Church of England to debate women bishop proposals

The Church of England’s General Synod will today vote on whether draft legislation on the consecration of women bishops should be sent to a committee for revision.

The legislation outlines plans for a Code of Practice under which parishes unable to accept women bishops would be able to petition for pastoral care from a male bishop. The diocesan bishop would, however, retain the right to refuse the petition.

It follows an emotional debate on women bishops in the July Synod last year, when members voted to continue on with plans to allow women in the episcopate although without many of the legal safeguards called for by traditionalists.

In his presidential address to Synod on Tuesday, the Archbishop of Canterbury said the challenge for the Church was to agree a form of legislation that would enable supporters and opponents of women bishops to co-exist.

“We all know that if women are ordained to the episcopate, those who cannot in conscience accept it will not go away,” he said.

The Archbishop acknowledged that some opponents may choose to leave the Church of England if women are consecrated as bishops.

“Some of course may in one sense ‘go away’ to another Christian communion but even then they will still be there as fellow Christians, fellow missioners and disciples, and the debate will not be over just because one local jurisdiction has made a decision,” he said.

“But many do not want to go away in that sense at all. They want to be part of the same family still. And this means that some dreams of purity and clarity are not going to be realised.”

If Synod votes in favour of the motion, the Archbishop added that it would be up to the revision committee to decide: “What is the form of legislation best adapted to the good of the Church as a body where The Others do not simply go away and become invisible?”