Former Woman Deacon Speaks Out Against Church of England Women Bishops

A former woman deacon of the Church of England has been reported as saying to The Times newspaper that the Church of England should not allow women to serve as bishops.

Caroline Sandon, former deacon of St Andrew’s Church in Cambridge, spoke explicitly against the vote at Monday’s Synod to begin the process that would remove legal obstacles to the ordination of women as bishops.

She said: "The ordination of female bishops will destroy values that the institution to which I belong has spent 2,000 years establishing. The point about the Church is that it is like the family: it has a hierarchy – and women should not be at the head."

The Synod overwhelmingly approved the ordination of women as bishops on Monday, despite claims by opponents that such a decision could split the Church.

The Bishop of Chichester, the Rt Rev John Hind, opposed the motion, saying, "What matters is not only whether it is right to have women bishops but also what it means to be a Church, what is the place of bishops in it and what we do when we disagree."

Many women within the Church welcomed the decision, however, the Rev Jenny Thomas saying, "How can we speak to the nation about justice when we can’t organise ourselves in a just way."

Sandon, in her statement of opposition, denied that she was defending gender inequality. She said: "Society seems determined to define equality by eradicating differences; the challenge for the Church is to model equality and diversity at the same time. It is perfectly possible to be equal but to have different functions...I have worked alongside men for 11 years and I do not see myself as "below" them or inferior to them – we both serve God in our different ways."

She added: "I am in full support of female leaders outside the Church and the family."

Sandon criticised, however, what she sees as possible egotism within women members of the clergy in seeking for equal rights to ordination as bishop.

She stated: "It is inevitable that, at some stage in the future, we will have a female Archbishop of Canterbury. It grieves me that women see serving the Church as a career with a glass ceiling...By making a stand, I worry that my peers’ desire for promotion has become more about status and prestige in the eyes of the world than it is about serving God."

Valerie Bryden, another of the few women to oppose the reform, said, however, that more theological work needed to be done on the issue and that women bishops would do "irreversible damage" to the Church.

After division by Houses on the main motion, the voting figures for the House of Bishops were 41 for and six against, for the House of Clergy 167 for and 46 against and for the House of Laity 159 for and 75 against.

Sandon concluded: "The ordination of the first female bishop will be a sad day for me...It will undermine the richness of male and female diversity within the Church and it will limit our individuality."