Saturday, July 05, 2008

Church faithful may block the move for women bishops to stop the risk of defection by clergy

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4272855.ece

[Times Online] 5 Jul 2008--Proposals to consecrate women bishops in the Church of England could fall at the last hurdle as church members take fright at the prospect of mass defections among the clergy, The Times has learnt.

Sources at the General Synod, which began meeting in York last night to discuss the ordination of women bishops, predicted that many lay members would try to scupper the move in an attempt to preserve the unity of the Church.

The 207 lay members of the synod have traditionally been the most conservative house of all. The 205 clergy are less conservative than the laity, but more so than the bishops, who are dominated by the Church’s liberal wing. The debate on women bishops, which takes place this morning, with the vote on Monday, threatens to divide the Church more deeply than the ordination of women priests or the conflict over homosexuality.

Already the debate has generated rancour in the Church, with traditionalists on the Anglo-Catholic wing demanding that an extra-geographical diocese be made a “safe haven” from women bishops, and threatening a walkout of 1,333 clergy, of whom 60 per cent are still serving.

The Archishops of Canterbury and York, Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, are so concerned that they have argued strongly for legislative protection for traditionalists rather than a voluntary code of practice. They were outvoted by the 51 other bishops who do not want discrimination against women enshrined in the Church’s legislation and want a measure to consecrate women with a voluntary code of practice to protect traditionalists.

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