measure and associated Amending Canon, together with an illustrative draft Code of Practice and an Explanatory Memorandum.

At its February 2009 group of sessions, the General Synod agreed that the draft legislation should be passed to a Revision Committee for detailed scrutiny. The Revision Committee comprised (ex officio) the members of the Steering Committee appointed from the Synod by the Appointments Committee of the Church of England in November 2008 to be in charge of the draft legislation throughout its Synodical stages, together with additional members newly appointed to constitute the majority of the membership of the Revision Committee and was chaired by the Venerable Clive Mansell, Archdeacon of Tonbridge.

The Revision Committee issued press releases on its discussions in October 2009 and in November 2009.

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Pete Broadbent
Pete Broadbent
13 years ago

I hope people will take the trouble to read it – it does give an extensive commentary on how we got to where we are, and it sets out the arguments in relation to the legislation in great detail. For those who are opposed, conservative evangelical and traditionalist catholic, the rubicon is crossed at paragraph 148. The compromise solution, with a fully worked and coherent code of practice, is set out in great detail. It is, of course, only coherent for those who accept a code of practice. It will not satisfy traditionalists, nor will it satisfy those who believe… Read more »

David Malloch
David Malloch
13 years ago

Pete,

Is there really any chance that this is going to be ammended to give provision acceptable to catholics? Or do we need to start packing our bags, as many on this site would advocate???

Pat O'Neill
Pat O'Neill
13 years ago

This transatlantic correspondent simply doesn’t understand why, so many years after the CoE first ordained a woman, this is still an issue. Good heavens, can’t these “traditionalists” get over themselves? How long must something be done before it stops being an “innovation” and becomes “how we’ve always done things”?

Bill Carroll
13 years ago

It’s amazing to me that to satisfy the concerns of “traditionalists,” the Church of England seems willing to make serious departures from Catholic order and subvert the monarchical episcopate. To hell with ecumenical councils, we’ll just do whatever it takes to appease the traditionalists. Women bishops are a natural evolution within Christian doctrine, once one removes certain heretical presuppositions from one’s theological anthropology and takes baptism seriously. By contrast, these pastoral provisions for alternative oversight without the consent of the diocesan bishop show a real lack of understanding of the apostolic succession. The Episcopal Church’s model of Delegated Episcopal Pastoral… Read more »

Giles Pinnock
13 years ago

Pat – the ordination of women will never, simply as a matter of historical fact, be how Anglicans have always done things, unless what you mean is that open disrespect for Christian Tradition is how Anglicans have always done things, with which I might agree.

David Malloch
David Malloch
13 years ago

Bill,

Where exactly, in this revised legislation, do you find any suggestion whatsoever that the CofE is doing anything at all to satisfy traditionalists? Or have you responded to a report you haven’t actually read??

Pat O'Neill
Pat O'Neill
13 years ago

Giles:

What I meant is that, in human terms, we eventually reach a point where a new thing ceases to be new, where it becomes “what we have always done” because the people who remember doing something different are with us no longer, or it becomes “what we have always done” because the thought that we once did something different seems so inherently silly.

Bill Carroll
13 years ago

David,

I’ve read it pretty closely. My objection is that the draft measure requires the (female) diocesan to have a male bishop to provide certain sacraments. This might be pastorally desirable, but it should be at the sole discretion of the diocesan. Anything less undermines the monarchical episcopate.

JCF
JCF
13 years ago

“Women bishops are a natural evolution within Christian doctrine, once one removes certain heretical presuppositions from one’s theological anthropology and takes baptism seriously.”

Hear, hear, BillC. Or instead of “natural evolution”, one could call it a “development of doctrine” (as I believe a Certain Soon-to-Be-Blessed Someone w/ impeccable RC cred once put it ;-/).

Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“Is there really any chance that this is going to be ammended to give provision acceptable to catholics? Or do we need to start packing our bags, as many on this site would advocate???” Posted by: David Malloch on Saturday David, I think you need to understand that not all ‘catholics’ within the Anglican Communion think as you do about the inclusion of women among the people God calls to ministry in our Communion. I, for one, am perfectly accepting of women as Deacons, Priests and Bishops – if God is calling them into Holy Orders within the Church. For… Read more »

Alba Thorning
Alba Thorning
13 years ago

Women ‘priests’ and women ‘bishops’ render Christian Unity impossible.In fact such measures destroy the tenents of Christianity.Our triune God consists of Father Son and Holy Spirit.The Church is the Bride of Christ and the priest stands at the altar in persona Christi. A woman standing at the altar is a pagan priestess with no Apostolic authority since St.Paul clearly insisted on a male priesthood in full proclamation of Jesus Christ’s mandate to His male Apostles. The ‘ordination’ of women is not only against scripture it is a threat to the English throne since no Christian monarch could in truth partake… Read more »

Pat O'Neill
Pat O'Neill
13 years ago

Alba:

So, it’s OK that the “supreme head of the Church” be female, but not that the bishops and priests who serve under her should be? I’m sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense at all.

Yes, the priest stands in persona Christi. But as Paul also insisted, “in Christ there is no male or female….” And if the Church can be the bride of Christ, why cannot it also not be the groom of Christ? It’s all a metaphor, anyway.

Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“England is the dowry of Mary” – Alba Thorning – Dear Alba (presumably the feminine of Albion?), Your defence of patriarchy in the Church is rather dated, if not a denial of the priestly act of Mary in ‘bringing forth’ The Christ – remembering that the primary task of a priest is to ‘bring forth’ the presence of Christ at the altar. How many times must traditionalists – who deny the equal place of women with men as ‘children of God’ – be reminded of Our blessed Lord’s special attention towards the needs and well-being of women in his earthly… Read more »

Chris Smith
Chris Smith
13 years ago

Well said Father Ron! Misogyny runs deep in all branches of Catholicism, be it the Latin Rite or the many other “branches” of Catholicism as well as Greek and Russian Orthodox, Baptist Protestantism and Anglicanism. About two thousand years of it for Catholics. Reasonable people are finally standing up and saying “enough of this hatred”. It is also a justice issue that women share in all leadership roles in the Church, be it deacon, priest or bishop. The theology for ordaining women is sound and healthy on all levels. Those who argue that the Church does not have the authority… Read more »

Alba Thorning
Alba Thorning
13 years ago

Dear Father Ron, I give thanks to God for my dated theology since it has stood the test of time, and the Church will never ordain women.God gave Mary the highest place when she agreed to give birth to Christ that He might share in our humanity that we might share in His divinty.The Church has many female saints some spiritual mothers and those whose maternity has procured their sainthood. Women who wish to ape men have lost their sense of awe and pride in their maternal value as exemplified by The Virgin Mary, our ideal model. The Mass which… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“The Mass which traditional Anglicans value as much as Roman Catholics is the gift, developed by The Holy Spirit, as a celebration of our redemption through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.Only a man can celebrate in persona Christi.” – Alba Thorning – Thank you, Alba for responding to my challenge. However, I do need to point out that Jesus was male for the precise reason that, in his day and age, only males were allowed authority in the religious establishment. And Jesus had to be one or the other. The theological reality, though, is that Christ represents all… Read more »

Alba Thorning
Alba Thorning
13 years ago

Father Ron thank you for your reply.With humility I beg to point out that The Holy Trinity consists in a Triune God.Our redemption came about through God assuming our humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. God the Son took flesh by being born of a woman ,Mary ,through the power of The Holy Spirit. St Paul correctly states that in Christ there is neither male nor female.We are all wonderfully created with a soul ,anima, a feminine soul which is perfect for an espousal with a male God. Hence priests as all men and women of faith form the… Read more »

Malcolm+
13 years ago

Alba, your theology is entirely heretical insofar as it presumes that the Incarnate Jesus only assumed maculinity. That which is not assumed is not redeemed.

Your argument can only lead to one of two heretical conclusions (or possibly an heretical melange of both):

1. That women are not redeemed.

2. That those who act in alter Christus must be, not only male, but circumcised, ethnically Jewish and cetera.

Either of these, on their own, is manifestly heretical. Taken together, they are positively blasphemous.

Alba Thorning
Alba Thorning
13 years ago

Father Ron thank you for permitting me to have had this stimulating dialogue with you.
Malcolm needs to be reassured that Christ did in fact become man and the need for his birth was to accomplish the redemption of mankind.He died once, and for all.
Priests in the Church in which Christ appointed
Peter as head do not need to have been circumcised or of any particular ethnic
extraction.
Father Ron, in our quest for clarifiction of our wonderful faith it is good to remember the words of St Augustine:
‘In necessaris unitas
In dubiis libertas
In omnibus caritas.’

Malcolm+
13 years ago

Alba, you have rather missed the point. If it was only male humanity which Our Lord assumed at His Incarnation, then female humanity is not redeemed. While their are coherent arguments against the ordination of women (as much as I disagree with them), the argument from Jesus sex is not one such.

To argue that women cannot be ordained because Jesus was male is, in essence, to argue that women are not redeemed because Jesus was male.

Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

Dear, dear Alba. Malcolm is probably right about the fact of your danger of entering into heresy with your so-obviously R.C.-magisterium-doctrinal beliefs here expressed. However, be pacified with the realisation that all of us are probably guilty of a little bit of heresy at some time in our spiritual journey. The fact that I prefer my version of what may be considered ‘heresy’ to yours, is only a matter of degree. In God’s good time, all heresies will be exposed – some sooner than others. I do believe, however that the mistaken idea of patriarchalism in the Church is already… Read more »

Alba Thorning
Alba Thorning
13 years ago

Malcom,I beg to point out that Christ in his own words told us “I and the Father are one.” Which really should clarify that only a man can stand in persona Christi at the altar. After all Christ’s mission was to prove His love for humanity by dying on the cross, to redeem us, and preserve us from eternal damnation. God so loved us all that He died to redeem us.He gave us through the power of The Holy Spirit, the Church and the Sacraments.We have so much cause celebrate our wonderful faith,don’t you agree? Father Ron, Christ knew of… Read more »

Father Ron Smith
13 years ago

“Malcom,I beg to point out that Christ in his own words told us “I and the Father are one.” Which really should clarify that only a man can stand in persona Christi at the altar” – Alba, on Friday –

So, Alba, you have reduced the God-Head to being a mere male! Now you have lost me – and, I suspect any other ‘Thinking’ Anglican on this site.

Malcolm+
13 years ago

Alba, try this: ‘Christ in his own words told us “I and the Father are one.” Which really should clarify that only a Jew can stand in persona Christi at the altar.’ Or this: ‘Christ in his own words told us “I and the Father are one.” Which really should clarify that only a virgin can stand in persona Christi at the altar.’ Or how about this: ‘Christ in his own words told us “I and the Father are one.” Which really should clarify that only a person under 33 years of age can stand in persona Christi at the… Read more »

Alba Thorning
Alba Thorning
13 years ago

Dear Father Ron and Malcolm
Father Ron .Yes The God-head
in the person of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity did humble Himself to take on our humanity
but His divinity was never relinquished. God became MAN.

Malcolm . I could encourage your distorted arguements but I fear for the spiritual health of the public that they confuse.Either you believe that God was made Man in the Person of Jesus Christ or admit that you are not a Christian.
I will keep you in my prayers, but forgive me if I no longer reply to you.

Erika Baker
Erika Baker
13 years ago

“Malcom,I beg to point out that Christ in his own words told us “I and the Father are one.” Which really should clarify that only a man can stand in persona Christi at the altar”

There you are, ladies, if God had wanted to include us in, he’d have been incarnated as boy and girl twins.

Malcolm+
13 years ago

Perhaps, Alba, your heresy is rooted in your limited grasp of Greek. Now, despite having done poorly in Greek, I know that the Church and the Creeds teach that God was made “anthropos” (human) in the Person of Jesus Christ. That Jesus was “andros” (a man) was merely a function of the fact that he needed to be one of the two sexes in order to be fully human. Athanasius was very clear to teach that which is not assumed is not redeemed. In becoming “anthropos”, Jesus assumes all of humanity, male and female. If Jesus assumes only maleness, then… Read more »

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