Tuesday, July 08, 2008

English Synod Approves Legislation Allowing Female Bishops

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/7/7/english-synod-approves-legislation-allowing-female-bishops

[The Living Church] 8 Jul 2008--After a tortuous legislative session marked by the defeat of 13 of 14 proposed amendments, the General Synod of the Church of England on July 7 approved legislation on how it will begin to consecrate women as bishops. The final vote occurred after 10 p.m. local time in York .

“In these painstaking steps we have taken we have produced a painstaking motion which lifts the bar on women forever,” Bishop James Jones of Liverpool said, as reported by the Times of London. “There are some who have consistently said a code of practice cannot provide what is needed... I hope that those who remain doubtful about a code will give the motion a chance. If we let the Holy Spirit work a code could emerge that would provide a way forward everyone can embrace.” Bishop Jones spoke immediately after a final attempt to delay a decision was defeated.

The language of the approved motion calls for “special arrangements [to] be available, within the existing structures of the Church of England, for those who as a matter of theological conviction will not be able to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests.” It also affirms “that these should be contained in a statutory national code of practice to which all concerned would be required to have regard,” but a recent ruling by the House of Lords determined that the so-called code of practice is not legally enforceable through judicial review. The possibility of making a code legally binding was also rejected by the group charged with developing recommendations for synod.

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