Anglican traditionalists left to consider options after vote on women bishops
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Pastor Dale Morgan
Jul 12, 2010, 6:13:42 PM7/12/10
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Perilous Times
Anglican traditionalists left to consider options after vote on women bishops
Some remain convinced they can influence final ballot in 2012 while others consider Catholic or overseas exit strategy
* Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 21.00 BST
Woman bishop adjusts her dog collar Even if the process runs smoothly, it will be 2014 before the church has a female bishop. Photograph: Lorne Campbell/Guzelian
Traditionalists leave General Synod empty-handed. They had arrived on Friday, confident that, if their demands went unheeded, the ruling body of the Church of England would at least bow to the will of the archbishops who made an unprecedented intervention on their behalf.
Conservative evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics asked for extra dioceses or a male bishop who did not ordain women. Over and over for four days in York, synod showed it was not prepared to enshrine such provisions in canon law, because they would have undermined the authority of female clergy and reinforced public perception of the established church being out of order and out of touch.
Despite their defeat, traditionalists remain convinced they can influence the final vote in 2012, by securing greater representation in the forthcoming synod election.
Some groups, such as Reform, have already confirmed they will vote against the legislation when it returns to the York debating chamber in two years regardless of the future synod's composition; it presently has clergy making up a third of its 1,500 members.
A spokesman for the Catholic Group in General Synod said it had been encouraged by the remarks of the Archbishop of Canterbury that there remained "unfinished business" and that the church was only part way through determining the way forward for the legislation.
For those fed up of leaving their fate in the hands of synod, there is the prospect of an alternative international leadership.
Conservative evangelicals worldwide have access to like-minded archbishops and bishops in Africa and the US, but those in England have yet to take advantage of it. Some parishes in the US, having severed ties with the Episcopal Church, have affiliated themselves with clergy in African countries including Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda.
Sarah Finch, a synod member from London, was unequivocal when she said that conservative congregations in this England would seek alternative oversight if adequate provisions were not made.
For Anglo-Catholics, the Vatican could be the answer. Announced last October, the personal ordinariate would allow clergy and laity to convert while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage.
There are thought to be 1,300 clergy in the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England; the Rev Preb David Houlding estimates up to 200 could leave, taking thousands of worshippers with them. About 70 met a Catholic bishop last weekend to discuss the personal ordinariate, still in its infancy although it may develope significantly by 2012. With synod rejecting calls for financial compensation for exiting clergy, and with no knowledge of how the ordinariate will work, or what it will offer in housing and remuneration, Anglo-Catholics may well be minded to wait a little longer.
Should they go, traditionalists will have to fight to keep their property, which belong to the Church of England. Legal battles in the US over the issue have been lengthy, costly and unwinnable for the breakaway groups.
Law-making timetable: Step-by-step road to approval
• Within a few weeks the archbishops of Canterbury and York will write to the Church of England's 43 diocesan synods, sending them the draft legislation.
• Diocesan synods cannot make substantial changes, they can only suggest these for debate at General Synod in 2012.
• For the draft law to return to General Synod in 2012, it must receive majority approval in a majority of diocesan synods. If not, the draft legislation fails and the process to legislate for the consecration of women as bishops starts again.
• On returning to General Synod in 2012, members must give their final approval to the draft law. They cannot amend it. It must receive a two-thirds majority in each of the three houses: Bishops, Clergy and Laity. If not, the whole legislative process has similarly got to go back to the beginning.
• If it succeeds, it goes to parliament for approval. The earliest women bishops can be appointed is 2014.
Anglican traditionalists left to consider options after vote on women bishops
Some remain convinced they can influence final ballot in 2012 while others consider Catholic or overseas exit strategy
* Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 July 2010 21.00 BST
Woman bishop adjusts her dog collar Even if the process runs smoothly, it will be 2014 before the church has a female bishop. Photograph: Lorne Campbell/Guzelian
Traditionalists leave General Synod empty-handed. They had arrived on Friday, confident that, if their demands went unheeded, the ruling body of the Church of England would at least bow to the will of the archbishops who made an unprecedented intervention on their behalf.
Conservative evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics asked for extra dioceses or a male bishop who did not ordain women. Over and over for four days in York, synod showed it was not prepared to enshrine such provisions in canon law, because they would have undermined the authority of female clergy and reinforced public perception of the established church being out of order and out of touch.
Despite their defeat, traditionalists remain convinced they can influence the final vote in 2012, by securing greater representation in the forthcoming synod election.
Some groups, such as Reform, have already confirmed they will vote against the legislation when it returns to the York debating chamber in two years regardless of the future synod's composition; it presently has clergy making up a third of its 1,500 members.
A spokesman for the Catholic Group in General Synod said it had been encouraged by the remarks of the Archbishop of Canterbury that there remained "unfinished business" and that the church was only part way through determining the way forward for the legislation.
For those fed up of leaving their fate in the hands of synod, there is the prospect of an alternative international leadership.
Conservative evangelicals worldwide have access to like-minded archbishops and bishops in Africa and the US, but those in England have yet to take advantage of it. Some parishes in the US, having severed ties with the Episcopal Church, have affiliated themselves with clergy in African countries including Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda.
Sarah Finch, a synod member from London, was unequivocal when she said that conservative congregations in this England would seek alternative oversight if adequate provisions were not made.
For Anglo-Catholics, the Vatican could be the answer. Announced last October, the personal ordinariate would allow clergy and laity to convert while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage.
There are thought to be 1,300 clergy in the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England; the Rev Preb David Houlding estimates up to 200 could leave, taking thousands of worshippers with them. About 70 met a Catholic bishop last weekend to discuss the personal ordinariate, still in its infancy although it may develope significantly by 2012. With synod rejecting calls for financial compensation for exiting clergy, and with no knowledge of how the ordinariate will work, or what it will offer in housing and remuneration, Anglo-Catholics may well be minded to wait a little longer.
Should they go, traditionalists will have to fight to keep their property, which belong to the Church of England. Legal battles in the US over the issue have been lengthy, costly and unwinnable for the breakaway groups.
Law-making timetable: Step-by-step road to approval
• Within a few weeks the archbishops of Canterbury and York will write to the Church of England's 43 diocesan synods, sending them the draft legislation.
• Diocesan synods cannot make substantial changes, they can only suggest these for debate at General Synod in 2012.
• For the draft law to return to General Synod in 2012, it must receive majority approval in a majority of diocesan synods. If not, the draft legislation fails and the process to legislate for the consecration of women as bishops starts again.
• On returning to General Synod in 2012, members must give their final approval to the draft law. They cannot amend it. It must receive a two-thirds majority in each of the three houses: Bishops, Clergy and Laity. If not, the whole legislative process has similarly got to go back to the beginning.
• If it succeeds, it goes to parliament for approval. The earliest women bishops can be appointed is 2014.
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