When Synods Fail

http://ugleyvicar.blogspot.com/2008/04/when-synods-fail.html

[The Ugley Vicar] 3 Apr 2008--Yesterday (2nd April) the Church in Wales narrowly voted down the consecration of women as bishops. For some, this will have come as a relief, for others, it clearly came as a disappointment. What is hard to understand, however, is the attitude of those in the Church, both there and elsewhere, for whom it has come as an outrage.

The Articles of the Church of England accept the fact that the Councils of the Church sometimes get it wrong, even in matters of faith: “when they be gathered together, (forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God,) they may err, and sometime have erred, even in things pertaining unto God” (Article 21).

However, it must equally be admitted that Synods and Councils sometimes get it right. Indeed, the presumption must be that they generally do, otherwise there would be every reason to disband Synodical government entirely.