Women bishops: Statement from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York about the Amendments…

Posted by Kendall Harmon

There has already been a lot of discussion about the amendments agreed this week by the House of Bishops to the draft Measure concerning the ordination of women as bishops. Although the senior officers of the Synod (the 'Group of Six') have determined by a majority that these amendments do not alter the substance of the proposals embodied in the Measure, much anxiety has been expressed as to their implications, and it may be helpful to set out what the House attempted and intended.

The House fully and wholeheartedly accepts that the draft legislation voted on by the dioceses represents the will of an undoubted and significant majority in the Church of England. They did not intend to make any change in any principle of that legislation or to create any new powers or privileges for anyone. They believed that, if certain clarifications and expansions of the wording were made, the Measure might be carried with more confidence, and, out of that conviction, agreed the new wording, which affects two questions....

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • Archbishop of York John Sentamu • * Culture-Watch • Women

2 Comments
Posted May 26, 2012 at 10:35 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. MichaelA wrote:

Interesting that the Group of Six determined that these amendments don’t materially change the measure “by majority” - so there was disagreement there.

“The amendment requires the Code of Practice which the bishops will draw up to offer guidance as to how this might be achieved.”

Note the significant point: It is the bishops who will draw up the Code of Practice, which as +Broadbent has disclosed on another thread, will have “statutory effect”. 

And the words “draw up to offer guidance” could mean anything, or nothing at all.  The bishops are asking the General Synod to pass a measure, but to trust the bishops to decide in detail afterwards what it means.  It is difficult to see how liberals, evangelicals or anglo-catholics will be happy with this.

May 27, 4:00 am | [comment link]
2. MichaelA wrote:

The following comment on Thinking Anglicans was posted by a liberal reader, who nevertheless can look at the matter even-handedly:

“I don’t really see why anyone is surprised. What did you expect? Since there is only a promise of a Code of Practise and no idea yet of what it will contain, did you really expect conservatives to accept the liberals, “Trust us, we’ll be generous”? If the tables were turned would you believe a simple “Trust us” from the conservatives? There’s no trust left on either side. From the moment they decided to give conservatives a future and unknown Code of Practice instead of concrete accomodations, I expected nothing else.”

Couldn’t be put better.  It is difficult to find any group (except for the Bishops themselves) who are happy with these amendments, for good reason.

May 27, 4:03 am | [comment link]
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