Church of England
Votes to Back Women Bishops
By REUTERS from the
NYTimes on the Web, July 11, 2005
LONDON -- The Church of
England voted on Monday to move toward ordaining women bishops, a step which
could provoke an exodus of conservative clergy and deepen the widening splits
within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
A synod meeting in the city of York voted to "remove legal obstacles" in Church
law to women bishops, a process Church officials say could take about four years
to complete.
All three houses of the synod -- the church's parliament -- voted in favor.
The most senior house, the House of Bishops, voted 41 for and only six against.
Bishops play a key role in the hierarchy of Christian churches since they head
dioceses and ordain new priests. Opening the episcopate, or community of
bishops, to women allows them into the inner sanctum of power in the Church.
But the decision risked putting the Church on a collision course with its
conservatives, who defend the all-male clergy by saying Jesus Christ chose only
men as his Apostles -- the forerunners of modern bishops.
As the mother church of the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion, it also risks
stiff opposition from sister churches -- especially in the "Global South" --
already up in arms over reforms on homosexuality by liberal "northern" churches.
The Communion, which has 38 member churches, is threatened with schism over
decisions by United States Anglicans -- the Episcopal Church -- to ordain a gay
male bishop and Canadian Anglicans to bless same-sex unions.
In a recent open letter, 17 bishops opposed to opening their ranks to women
urged the synod not to vote on a resolution that would introduce "new divisions"
into the Church. The letter prompted scores of protests from women
priests.
One of the bishops, Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, told the Sunday Times that he
would probably switch to the Roman Catholic Church -- which vigorously defends
its all-male clergy -- if his church gave women bishops the green light.
"A woman bishop wouldn't be a bishop because a bishop is someone whose ministry
is acceptable through the ages to all other bishops," it quoted him as saying.
"A Church of England with women bishops would no longer have a united
episcopate. Bishops would not longer be what they say they are. I
would have to leave."
The Church of England now has 108 bishops.
Burnham estimated some 800 priests would leave the Church in protest.
About 300 priests and thousands of churchgoers abandoned it in the 1990s to
protest against women priests.
The Catholic Church has accepted about 200 married Anglican priests into its
clergy in Britain and smaller numbers from Anglican and Protestant churches in
other countries.
Traditionalists have suggested the Church create a third province, after
Canterbury and York, that would have only male bishops and oversee all Anglicans
who would not accept women bishops or the priests they ordain.
There has been no majority for this among bishops.
Of the 38 member churches in the Anglican Communion, three -- in Canada, New
Zealand and the United States -- have already ordained women bishops.
Women bishops are allowed in 11 others, although none have been ordained, while
23 others have no provision for them. Eight member churches refuse to
ordain women as priests or deacons.
Women bishops are also allowed in some Protestant churches in Germany and
Scandinavia.
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