Secretary General of General Synod calls for consecration of women bishops without provision for opponents

Raises the spectre of Parliament's intervention and disestablishment.

The General Synod failed to see through a plan for women bishops last week due to the voting system within the church.

Within 72 hours of the vote William Fittall, secretary-general of the General Synod, wrote a memo warning the decision would “badly damage” the Church.

He said the Church must take steps to overturn the vote and consecrate women bishops or the decision risks being taken out of its hands by Parliament.

The memo, meant for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and passed to The Times, stated: “Unless the Church of England can show very quickly that it’s capable of sorting itself out, we shall be into a major constitutional crisis in Church-State relations, the outcome of which cannot be predicted with confidence.”

As the Church’s most senior “civil servant”, Mr Fittall is seldom ignored. Read more

No provision for the opponents of women's ordination?! Has Mr. Fittal considered what would happen if such radical action that he proposes was taken? Does he care?